Over the past few weeks, Munchkin’s features have become increasingly prominent. One of those features, of course, is his eyes. Every new parent wonders, “What color will my child’s eyes be?” And it’s a natural question to ask, since infant’s eyes can change up to 9 months of age. But, Munchkin’s eyes are already different than most babies – eye color wonder aside. You see, although most newborns experience a dramatic change in color (most commonly born with blue eyes that change to a brighter blue, deep brown, or anything in between), almost all newborns experience this change simultaneously.
But not Munchkin.
Munchkin has two distinctly different eye colors.
Most people look at Munchkin and don’t notice his eyes. They attribute any difference to the lighting or reflection from overhead lights. But, I see Munchkin every day. And for the past five weeks, his eyes have been different colors. One brown, one blue.
Of all the people I’ve spoken to, no one has experienced this in a newborn (well, one infant had Horner’s Syndrome, but I don’t think Munchkin has that). Having two different eye colors, due to illness or not, is extremely rare. In fact, if Munchkin’s eyes do indeed stay two different colors, then he is a genetic chimera.
Some may know what a chimera is from Greek mythology. For those of you who don’t, a quick lesson: the Chimera is a fire-breathing monster made up of the parts of three animals: a lion, a snake, and a goat. You can Wikipedia it here, but for the sake of this post, that’s enough information.
Basically, in the case of Munchkin, if he were to be a genetic chimera, then he is two people in one. Yes, you read that correctly. Munchkin would be the merging of two nonidentical twins. You can read more about that here, or in this great article, “Chimeras: Two People in One Body, Not Just Science Fiction Anymore“. Oh, and if you want to know how rare human chimeras are, it was difficult for me to find results. The only source with any sort of “data” was ChaCha, and I don’t know where ChaCha found it, but according to ChaCha, only 35 people in the United States are reported to be chimeras. Freaky.
Cassie Jimenez says
My son Odin also has one blue and one brown eye but they are reversed from Clark’s. Also his brown eye has a pie slice of blue in it. He is 4 months and I suspect he might also have chimerism I’d love to know if your sons eyes have changed or if they are still two different colors.
Side note my son was named after the Norse God Odin (thor’s father) as legend goes odin the God gave up sight in one eye for wisdom. Which some say it changed his eye color in that eye.
Mrs. Bottlesoup says
Interesting. Clark is 13 months old now, and his eyes are still different but only slightly. No one notices unless they already know. Our pediatrician doesn’t think the source is worth investigating further because it doesn’t have any hinderance on his vision or motor skills.
Ufgirl09 says
My daughter Emily has the same thing! But just like Odin, she has a pie slice of blue in the brown eye. Her right is blue and left is brown
Elle says
Hi Mrs. Bottlesoup, My 3 weeks old daughter eyes are similar to Clarke’s. We are not sure it it will change. We love your story and would love to see an updated picture of Clarke.
Mrs. Bottlesoup says
Munchkin’s eyes have evened out. Now, his eyes are green. The right and left are still different, but no one notices except for me & my husband. His eyes were distinctly different for the first year of his life. He’s 16 months old now.
Elle says
Thank you. My daughter is now 3 months, her eyes are also evening out. Thank you so much for sharing your story, it really helped.
Kristen says
I loved reading about your story. My 6 mo eyes every day are becoming more different. His right eye is almost a baby blue where is left eye is slate. We are really interested to see where the end up stopping my husband has ice blue eyes and I have green eyes
Mrs. Bottlesoup says
His eyes are a lot more even now, but one is still light than the other. He’s 2 now. I will post a picture later this week so you can see – thank you for reading! 🙂
Lauren T. says
Thank you for posting your updates. My 4 month old has had the exact same coloring difference that Munchkin has since 2 weeks. His pediatrician says it’s just a cool feature of his and that he may or may not grow out of it. That should’ve put my mind at ease, but reading your updates makes me calm down even more since it seems like Munchkin’s are doing just that. Thanks!
Mrs. Bottlesoup says
His eyes are still slightly different, but it’s evened out enough that it’s not noticeable to the passerby. You’d have to really be looking deep in his eyes to notice (or outside in the sun it is more obvious).
April Jones says
He is not a chimera; the word for this is hererochromia. It’s not a disease, it just is the word for when somebody has two different eye colors. It’s a harmless genetic mutation.
Mrs. Bottlesoup says
Thanks, April.
Kristen says
I posted back when my son was 6 months. Being 10 months old his eyes have taken on their own personality. Is right eye is still that bright baby blue where his left eye is a hazel. It goes from a slate blue to a light brown with flakes of blue and yellow depending on the day. We love it and it reminds us of his great papa who passed right before he was born