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When you are pregnant, you must be wondering, your baby's face will look more like you or his father, huh? Will he ever have straight hair like you or curly hair like his father? Have dark eyes like yours or have narrow eyes like his father?
This is a surprise for you and your partner when the baby is born. What is clear, your baby will look like you mix with your partner. Yes, a baby gets 23 chromosomes from the mother and 23 chromosomes from the father. With all the possible combinations of genes, you and your partner have the potential to produce 64 trillion different child appearances, so every child you give birth to has a different face because of the many possibilities. However, for other characteristics such as height, weight, and personality, the environment also influences the appearance of children in addition to genetic or hereditary factors.
Eye color
Eye color is determined by the melanin or brown pigment in the iris. Dark eyes indicate that there is a large amount of melanin pigment, blue eyes indicate very little amount of melanin, and other colors such as green have varying amounts of melanin.
Different genes may be responsible for how much brown pigment you inherit, and where it displays in your eyes, so your child is more likely to have a different eye color than yours. Babies need at least 6 months to bring out their true eye color.
Hair color
In general, Indonesians have black hair color. Hair color is the same as eye color which is determined by pigments, so your baby's hair color is a mix of pigments from your hair color and your partner's. Parents with the same hair color may have babies with the same hair color as them, or slightly different but still in the same color range.
However, it is also possible that the child has a different hair color from the parents. This occurs when a recessive gene (a gene that is not visible / hidden) from one parent mixes with the gene from the other parent. As you know that there are two types of genes, namely dominant genes and recessive genes, where the dominant gene will mask the recessive gene so that what is seen or expressed is the dominant gene. Come on … try to remember the biology lesson in junior high school.
Face and body shape
Facial characteristics, such as dimples, forehead shape, and facial symmetry are believed to be dominant and are passed down from generation to generation. The shapes of the hands, fingers and nails also appeared from generation to generation. In addition, fingerprint patterns are also passed down through genetics. The shape of the jaw and the inclination of the teeth were also genetically determined. Facial shapes, such as having a pointed chin, round face, or a long face can also be inherited between generations in your family.
However, a baby's initial appearance can change at any time. Maybe at birth your child looks more like his father, but as he grows older your child may look more like you. Who knows, because a baby's face, hair, eyes, and so on can still go through a lot of changes.
Height and weight
Research shows that genetic factors are associated with height, weight, percent body fat, free fat mass, total bone mass, and even blood pressure. This means that the child's height and weight are influenced by the height and weight of both you and your partner.
Some say that the height of a boy will not be far from the height of his father, while the height of a girl will not be far from the height of his mother. However, this cannot be confirmed. However, height is still influenced by heredity, although it may not be possible to predict whether the child's height will be the same, shorter or taller as the father or mother.
Not only heredity affects height and weight, but also environmental factors, such as nutritional status and health. And not only nutrition and health when the child grows, but also nutrition and the health of the mother during pregnancy plays an important role in determining the height and weight of the child. Therefore, pay close attention to your nutrition and health during pregnancy so that the growth and development of your child is optimal.
Research shows that genetic factors influence height, weight, and body mass index in low percentages at birth, but that over time they increase with age. On the other hand, the environmental influence is greater at birth and then decreases in influence.
