My son takes after me despite having used donor eggs

Hi there!

My case is rather strange, or at least that’s what people who knows the truth keeps on telling me… You know, a few years ago I was detected early menopause, so I had no choice but to use donor eggs to have my son, who BTW is now 2 years old. We used donor eggs together with my husband’s spermatozoa, which resulted into high quality embryos with full capacity to implant… and then one of them gave rise to my dear Gerogie 🙂

The curious thing comes now… My baby takes a lot after me even though, as I said, my genetic material is not there. In fact, he doesn’t look like my husband actually… How is this possible? Does it make sense or is it my imagination? I think I’m not crazy but where there’s no possible scientific explanation I guess there’s no other answer… Or maybe it is because of his personality traits, which I think he’s acquired mine?

Please, any expert could answer?

Dear Deedee Jr,

When choosing an egg donor, if it was in the hands of your fertility clinic, they try to choose a woman whose phenotype (physical appearance) and personality traits resemble those of the recipient woman, that is, the mother-to-be. This is the reason why your baby can look more like you than your husband.

Regarding the resemblance between your gestures and personality traits, of course it is possible. There is always the impact of the so-called “environment factor”; in other words, the society and the people in general surrounding you always have a certain influence on the development of your personality to some extent.

In this sense, it is not uncommon than parents usually see their child resembles them physically just because their personalities are somewhat similar, or even their way of walking, for example. However, these characteristics are not related to genetics but to the environment factor I told you before. This phenomenon is technically known as “epigenetics” and can start influencing the baby even during the gestation period.

To find out more about epigenetics, the following topic may be of interest: Epigenetics and egg donation.

Best wishes