21 Unique Ideas for Monthly Milestone Pictures
Monthly milestone photos are a baby trend that’s taken social media and the mommyverse by storm…and we’re here for it! They’re such a fun and special way to hold onto some of your little one’s precious moments—and they’re so sweet to look back on in the months and years to come. You can make these monthly milestone photoshoots as simple or as complicated as you want. They’ll be an adorable treasure no matter how much detail you put in, because after all, your baby is at the heart of it all. Here, cute and unique monthly baby photo inspiration just for you!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: In Your Arms
Photo: Simply Rosie
Heart. Melt. City! What a beautiful way to always remember just how tiny your baby looked during their first year. And because your wee tot will be in your arms for each milestone picture, there will be no rolling out of the shot! (Be sure to wear a consistent, neutral top, like the lacey cream blouse above.)
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Rustic Minimalist
Photo: Instagram
An easy yet beautiful idea for monthly baby photos: Simply use a roll of butcher paper and scrawl your baby’s stats on it. Perfection!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Perfect Pennants
Photo and to purchase: Maisonette
Pretty monthly banners are a super easy, cute, and contemporary way to celebrate each month of growth with your baby. Plus, a set like this takes all the heavy lifting out of the creativity equation. And that can be a relief, since getting your wiggly one to be still for baby milestone photos can be hard enough.
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Pizza, Pizza!
Photo: Dani Leigh Photography
This is one yummy monthly baby picture idea! Here, a foodie mama utilized a pizza box and the concept of taking twelve slices to get a whole pie to track her little guy’s first year in photos. The clear benefit to this idea, of course, is pizza for the grownups!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Holidays of the First Year
Photo: Anna with Love
Take your baby's milestone photos with monthly holidays and other special days, like the start of a season, in mind. A few easy props or even just adding stickers in an app is just as special as going all out.
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Sweet Little Kit
Photo and to purchase: Etsy
Not crafty? Don’t worry! Simply buy items like these handmade plush moment-markers to help you set up Baby’s monthly milestone photos. You can even use the soft star, rainbow, and toy for daily playtime, nursery decor, and further photo ops down the line.
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Tiny Props on White
Photo: Helen Don Photography
Keep Baby milestone photos simple and oh-so adorable by placing your little one on a soft white backdrop and illustrating their age with the corresponding number of props, like seven paper butterflies for 7 months old. Or use something like, say flower petals or candy canes, to create numerals. Easy!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Use Blocks
Photo and to purchase: Etsy
Another great way to make monthly photos easy on you while also making sure they turn out beautifully for your bub's memory book: Get your hands on a set of blocks that can be reconfigured each month to track time as it passes.
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Flower Power
Photo: Instagram
Using flowers to represent your baby’s age is hippie-chic at its absolute finest. But if botanicals aren’t your thing, you can do something similar with seashells, blocks, postcards, tiny toy cars…anything really!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Doughnut Grow Up!
Photo: Instagram
Watching them grow is so bittersweet, but doughnuts are just plain sweet! Like the pizza concept, work your way toward a dozen doughnuts (and months) with this delicious monthly baby photo idea. Bonus: Instead of culminating Baby’s first year with a cake smash, your tot can enjoy their first doughnut!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Character of the Month
Photo: Luv Ashland
Movie and book buffs, Superhero lovers, Disney fanatics, and more will adore this fun idea for Baby photo of the month. Dress your lil nugget up as a different movie or book character each month of their first year and snap, snap away!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Bounty of the Season
Photo: Instagram
A beautiful way to mark your baby’s growth in their first year of life is to use the natural gifts each month bestows upon us. From berries and watermelons to pumpkins and pinecones, have fun creating nature-inspired monthly baby pictures.
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Create a Scene
Photo: Instagram
Pinterest is positively bursting with inspiration for elaborate photoshoot themes for Baby milestone photos, many of which use blankets, bedsheets, and colored paper as their main materials. For instance, the crocheted blanket, above, is a rainbow. A light blue sheet can be the start of an in-flight scene in the summer sky. A velvety red throw? It can be a stage curtain, of course!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Plush Pics
Place your sweet bub on the same blanket next to a favorite stuffed animal, like SNOObear, month after month. It’s simple, it’s sweet, and it’s great fun to compare how big your baby has gotten next to their beloved plushy. (If you’ve got a lovable, baby-friendly pet, that’ll work, too!)
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Wood Markers
Photo and to purchase: Etsy
Timeless and neutral, these handmade wooden milestone signs from Etsy are a great way to mark the months as they pass. And after you’re done photographing for the year, you can easily paint the month-to-month wood numbers, turning them into an inspired piece of learn-to-count baby room decor.
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Simply Seated
Photo: Madison Thomson Photography
Placing your baby in the same chair month by month is an easy-peasy way to chart their growth…and effective, too! After all, the seat stays the same size, but your wee one only gets bigger and bigger!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Go Digital
Photo: Tanya Teran Photography
Any background will do and no props are needed for this straightforward and fun monthly baby photo idea. Just take a simple snap of your little one and upload it to an app like Little Nugget: Baby Milestones ($3.99, iPhone) or Baby Story (free, iPhone and Android), where you can add information like your baby’s height, weight, age, and so on. Alternatively, if you have Photoshop skills (like the mom responsible for the photos above), flex them with some DIY milestone fun!
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Mod Markers
Photo and to purchase: Etsy
If rustic and natural aren’t for you, trade the trendy wood monthly milestone markers for something mod and unexpected, like these 4-inch acrylic discs that can be repurposed later for a funky photo display.
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Baby and Balloons
Photo: Instagram
Since every month brings something to celebrate, why not blow up some festive balloons?! Tie the number of balloons that correspond to your baby’s age in months to a cozy chair you seat your bub in. (Six months old? Six balloons.) Or arrange small balloons into your kiddo’s age (using double-sided tape to keep them together) and lay your baby down on a rug or blanket next to your creation.
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Little Illustrations
Photo and to purchase: Etsy
Don’t let a lack of time or artistic skills keep you from trying out creative monthly baby photo ideas. To get drawings like the ones featured here, send your shots to a pro who'll add the illustrations of your choosing to your baby milestone pictures. (These cost $15 a pop or $150 for a year’s worth of milestones.)
Monthly Baby Picture Idea: Bassinet and DONE
Photo: Instagram
Like the baby-in-a-chair milestone photos, shooting a monthly image of your little one in their SNOO, bassinet, or crib is a simple way to track their growth. (Adding a special rattle, stuffed toy, or pacifier is a sweet way to remember what your baby loved at that point in time, too.) It’s a good idea to keep blankets and outfits monochromatic so when you display your precious images together they look harmonious.
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