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The 7 Best Baby Memory Books
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Babies grow up so much in their first year and every new skill or babble is cause for celebration. Before you know it, your little one will be walking and talking, and you’ll be glad to have recorded those milestones. The best baby memory books capture your baby’s memories in a template that works for you, both in terms of how much content is recorded and the kind of style that fits with your own.
A lot of baby books have fill-in-the-blank pages, which takes the work out of coming up with what to jot down, but they can also feel rigid or you end up with sections left blank if the template doesn’t exactly fit your story. An open-ended book or one with removable pages could be a better, more inclusive fit for your family. Some books contain prompts for lots of little details, like songs you sing to your baby, but if, like me, you’re not much of a scrapbooker, you might prefer a simpler book that’s less of a time commitment to fill out.
Most baby books concentrate on the first year when baby is changing and developing rapidly, and some memory books extend up to year five or even include sections for journaling your pregnancy. You can find books below with a number of unique features like a growth chart, monthly milestone photo stickers, ways to document baby’s hand and footprints (one even includes stamps), and storage for special mementos.
Baby memory books often have whimsical themes; you can even find one that matches your nursery theme, such as rainbows, or one with a more heirloom-quality feel that you can display. Bonus points for books with premium clothbound covers and archival-quality pages designed to last for years.
The baby memory books below offer beautiful and user-friendly ways to provide a keepsake for your little one, whether you’re looking for something modern and neutral or playful and colorful.
1. A Modern Baby Book for The First Five Years
This modern baby book captures all the special details from pregnancy, the baby shower, then baby’s first year and developmental milestones up to age 5. Its neutral design has minimalist hand-drawn illustrations, and the book’s flexible content fits many families, so it’s no surprise this pick maintains a seriously impressive, near-perfect 4.9-star rating with over 3,000 reviews.
Inside you’ll find 160 pages that include a family tree and monthly milestones to fill out with spaces for capturing the sweet and silly moments, like songs you sing to them, too. There are lined pages for journal-style entries or writing letters to your little one. With spiral binding and a lay-flat design, the book is comfortable to write in. Its also a keepsake built to last with a timeless design and elegant linen cover and acid-free archival paper that is used for the preservation of documents. Pocket section dividers provide a place for storing mementos. And of course, there are plenty of prompts for adding personal photos, including the baby nursery and a spot for those tiny footprints.
Reviewers also report the book’s inclusive language is considerate of different kinds of families, in part by not peppering the templates with the words “mom” and “dad.” The flexible template works well, according to reviewers, for families with adopted children, same-sex parents, or single parents. If anything doesn’t quite fit your baby’s story, the pages are easily removable.
A helpful review: “[...] After searching quite a bit for a gender neutral book I was so sick of finding either 1) boring and ugly or 2) goofy cartoon zoo animals. This book is the opposite of what I had been finding. It is modern and beautiful, thoughtfully composed, and contains plenty of space for sentimental moments without being overly saccharine. I adore the hand lettering and drawings. [...] Many of the prompts are very special and caused me to tear up before I even wrote anything inside. It allows for five years of memories with lots of space for photos. It also includes several pages for grandparents, friends and other relatives to write letters to baby. It is sturdy, bound in linen, and has a spiral coil on the inside. [...] It has made saving these special moments even more exciting for our whole family.”
2. This Beautifully Illustrated Memory Book With Milestone Stickers For Taking Monthly Photos
This illustrated baby memory book is absolutely enchanting with whimsical illustrations inspired by Emily Winfield Martin’s bestselling children’s book. It’s a sweet way to record the milestones and progress of your baby’s first year, complete with matching sticker badges for snapping photos of your little one each month. The 80-page book includes monthly milestone pages to keep record of several fun details, including favorite songs, foods, and toys.
This pick doesn’t really document the pregnancy days, but it does have templates for family information: an illustrated family tree page that unfolds out and a spot for a photo of baby’s parent(s). This colorful book also contains envelopes and a folder in the back for preserving mementos and cards along the way, including a space to save your ultrasound photos.
You can also complete the set with a matching storybook and growth chart; I received the Spanish version of the storybook at my baby shower and it so charming.
