genetic throwbacks? we are white and ive just had a mixed race baby, know anything about this?

[knowaboutthis]

does anyone have any experience of genetic throw backs?

Are you worried about a mix-up in the hospital, is that an issue? I just ask because for about a year, even though my dd looks like me, I experienced sporadic panic moments where I thought 'what if?', and if she didn't look anything like either of us, I guess I would think that more. If there's no such worry, I guess it is just a 'genetic throwback', and yes, I've seen babies start out looking one way and then their hair colour and type changing drastically, or babies looking exactly like the father when they were born and then exactly like the mother by 3 years.

thankyou hecate, yes we have no doubt shes our daughter.
and we love her to bit already.
i think its a good idea to try at least to trace the family history so we can say where she gets her dark looks from.

at least i have a good starting point with my aunt.

I remember in the news a while back there was a story about the US president Thomas Jefferson's family mausoleum or something and various descendants were arguing about it, as he had children with his black maid Sally as well as with his (white) wife.

Lots of the descendants who thought they were white turned out to actually be descendents from Jefferson & Sally.

Presumably you've spoken to medical ppl about her appearance - what has your mw or hv said?

There's a difference between taking the piss and scepticism. If you are for real then brilliant, you can have a great time with genealogy and hopefully find where your DD's looks come from. Good luck to you.

3 of our kids are mixed race and they looked white when they were born

eb im sure she wasn't swapped in the hospital, as she was either with me or dh the whole time.

I also had a friend at college who was very olive skinned, dark dark eyes, flat nosed and with afro hair (her brother had the hair but no other afro type features), her Dad was extremely racist but IMO there was no doubting that in her ancestry was afro-carribean, I just found it very ironic tbh

Any chance you or dh are adopted?

Just a thought....

what did your dh say when she was born? I mean, it must've been a surprise

DH's family originally are from Morocco a few generations ago now. It doesn't show much apart from facial features but we were told anecdotally that the fact that DH and his siblings have red tingedhair and is freckly, but doesn't burn is a throwback to this.
Definately worth tracing just to see what you find if nothing else.

DD1 had black hair at birth but is now blonde, DD2 whad black hair and is now a redhead.

Everyone asks me where my DH is from cos DS is very olive-coloured. ey think he might be MiddleEasterm.
My DH is white from Tunbridge Wells!! Although I am pale the colouring comes from my Italian Grandmother and has skipped 2 generations. It's a nice contact with the past IMO but could e disconcerting if I didn't know where it came from.

And you're not talking tanned as in jaundiced? And hair often falls out in the first few months. My niece was born with very dark brown, almost black hair and is now a blue eyed blond - they had to have another passport done for her.

my dh has haemophillia - it can often 'skip' generations and appear 'out of the blue' as a 'throw back'. Talk to your md - or if she has discharged you, your hv - they can put you in tyouch with geneticists. GSTT are the best people here

I went to school with a boy who was a genetic "throwback". Don't know much about it but it happens, not much you can do and I don't think any research will necessarily enlighten you to how it happened.

Have you thought about researching your DP's and your family trees to see where your DC may have got their beautiful colouring from?

My friend's DD2 looks mixed race, has lovely olive skin, quite a flat nose and very curly hair. She is gorgeous, she just gets it from her father's side but it didn't come out in her DD1.

gg i don't think there is any chance of that, although i hadn't thought of that.
but not as far as we know.

its very interesting to hear about this happening in reverse with red headed babies etc.

thanks for the advice.

pc what is GSTT

dd3 was a l;ot darker than my other children for ages. she has more of my mums family colouring that my otehr kids do. her hair has lightened as she has got older, her hair is now straight.

but she looked like a gypsy child for ages. all dark hair, olive skin and black eyes.

she tans easier than the other 2, and her eyes are still black. loads of pics of her in profile.

Guys and St Thomas' Hopsitals in London -

I've seen many friends mixed race babies and they have often had tight afro hair at birth.
My dad was born in India, he has olive and dark mixture skin(we have French blood line too)my mum is white English. My skin is half olive and half white(it kind of changes type and colour at my hips)and my hair is naturally curly and dark brown and my eyes are dark brown. My Ds's father was dark haired, blue eyed and white skinned. Ds is brown eyed, mid brown hair which has gone from curly to straight(though he was strawberry blond and blue eyed at birth)and light olive skinned.
Dd's daddy is half black caribbean, half white, but he is dark skinned, brown eyes and had an afro when he had hairI'm led to believe. Dd is white - really white and has stunning blue eyes. She also has soft blond curls. She has none of the tell tale mixed race signs(dark genitals/brown marks above the cuticles/darker ears). Dp makes jokes about me being unfaithful, cos she's 'obviously not his' and when we read an article about a hospital mixing up two babies at birth, we seriously went through the whole thing in our minds. Yes, she is ours.

I knew a girl when I was young who had a white mum and a very, very black dad. All her siblings were a coffee colour and had afro hair. She though, was very white, had straight hair and you would never have known that she was mixed race - much the same as my Dd.
I think if we were all able to go back through our family history, we'd find that because of slavery and rape etc, we have all got a diverse mix of ethnicities within our blood line.
Please OP, accept your beautiful baby without question. If you know that she is your Dp's, then what else is there to worry about? I've stopped worrying about the looks we get when we are out together. I know what people are thinking, but it's not their business.

o h and dd3 has mongolian blue spots as well on her bum. it looks bruised a lot of the time.

thank you very much for your help.

Im sure there was a couple on the news not long ago who were white and had a coloured son. I think it can happen if you have black relatives somewhere on your family tree - It doesnt matter how far down. Have you tried googling it to see if you can find any info that way? Have you spoken to your hv about it?

It may be that her colour does change as she grows. I bet she is gorgeous x

When MIL saw a photo of a relative (ie early 1900's photo) on line she was really shocked that he wasn't white - I just burst out laughing, when she's been sunbathing you would assume she was middle eastern at the very least she is unbelievable dark.