Baby has red hair - oops

Tiffany - posted on 10/08/2012

chances are if you go back far enough on both sides (yours and his) that you will find someone with red or blonde hair on each side. My parents both had brown hair and brown or hazel eyes and I was born with blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Keri - posted on 10/05/2012

genetics are funny. The red hair gene is not "primary" so to speak, which is why not many people have red hair. In those cases what usually happens is that both parents carry this "dormant" gene and when both of them I guess you'd say "supply" this gene to the developing egg, bam you have a baby with red hair! At least that's how it was explained to me.

Rachael - posted on 04/13/2012

Both parents have to carry a red gene for the baby to have red hair, but that recessive red gene can carry for generations before 'appearing'. In my family the last real red head was my great, great grandmother and in my husbands, it was also a great, great grandparent ... we have a little boy with gorgeous auburn hair ... it took 6 generations or approx 120 years to show up!

Jennifer - posted on 01/29/2010

my husband as brown hair and i have dirty blond hair , we have two bright red head daughter ,but my son has my hair , they are so red head that the hair on eye lash ,arm ,leg are even red , i think it just happen.

Jessica - posted on 01/27/2010

Both my hubby and I have dark brown hair, our baby is very very blonde!! But he is the image of his father so we don't worry! Your hair can change a lot from childhood so don't worry. Did either of you have similar colouring as a baby?

Jayde - posted on 01/26/2010

My good friend's husband has red hair and she has dark brown and their baby is white blonde!!!! I think perhaps they get it back from past genereationms

Geraldine - posted on 01/25/2010

Definitely genetic. My siblings and I are all different in hair colour and eye colour, i've dark brown eyes and red hair, my sister is mousey brown with blue eyes, my brother is dark brown and green eyes! When I had my son his father had dark deep blue eyes and dark brown hair, my son looks like a cherub, sparkly blue eyes that twinkle in the sun and blonde hair. in contrast to me - people often think that he's my sisters son and her daughter is my daughter! Which at least means we all have family traits! In our family we tend to have one redhead per generation... i think the people above are right if you look back you'll prob find the link with your little ones red genes!

Kim - posted on 01/24/2010

I have brown hair and my hubby has brown hair... our 14-month old daughter has strawberry blond hair! There is no blond anywhere in my family but I also started out with strawberry blond hair which slowly went to auburn and brown before I was 10 years old. Think of your extended family, am sure there will be fair-haired people somewhere :-)

Christine - posted on 01/24/2010

It's a recessive gene provided by both you and your husband. When the sperm and the ovum meet, there are 4 alleles (2 from you, and 2 from your husband) that the baby has the possibility of receiving. Those alleles intertwine and get thrown in a "mix". Of course the baby only gets 2 (1 allele from you and 1 from your husband) making a gene. Of those two alleles, only one is "expressed" and the other is recessive, not expressed. Since it takes two red hair alleles to make a red headed baby, you and your husband must have each given your son a red allele. You and your husband probably each have 1 brown allele & 1 red allele. Think of it as a recipe :o) That's the short version, but hope it helps. My husband has almost black hair and I'm blond. Our son is a blond & our daughter has red hair. I probably carry a red allele and a blond one while my husband carries a black & red allele. A red allele & blond allele will gave us a blond, but my daughter got two red alleles giving her red hair.

Amanda - posted on 01/24/2010

I have red hair myself and neither of my parents have it. I guess it came from both of my great-grandpas from both sides because the had red hair. My mother didn't think I was her child when I was born because I had red hair. I also have three siblings and none of them have red hair. Hopefully this helps you out a bit! Just be happy about your little one having red hair, I guess only 10% of the population has it!

Carolyn - posted on 01/24/2010

I have friend with the same issue- both her hubby and her have black hair - apparently her great great grandma had red hair - she is the only one that is a red head- we call her ginger -it's an awesome color

Kendra - posted on 01/24/2010

I am the only red head in my family. My father and 2 brothers all have brown hair. My mother is blond. I am also the only one with green eyes. My father and 1 brother have hazel, my other brother and mother have blue. It's just a mix of genes through the generations.

Crystal - posted on 01/24/2010

Tell your husband not to sweat it.. It is purely genetics.. and if it is ANYWHERE in the family.. it can turn up at ANY TIME.. My aunt for example.. had 3 kids.. 2 boys and 1 girl.. my aunt has blonde hair.. her husband dk brown.. the 3 kids.. oldest was blonde, second dk brown, and the third.. a red head.. great grandma on dads side was a red head.. just goes to show generations later the red hair came out!...

Jaclyn - posted on 01/24/2010

My sister is blond and her husband is blonde and their children were born with strawberry blond hair...i think that it's normal. I was told that my children could have strawberry blonde hair because we both have brown hair but my husband has a tinge of orange when he grows a beard..so i don't think there's much to worry tell him to chill lol :)

Donna - posted on 01/23/2010

hello myself and ny childrens father are both brown/blonde and two of our three children have strawberry blonde hair i have been told that the first born daughter looks alot like the paternal fathers mother so maybe look back and see if their was any reds in the family tree.my childrens fathers mother wasn't a red head so we had to go back about 7 generations to find a hint of red any where.they also say that red heads are becoming more prominant these days because of our diets and lifestyle so i not sure what to think either hope this helps some

Raelene - posted on 01/23/2010

My partner has blonde hair and I have red hair. We were both very shocked when our son was born with jet black hair. His dad has laughed about where he got it from, but as he is getting older it is getting much lighter and is nearly blonde.

