Blonde / White Hair New Born

[Jade1982]

Hi, we have a beautiful baby boy who is 5 days old, he was born with a full head of white/blonde hair, very fair eyelashes and eyebrows. Our first son was born with a full head of black hair. The midwives, Doctors, family and friends have all commented (in a positive way) of how unusual this this. Just wondered if anyone else has experienced this and if so did there babies hair stay the same or did it change colour? Both myself and husband are mousy brown.

Many thanks

No exp but he sounds gorgeous! Congrats.

My cousin did but she ended up with (nice) mousy brown hair like the rest of us in her teens. I imagine your two children look very beautiful together...

Not a full head of hair, but very very light, so much so that you couldn't see his eyebrows.

He's 8yo now and pretty dark haired, he will probably end up as dark as DH and me. or rather how we were before we started greying

Yes ours did and we kept getting the comments on how unusual. Then he went bald and grew back slightly reddish. Now he's mousey blonde. Enjoy the blonde bombshell

Many thanks for all your replies. I hope the this doesn't sound to bizarre but the midwife came today and commented as others have on how blonde/white and the amount of hair. I asked her did she think he could be albino because every time you look up newborn white hair it brings up mountains of information on albinism. She said she was fairly sure he wasn't and basically dismissed the comment. Am I being paranoid? He has allot of hair for a week old baby, the hair is mainly white/blonde, eyelashes are the same. His awareness and eye contact are fantastic but there is no one else in our families who has ever had white/blonde hair at birth?

Are you still in hospital? If so ask the doctors opinion. Albino children are usually very pale skinned as well. If you are concerned then ask. Mum knows best! It may be just a quirk in the genes but it may not and you will worry about if you don't ask

True albino would have the pink eyes too, I think.

Me and dsis were like that. I was white blond, but now a fair brown if that makes sense. Dsis was really dark, but has lightened. Surprisingly little difference now. Db was red and hasn't changed much.
I thought it was quite common though, I've known a few.

My DS1 did and now at 8 still has pure white hair and very pale skin. The MW was so surprised by him, she had never seen anything like him before.

He's striking!

He had extreme photo-sensitivity as a toddler/ small child and needed to wear dark glasses for a few years, but it has settled and now he only needs normal sunglasses in bright sunlight. He was investigated for albinism at 4 years as part of a battery of tests for other things - he has autism and allergies. He isn't albino, but it took a bunch of tests to figure that out! Very pale skin can be sensitive - DS1's first allergy was to nappies!

Congratulations on your baby, he sounds gorgeous.

DP has white blond hair, he is dark blond now. I was born with jet black hair with eyebrows to match, I am now dark blond (still have black eyebrows though)

Hi Jade,

i know this was posted quite a while ago! But I have come across your post whilst trailing the internet for information on albinism.

I could have written the post myself. My baby boy who is now 4 months was born with white blonde hair, it was almost silver it was so white. It seems to have gone a tiny bit more golden now but still pretty much white. His skin is pale but to me looks like a normal skin colour for a white baby. He has a subtle pink tone to his skin with rosy red cheeks like his dad. He has dark blue eyes.

I have asked midwives, doctors and the health visitor if he could be albino and I have pretty much been dismissed and told he looks more Swedish! (There is no Swedish in the family or albinism).

however, he recently had to go to the hospital as he had blocked tear ducts that became infected. When doing an eye exam they noticed he had pale optic nerve which is a symptom of albinism so I am now left to wait to see if he develops any further characteristic such as nystagmus before they will do any genetic testing.

Did your baby turn out to just be very blonde? I am so happy to have a healthy child who’s vision seems to be on track for his age for now… however I am struggling to enjoy mummy life as I have this constant worry hanging over me. I find myself constantly testing his eye sight and googling albinism. To be honest I have become a little obsessed by it.

would love to hear from you! Sorry I think I really needed to get all that of my chest.

Thanks x

Both my DC had very dark hair at birth, lots of it and now both very very blonde. So birth hair is a strange thing.
I did think albino eyes have a different look to them. There was a boy at school with it. His eyes looked reddish but they were blue in some lights.

DS1 had thick dark brown hair at birth, and still does.
DS2 had pale blond hair - it’s still blond though not platinum blond any more.
DD had brownish red hair! It’s dark blond/light brown now, though auburn in some lights.