What colour your baby’s eyes are is determined by melanin, a dark pigment contained in the iris. The more melanin there is, the darker the colour of the eye is. This means that the less melanin there is, the lighter the colour of the eye is. The iris controls the amount of light allowed into the eye. A newborn baby’s pigmentation process in the iris is not yet complete. When trying to find out when do newborn babies eyes change, it is usually during the first year of a babies life.

The lighter skinned your baby is, the lighter the eye colour usually is. It is usually a blue to bluish-grey colour at birth. After about a year, this colour will deepen becoming darker. If your baby is dark skinned, he will probably have a dark eye colour at birth and they will probably stay relatively dark.

It is not only the colour of a newborn baby’s eye that will change. The pressure on your baby’s face during the delivery process can cause your baby’s eyelids to be puffy and to have blood spots on the whites of the eyes. Eye medicines used to prevent infections after birth can also leave your baby with red eyes.
The redness and puffiness of the eyes usually only lasts about 3 days, it could take up to 3 weeks for the blood spots on the white of the eyes to go.

If you notice that your baby is not opening his eyes, it might be that the light in the room is too bright for him. Try dimming the lights to encourage him. A newborn cannot see very well. The optic nerve that sends information from the eyes to the brain does not function yet. Their vision will be hazy. The eyesight will improve by the time your baby is about 4 to 5 months old, allowing them to see colour and objects. By the time your baby is 8 to 12 months old, they will be able to see clearly. Their brain has matured a great deal in this time.

Don’t be alarmed if your baby cries without actually producing tears. A baby usually only creates enough tears to keep the eyes wet. A baby will start to produce more tears by the age of about 8 months. Blocked tear ducts are not uncommon in newborns. A sign of this is a yellow sticky discharge in one or both of the eyes. If you suspect that your baby might have a blocked tear duct, speak to your caregiver and they will be able to advise you on how to massage your baby’s tear ducts to unblock them.