Sarah - posted on 01/23/2010

I had this situation with my kids! no where in my family or my partners are there blonds but hello... boyth my girls have white blond hair! it took 3 months and loads of photo comparisons to convince his mum the youngest is his!!! Must be in the genes aome where I spose

Jessica - posted on 01/22/2010

I was born with a head FULL of red hair. Not one of my relatives had red hair, I see so many children with some red in their hair with neither parent having red hair. Tell your husband it's quite normal and not to worry about it.

Kayla - posted on 01/22/2010

Red hair is a recessive gene. My grandpa had red hair and no one else in our family has it but guess what...that's right when I take my light brown haired baby girl out in the sun...her hair looks really red. It's not uncommon for someone way down the line in the family to pass on their red headed genes to a little one.

Jessica - posted on 01/22/2010

well i have twin girls and one of them has red hair and the other one has brown hair , my husband and i have brown hair but the red comes from my dads, moms side of the family just ask around and find out or even look at some of your cousins like some of mine have red hair also. just ask and you can find out who in your family has had red hair it might have been a great-great great grandparent or something

Maggie - posted on 01/22/2010

My husband is the same way (lol). Becky has redish brown hair with blonde highlights. Jim has dark brown hair and I have mousy brown hair. I have blue eyes and Jim has brown, Becky has hazel. It is weird that she didn't get one or the other eye colour. My brother is a weird one. He has brown hair but when his facial hair came in it was red and still is. It makes for some interesting conversation!

Clara - posted on 01/21/2010

Definitly my hubby`s baby !! He just teases me about the red hair !! Just very interested in the genetics around it !!

Kylie - posted on 01/19/2010

ressesive geans. BTW my wonderful red headed son is from two brunett parents. My husband used to always say "yea how did that happen" until i snaped and told him that is he really didn't think Joshy was his he could bugger off.

Amy - posted on 01/19/2010

Just curious since this hasn't been brought up at all... you are absolutely positive its your husbands child right? if so there have been alot of great explanations given, if not then thats another story... please dont take me for being rude or anything, just trying to be logical n get all the info!

Ruth - posted on 01/19/2010

Do you or your husband have reddish highlights? My husband's brother is auburn, and I have 3 blonde sisters, so it's not a big surprise than my little girl has a little bit of strawberry to her blonde. Given that both my husband and I have brown hair, she'll probably darken as she gets older.

Genetics are fun, but occasionally unpredictable. Recessive traits can show up out of what seems like nowhere.

Steph - posted on 01/18/2010

Hey I have the same colour hair and my mom is black with dark brown hair...i am not even very tanned lol I am white with red hair and freckles...lol my lil cousin has bright fire red hair and very pale skin and her mom is blonde and her dad(also my cousin) is darker skinned with black hair...its just fluk chance that some where down the line there was someone somewhere with that colour hair on one of the others side that just happen to come out in your baby...me and my lil cousin are the only two people in my family with red hair and freckles with pale skin...everyone else is tanned or really rather dark :) so i wouldnt worry about it to much...

Kristi - posted on 01/18/2010

It's all heredity, my dear :) My background is Metis, which means I am part native. I have dark skin, dark brown eyes, and dark hair - and my son has blonde hair and blue eyes !!! My husband has lighter hair, but not blonde, and lighter eyes, but brown, not blue ... we giggle about it all the time!

Kylie - posted on 01/18/2010

my parents both have light brown hair..they had two redheads and a blonde.
i have red hair my hubby has afro dark brown hair and my kids have straight blonde hair and curly golden hair but we all have blue eyes. very strange how it works:)

Caitlin - posted on 01/18/2010

It's possible that it popped up from the genetics somewhere. Red hair is a recessive gene, but that doesn't mean everything. M husband and I both have brown hair, and he has brown eyes(dominant gene) and I have green eyes(recessive gene), our daughter has blonde hair and green eyes, so the parents genetics don't always have 100% control. There is blonde hair back in my family, and also as babies get older their hair can get darker. When she was born I swore she had red hair, but it turned dirty blonde, i'm sure it will be brown by the time she's 5. The joys of having kids is what genetics can pop up from seemingly nowhere.

Jenelle - posted on 01/18/2010

As a little girl I had strawberry blonde hair, which seemed strange because like you both my parents and their parents had brown hair. Come to find out my great- great grandmother on my fathers side was a red-head. I was the only red head in the family until my 1st daughter was born in 2001 !! And today I have 3 red heads out of 4 children :) I would take it as a blessing and put it as just one more reason your little one is special. Oh and stock up on lots of sun block :)

Kelly - posted on 01/18/2010

does anyone in your family or ur hubbys have red hair? my son has green eyes and me and my hubby have brown. but we have green eyes in our family. If u didnt do anything wrong then dont worry to much...LOL!

Lynda - posted on 01/18/2010

Sorry, here's another link: http://ask.metafilter.com/94843/Where-do...

Lynda - posted on 01/18/2010

I'm sure Google could help us here! Red hair must be in the family somewhere. My family has a similar situation, except it's red facial hair that pops up every so often. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_hair_...