Sad Beige Babies- why so blue? Or rather, lack of blue. Recently, the trend of beige colored children’s clothes and toys have been sweeping over social media. Parents around the United States have started solely using this color to match their own personal aesthetic. 

Videos started surfacing of this in late 2022, and have since continued into the new year. These videos are usually filmed by mothers, showing off how “aesthetic” their child can be. 

Nurseries are filled with a variety of beiges and creams. Mothers often post remodeling videos on TikTok, showing others how they are stripping away color from their children’s lives.

Toys have also lost color, as more and more parents are buying the colored toys and painting them a more neutral color to match their room. Toys become simplified like wooden pegs or dull rainbows. Popular storefronts such as Amazon have started selling colorless toys now to keep up with the trends. 

Commenters in these popular posts argue over whether or not this idea of beige and neutral surroundings is ethical. People state that babies need bright colors to grow and that the liveliness of colors helps brain growth and visual development. Meanwhile, the creators respond with videos of their children being perfectly fine, and that sometimes too bright of a color can be harmful. As @maddypenny3 wrote on TikTok, “I always found loads of bright toys and baby gear really overstimulating. When you’ve got a baby, you need all the peace you can get!” 

So how do parents know whether or not to include color in their kids’ lives? Well, in Aug. 2022, the Dr. Sears Wellness Institute decided to explore. They found that bright colors affect mood, behavior, sleep and memory. However, at the same time, the different, brighter colors send stronger signals to babies’ brains and help stimulate brain growth.

The institute provided the knowledge that newborns can’t fully recognize color until they are 5 months old, and that leading up to that point, they see in shades of black and white. With this, they suggested a timeline where the first few months of a child’s life be filled with basic black and white shapes, then the introduction of primary colors, then the rest of the colors. This way the babies don’t get overstimulated, and their brains will grow.