Babies that look like their fathers might be healthier than babies who look like their mothers. It sounds outrageous, but a recent study is proving it to be true. However, the reason behind why the babies are healthier might not actually surprise you.

WebMD did a report on a study, where babies raised by single mothers but who looked like their fathers were healthier than babies who looked like their mother. 715 single mothers participated in the study. Kids who resembled their dads were healthier by the time they were 1-years-old.

The reason for the difference is actually quite simple. Fathers whose children look like them are more convinced the child is theirs, therefore the fathers spend more time with their kids. The study indicated that fathers whose kids don’t look like them spend 2.5 less days a month with their children.

“Fathers are important in raising a child, and it manifests itself in the health of the child. We find a child's health indicators improve when the child looks like the father. The main explanation is that frequent father visits allow for greater parental time for caregiving and supervision, and for information gathering about child health and economic needs," shared Solomon Polachek, who is a co-author of the study.

However, the study does not prove children resembling their dads will be healthier overall. It simply indicates that as a baby they could be healthier. The study did not follow children as they were growing up, thus only applies or proves this in babies.

The bottom line is it is always better for a child to have two parents involved. Let’s be honest, that is pretty much common sense. This study simply suggests a father may be more likely to see his child more often if the kid looks like him. It would be interesting if the study had perhaps talked more to the fathers in terms of if resemblance mattered to them. There are definitely some interesting aspects to the study, but there are also quite a few holes.

What do you think about the possibility that if a baby looks more like their father instead of their mother that the baby could be healthier?