25 Times Newborns Looked Confusingly Different To Their Birth Parents

Babies are the result of a complex mix of DNA, and science has shown that certain traits can skip generations. Still, it can be an incredibly awkward surprise for both parents and medical staff when a newborn arrives looking remarkably different from what anyone expected.

#1

Image source: poemsarefun, pressmaster

Both of my parents are black, and my mom is darker than my dad, when I was born I came out white as a sheet with blue eyes and red hair, so people were more shocked I came out of my mom in the first place, apparently the nurse just kinda held me reluctant to give me to my mom saying “but she’s awfully pale”.

#2

Image source: EvilElmoz, Trung Nhan Tran

My uncle is an obstetrician. He told me that one time the baby came put asian and both of the parents were white and the man actually punched the woman. Got sued.

One other story was that there was a muslim couple and the baby was white. Skin disorder however the father was screaming.

#3

Years ago, my mum saw a woman at church who had just had a baby. The woman was white. Dad was white. Baby was black. People assumed the kid was adopted because of the fact that the dad wasn’t upset (or gullible).

Turns out, the baby was both their biological child – they’d had a test done soon after it was born. One of the parents (I forget which) had had a black great grandparent or something, and the genetics had skipped a generation or two.

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#4

Image source: -mikey, Getty Images

Not an obgyn, but it happened to a friend of mine. He’s white, his wife was black. Baby came out and the docs had to do a double take. Baby came out very dark. He didn’t think twice about it until they got divorced a year later and she wanted child support. Turns out it wasn’t his.

He just had a kid with his new wife. The baby looks exactly like him.

#5

Image source: prollylying, Getty Images

I personally haven’t, but I had a friend from college that had this happen. The baby came out slightly darker than either of them, and with black hair. Well she had brown and he was blonde, so it really didn’t add up. My friend said the doctor was acting very weird about the whole thing, But my friend didn’t suspect a thing. Turns out she had non-dominant genes that took over, so it ended well.

#6

Well clearly I’m not an obstetrician, but, I am a redhead and so was the doctor who delivered me. My parents are blonde and brunette, so that was a big joke in the delivery room after I was born.

Image source: Merwoman

#7

Image source: lamontsanders, rawpixel.com

Ob/Gyn…It’s really awkward. Like REALLY awkward. Like get the hell out of that room as fast as you can awkward. Both times I can remember the “dad” was super happy about the baby until he got a good look at it. Nobody blew up or got in huge fights, they just left. I honestly can’t remember wanting to be done with a delivery more in my life.

I also remember doing a delivery with a black couple that got temporarily awkward. Sometimes black babies will come out very pale. I remember the dad looking at mom and then looking right me and saying “what’s up”. We were frantically showing them that this child was, in fact, not white. I could see that guy going from zero to furious until we showed him evidence.

#8

Image source: justjoshingu, ASphotofamily

On rotation at a children’s hospital. We had a light black skinned baby born to two white parents. We were all like uhhhh uhhh ummm. Shooting glances at each other. Parents were super happy and didn’t say anything. We later meet baby’s granddad who was black.

#9

A couple of Family friends are a white couple and they had a black baby. The husband left the wife after she was born, but the wife knew that she hadn’t cheated on him. After a long time of fighting and the wife begging they did a paternity test and the baby did belong to him, they somehow had a black baby.

Image source: serisho

#10

Image source: sschouest, freepik

Anesthesia: first, I’ll admit it, I love doing scheduled non-emergent c-sections.

There have been occasions where the “dads” or significant other already knows that the child isn’t theirs: it’s an awkward moment sometimes, you have to feel out the dad if he is genuinely happy, unsure if he should be happy/sad, or he is just upset about the situation… More times than not it’s the “I have a new baby in the family but I’m not sure how I should feel bc it’s mine but it’s not mine” so, my job is to care for the mothers well being first, you must maintain a high level of respect.

Some do not understand that a black baby does not come out black or dark brown, I think they come out pretty shade of pink, grey, or a light shade of tan… I’ll never forget one instance where a black male around 20 years old was furious that the baby came out healthy pink… At first he was quiet, then He started huffing and puffing, saying that’s not my baby and things like that, pacing back and forth… I asked him to step out of them room and we’ll take care of mom and baby.

