When a newborn arrives into the world, there’s a game that everyone likes to play: trying to identify their mum’s traits, or a resemblance to their dad. But do children look more like their mothers or their fathers? Stats are at the ready, following research from the University of Montpellier 2 in France, and the National Centre for Scientific Research who have issued a response. According to them, it’s not an illusion, children really do look more like one parent than the other… but this will change depending on the age of the child.
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The results are clear: whether it’s a boy or a girl, the newborn will look more like their mother. This is particularly true for little girls: between the ages 0 to 6, they take after their mothers. However, amongst the boys, the opposite is true from around 1 years old, and they end up looking more like their father. In other words, young girls look more like their mums, and young boys take after their fathers, but only until their first birthday.
According to the researchers, if we sometimes identify paternal traits in newborns, this is purely down to social manipulation. However, they have reiterated that more detailed research will have to be undertaken to determine resemblances amongst children over 6.
Take a look at the video above for more...