Collecting data to find out if when people say “your baby looks like you,” are they telling the truth, and your baby looks like you or are they lying and your baby doesn’t look like you? And what feature does the baby have that makes the baby look like it’s parents?

I took a picture of a mother and father, and a picture of their baby, the picture of their baby was on a different piece of paper then the picture of the mother and father. The picture of the baby was on a piece of paper that had pictures of nine other baby’s as well. Then I will ask ten different people, “out of the ten baby’s, what baby do you think belongs to the mother and father?” After I ask the person that, and they choose what baby they think belongs to the mother and father, I will then ask them, “what features does the baby you chose have, that makes you think they belong to the mother and father?” After I ask that question, I will record their answers on a separate piece of paper.

What Make’s a Baby Look Like It’s Parents?

Genes control what your baby looks like, but are unpredictable because %50 of a baby’s genes are from the mother of the baby and the other %50 are from the baby’s father. Some genes can also affect other genes, that can change a baby’s appearance. Also a baby can look like a parent or a sibling almost exactly. Sometimes when there are siblings, one sibling gets the hair colour of a parent and the other sibling gets the other parent’s hair colour.

What Make’s a Baby Not Look Like It’s Parents?

If a baby has green eyes and both of their parents have brown eyes then that means that both the parents carry a recessive allele. Sometimes your baby might not look like you because one of the parents might be out in the sun a lot and so the parents skin might be darker, the parents hair might be lighter, and the parent might have freckles from being in the sun.

Definitions:

Allele:

one of two or more versions of DNA sequences

Dominant allele:

dominant alleles express their trait even if there is only one copy

Recessive allele:

recessive alleles need one copy from each parent to be expressed

What features does the baby have that makes a person think that they belong to the mother and father?

Person #1’s answer: Baby #7:

“Baby #7 has the hair colour that is a blend of the parent’s hair, and the face resembles the mother.”

Person #2’s answer: Baby #9:

“Baby #9 has hair that and eyes that resemble the mother and the mouth resembles the father.”

Person #3’s answer: Baby #5:

“Baby #5 has the same smile eyes and cheeks as the parents.”

Person #4’s answer: Baby #4:

“Baby #4 has hair colour and eyes that resemble the mother, and the skin colour, eyebrows and nose resembles both the parents.”

Person #5’s answer: Baby #9:

“Baby #9 has hair colour and eyes that resemble the mother and the smile resembles the father.”

Person #6’s answer: Baby #5:

“Baby #5 has a smile and eyes that resemble the father and the nose resembles the mother.”

Person #7’s answer: Baby #9:

“Baby #9 has eyes that look like they belong to the parents.”

Person #8’s answer: Baby #4:

“Baby #4 has a nose that resembles the father and the skin colour is the same as both the parents.”

Person #9’s answer: Baby #7:

“Baby #7 has smiley eyes that resembles the father, and the shape of the face resembles the mother.”

Person #10’s answer: Baby #7:

“Baby #7 has similar eye colour and hair colour as the parents and the background of the photos are similar.”

(Picture of mother and father below)

My conclusion is that when people say “your baby looks just like you!” They are lying because out of the ten people I asked, none of them were able to accurately guess what baby belongs to the mother and father. Also most people matched features that the baby’s had to the parents even through the baby didn’t belong to the parents.

https://www.yourgenome.org/theme/what-are-dominant-and-recessive-alleles/

https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Allele

https://www.parents.com/getting-pregnant/genetics/tests/baby-looks/

https://brightside.me/articles/science-explains-why-some-children-look-nothing-like-their-parents-802162/

https://babyschool.yale.edu/why-doesnt-my-baby-look-like-me/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBuH1b0Dqm0

Thank you to all of the people who gave me their baby photos, and to all of the people who got their consent forms back on time. Also thank you to all of the people who answered all of the questions I asked. Thank you to my parents and my friends for supporting me throughout my science fair project. Also thank you to S.P. For telling me what a log book was.