My responsibility is for the safety and well being of the mother first, I am all for having a good time, smiles and tons of picture taking and music… But ultimately my focus is 100% on mom… If you have any medical questions, consult your OBGYN or Anesthesia care provider.

#11

When I was an L&D nurse (this was around 2007ish)

This mom comes in for induction of labor. She has her husband…and her “guy she cheated with” in the room. This was a “Um…OK” moment.

Got her settled in and the induction started. Asking her questions for admit screening etc…

She tells me: “If the baby is mine and my husbands- we are keeping it. If the other guy is the father- we are giving the baby up for adoption”

I ask about what DNA/Paternity service they are using?

**Well- I will just look at the baby and I will know”

Note: each person in the room was the same race with both men having similar features (dark hair, brown eyes, skin tone)

She kept the baby because she “just knew”.

Image source: ECU_BSN

#12

Image source: anon, Jonathan Borba

I’m a resident now. Had a mom come in to deliver. As we got her back to the actual delivery suite the nurse was going over how many people could be in the room. The rule says 3 but usually in our hospital we’ll allow more as long as you don’t act insane.

The mom mentioned something about the “baby-daddies” needing to be there. That’s right, baby daddies plural.

Sure enough, I come back for her cervix check and there are two men in there at the head of the bed. No one knows who the father is but in a raffle ticket drawing type situation they stood around for the delivery waiting to see who “won” the baby.

Now, the guys were a light skinned african american guy and a very dark skinned african american guy. Now if you have seen black newborns they tend to be very light skinned initially even if the parents are both very dark.

So the baby comes out very light skinned and the light skinned guy literally points at the dark skinned guy and yells, “told you it was mine.” They started arguing and had to be removed from the room by the nurse while the other resident and I cleaned up down there.

Oh city hospitals.

#13

Image source: NurseAngela, cookie_studio

My cousin is half black half white. So is her hubby. They are both dark skinned brown eyes.

Her first son has dark and brown eyes.

Second son? White as anything, red hair green eyes. People routinely think that he’s adopted as he looks nothing like his parents or his brother!

#14

When my son was born he came out pink/white, blonde and blue. When my daughter was born she came out dark purple/brown dark hair green eyes. As I’m watching the nurse clean her up I commented “I guess they come in different colors…” the nurse froze for a solid 5 seconds and only looking at me out of the corner of her eye asked what I meant and I described how her older brother looked when he was born. Nurse nervously laughed and I realized what she was thinking and decided to be kind enough to explain my being part Indian and mommy being part Mexican. Don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look that relieved before.

In all the pictures of my daughter for her first month or two she looked black. Now 5 years later just has a natural tan and a grin that could cheer Ebenezer scrooge.

Image source: DevilDucky95

#15

I am a caucasian and so is my wife. When our third daughter turned up, she was had very dark skin colour and so fat she resembled a shar-pei puppy dog. I was quite surprised. Within around 30mins her skin had gone to pinky white, and the wrinkly skin disappeared but I must admit I was pretty surprised at first. She is now a gorgeous willowy blonde, but you would not have guessed from her arrival…

Image source: the_aura_of_justice

#16

I knew this family from my childhood, and the three kids all looked different (they were all half white, half Mexican).

One had olive skin, hazel eyes, light brown hair.

One had brown eyes, tan, brown skin, and dark brown hair.

One had pink skin, light blue eyes, and blonde hair.

It was pretty cool.

Image source: KaddyCakes

#17

I’m biracial (black/white), and my wife is white. We have three kids. Our first kid came out with my skin-tone. Our second kid turned out actually darker than me, but with rather straight hair. Third kid is as white as my wife, with curly blond hair (we both have a blond parent).

I asked my wife if I could tell people when we were meeting for the first time that kid #3 was the result of an extramarital affair, but that we were working through things.

She said no. :(.

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#18

Image source: enfermerista, DC Studio

Nurse-midwife here. Yes, have had this happen. The most dramatic had the supportive, hopeful-he-was-the-FOB guy at the bedside and contestant 2 was out in the parking lot drinking. Baby came out not looking like contestant 1’s race. (Personally, I didn’t think it was 100% impossible, but all the family and friends did). Contestant 1 left the room distraught, contestant 2 started texting the mom, who was also crying. It was very Jerry Springer. I don’t get it, to be honest. If you know your SO had slept with someone else anyway, what does it matter whose genetic material the kid has?

