Photo Ideas for Your Baby’s First Year | by Laura Froese
I want to share 10 photo ideas for your “Baby’s First Year” for moms who are expecting or have a little one that are under one year old. I know there are 12 photos in this post, but two of them are showing how I cycle back to ideas to showcase everyone growing up in those early years.
I had my kids back-to-back, and had three in diapers for 10 months. I had a 0, 1, and 2 year old for a few months. My oldest was only 2 years and 9 months old when my youngest was born. And they were all (unbeknownst to me at the time) carrying my neurospicy genetics so when I tell you it was mayhem, it was next level. I really had to think, “What photos do I REALLY want to have to document my last little one, and what photos do I just simply not need?” I didn’t want my last baby to be less documented than the first, but I also knew I didn’t have the energy I once had him. Thus, I made a list of the “must haves,” and I literally scheduled them on the calendar to watch for.
Here are some that I am so, so thankful I forced myself to take:
1. Baby’s first bath.
The whale tub is ugly. The overhead lighting is orange. But this was a photo I managed to get of each of my children, and I didn’t want him to miss out.
2. A “portrait” of him with his teddy.
I bought each boy a teddy when they were born and it’s a fun growth comparison tool later on. He was born October 27th, so you can see from the dates that some of these photos were very early on, but I made myself.
3. Holding him while he was still small.
You can see from the date again, that this was a good 10 days after he was born. I know babies hit their first growth spurt around those 10 days so I put it on the calendar and forced myself to do it before that window passed - on day 10 of course!
4. The Whole Family Together
It took me a solid 5 more days to get an image of us together as a family during this stage, but it was another list item and another item I literally scheduled on the calendar. I am thankful that so many of my “must haves” are around the same time and then I feel less pressured as time goes on.
5. With Extended Family
A week later we took him on a little road trip to meet some family. I made sure I got a photo of each family holding him. One photo with each set of grandparents. This image is taken inside a coffee shop at the table. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I used my “big girl camera” purely because my iPhone is so ancient I can’t even update it anymore. If you have a nice phone on portrait mode, that would truly suffice!
6. Ordinary Everyday Moment
I made sure I got a “boring photo” of me and my three babies doing everyday life - we watched SO much t.v.! I’m that parent. I own that. It didn’t seem that amazing at the time. I just set my camera on the arm of the couch. Now it feels like a million lifetimes ago only 5 years later, and I am so thankful I documented the ordinary things, too.
7. Documenting Growth
It’s okay if you don’t shoot your baby every single month. Try to get at least 3-4 in the first year just to see - schedule them! This is where that teddy comes back around as a growth comparison!
8. Siblings Together
I wanted to make sure I had some images of all three boys in a photo together from this time - even if it was maybe just two or three from the whole first year. Dad is holding him on the bench at grandma’s so he’s not falling over here. This wasn’t planned. I just had my camera and was like quick - two out of three are in a row so stick the third one in!
9. Milestones
I wanted to hit a few milestones. I wanted the first food. The first toe grab. The first step (or close to it - I don’t think that one happened to be honest), and that was about it. Two out of three is better than zero out of three! This is also not the first toe grab. It was probably one of the last. But it was documented!
10. Siblings as they grow together
You might have noticed that the image with all three boys on the bench was dated March 10th. I did a similar shot again on May 16th a couple of months later. I bribed for this. Baby is sitting in a Bumbo. I knew I wanted a few of these images so I prioritized this. I just wanted to include it to show you an idea of how “informal” these photos ended up being. I did not sit them all on the couch every month to say “cheese.”
11. More of our everyday
Here is another photo idea where I just circled back again. I took a “boring,” every-day life shot of us on the couch watching t.v. earlier, but I didn’t put the date on that one (done is better than perfect my friends!). I did this same image again on June 28th. I know the first one was very, very newborn days from what his hair is doing (lol), so this is probably about a 7-to-8-month difference.
12. Favorite Food
I always try to take a “messy” highchair shot. I actually JUST noticed while I was writing this blog that his favourite food is blueberries. He’s coming up on 6 now and absolutely dumped an entire crate of blueberries all over the floor this morning trying to fix himself a snack. This is why we document <3.
I hope this gives you both some ideas and also some grace to miss things. I don’t have his first step. That toe grab was his very last. I don’t have a photo of him with my own mom. It’s okay. Done is better than perfect!