#19

Not an OB. When our third child was born, she was very dark-skinned, and had black hair. The nurses were looking at each other suspiciously, and cutting glances at me to see how I was taking it. Of course, being caught up in the whole euphoria/terror of having a child (yay, a new baby/I hope my wife lives through this), I saw their responses but it did not exactly register. Things got even more awkward when people saw our neighbors, who were waiting to see us and the baby, as the neighbors “Sara” and “Jay” are Indian (as in, from Delhi). The nurses really freaked when “Sara” holds the baby, saying, “Oh, look, “Jay,” she could be my baby!” It totally looked like “Jay” was the dad and I was just clueless. When I casually mentioned to the nurse that the dark skin and hair is due to my wife being Irish/Cherokee, the tension in the staff totally eased. We still call her our little papoose, even though she is a tall, stunning teenager and her skin looks more like her mother’s Irish complexion now.

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#20

Native American and Black Irish genes seem to skip generations. My father has blue eyes and is Scottish/Norwegian, and my mother has brown hair and light brown eyes. When my sister was born, she looked like an inuit. I have eyes that are nearly black, and am pale as a snow man. From what I understand, it was even more awkward because my maternal grandfather, who possesses both odd genes, was not in touch with the family and not there to explain the genetics.

Image source: hablomuchoingles

#21

I was blond haired and blue eyed when I was born. No one in my family, or extended family (that I know of) has blond hair or blue eyes.

Six weeks later I grew out of it.

Image source: TetonCharles

#22

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My cousin met and married her first husband when she was already about two months pregnant. He knew about the baby and was happy about being a dad, even though he wouldn’t be genetically related to him.

Well, the time comes and she pushes out this obviously half black baby. I was in the room with them and got to watch the nurse do this back and forth between the two of them like she was just waiting on some kind of explosion. Also when the lady came in to do the birth certificate stuff when she asked about the dad she was trying to be very delicate in asking if he was going to be on the birth certificate or not. It was pretty funny.

They ended up divorced a year later because she cheated on him every time she came home to visit and I finally broke down and told him that it really was happening. He got custody of the first baby and another baby she got pregnant with after the divorce. That’s a different longer story though.

#23

Image source: NealNYC, malitskiybogdan

I’ve had two situations like this in my career so far. Both were pretty similar situations. It was so painfully obvious that the guy was not the biological father. In both cases, it was so obvious that neither parent asked me any questions about it. That was fine with me because I had no desire to get involved in their pending drama. Mom is healthy…baby is healthy…y’all probably want to be alone…buh-bye…

#24

Image source: jamiesn, DC Studio

In my labor and delivery rotation there was a young girl about to give birth. I heard the nurses talking and making bets and stuff so I asked what was going on. The man that was in there with the girl was who I imagined the dad was. Girl and man1 broke up. Girl met man 2 and had a one night stand but it turned into a little more than that.

But girl decided to get back with man1. Found out she was pregnant and didn’t know who the dad was. Man 1 said he would raise the baby no matter what and that man 2 better never show his face. But man 2 wanted to be there for the birth of the kid in case it was his. Both men were there and they took turns seeing the baby after it was born. Man 2 was pretty excited like had his whole family there and everything. I secretly hope it was his.

I never found out. Also man 2 was hispanic but you couldn’t really tell any features about the baby. It could have gone either way.

#25

I’m an OB and I’ve never really had a serious question of paternity in the delivery room. The newborns color and appearance can change pretty dramatically in the first few days, so I never read much into it. It’s such an emotional and serious moment. Families usually focus on the joy and relief.

The place where I often get questions about paternity is in the office. There are lots of situations where this can come up, but most commonly revolves around the due date. Most often it’s the woman, but sometimes the ‘father’ will ask me to estimate the date of conception so they can determine who the father is likely to be (or not to be). So, for example, a husband has been deployed overseas for a known block of time, and the question is could he have fathered the child if they were not together during this time frame. This happens pretty often, and women especially try to camouflage their questions. It’s pretty easy to recognize now, so I just sit down and ask if this is a question regarding paternity and take it from there.

Image source: m0ckingb1rd