A helpful review: “We love Emily Winfield Martin’s book, especially her illustrations. When I found this baby book I had to try it, if it was as good as her books then I needed it for our baby! When it arrived all of my expectations were exceeded. The book has a great weight to it, it’s clean, the illustrations are incredible, and it’s adorable. I love the pop-out family tree and the areas for pictures and keepsakes. [...] I highly recommend this baby book for everyone! I will purchase one for subsequent babies they’re so incredible! [...]”
3. The Cult-Favorite Baby Book With A Handprint & Footprint Memory Kit
This baby memory book is a perennial favorite among parents of little ones — it has a 4.8-star rating with over 15,000 reviews — for capturing the important memories from pregnancy and up to age 5.
The ivory linen cover fits in with any nursery decor (and it’s available in a dozen other cover variations, including pink, gingham, and animal themes). Inside, you’ll find more than 50 pages with plenty of prompts and templates to fill in over the years: a family tree, the first ultrasound, baby shower, first bath, first holidays, birthdays, doctor visits, and the first day of school. Reviewers also love that this baby book comes with an ink pad for preserving your little one’s handprints and footprints; the book’s cover even has a spot for the first photo of the baby and a footprint. Sentimental parents will love how this memory book captures every last detail.
Keep in mind this memory book does use language specific to the baby’s mom and dad, including a page for each with information to fill out about both parents.
A helpful review: “This baby book has so many features. The ink pads with directions to put the baby's feet and hand prints into the book, pages for mom to record her thoughts while waiting for baby, etc. The format is very clear and pleasant to look at. A busy new mom can easily record her baby's firsts. The best baby book I've ever seen.”
4. The Baby Memory Book For Busy Parents
If a scrapbook sounds like a great idea at first, but ultimately you feel overwhelmed by filling out all those pages templated for tons of details, here’s a beautiful baby memory book for busy parents. You won’t feel like anything’s missing in the book’s 48 pages, but its photo-centric design is easy to keep up with for recording monthly milestones in a baby’s first year. It pretty much sticks to the first year, except for one “before you were born” page and a few inclusions for holiday photos, the first day of school, and the first five birthdays, so there’s no pressure to jot down too much information.
Somewhere between a baby journal and a photo album, this book also has a flexible template to suit different family dynamics, including on the family tree. You’ll also find a page for preserving your baby’s footprints or handprints (but does not include an ink pad like the previous pick). The spiral-bound book lays flat so it’s comfortable to record in, and it’s printed with soy-based ink.
The rainbow design is sweet and colorful, and it’s also popular with parents welcoming rainbow babies, according to reviews. Love the idea of this super simple book but curious about another theme? This pick is also available in several other themes: cute bear, animal lover, nautical, or floral.
A helpful review: “This baby book is really cute and is perfect for someone like me who doesn't want to record every. single. moment of baby's life, but who definitely wants to record the important milestones. This particular book is very gender neutral, which is what I was looking for, since we didn't find out the gender of our baby. It has a place for listing family, footprints, photos of each month and favorites. Super simple and super cute!”
5. The Designer Memory Book With A Growth Chart
For a cheeky and cheerful take, this Kate Spade memory book feels both fun and sophisticated. The template focuses on monthly milestones in the first year and overall firsts, like smiles, steps, and words. There’s also a height and weight chart inside to record your baby’s growth along the way.
Along with a record of monthly photos and evolving favorites, this book comes with six cards for parent(s) or loved ones to write letters to the baby. The letters are suggested to be kept inside the six envelopes in the book and opened on future milestones in the child’s life, like graduation, an important birthday, or their wedding day. There’s also a page for stamped records of your baby’s handprints and footprints. The hardcover book’s 40 pages are made of thick paper that won’t allow ink to bleed through, and it comes in a matching designer gift box.
A helpful review: “True Kate Spade. Very colorful, gender-neutral, and sophisticated. I purchased it as a baby shower gift and the mother-to-be Loved it. [...]”
6. An Open-Ended Book For The Creative Parent
For anyone who has kept a personal diary or journal, this book will feel familiar. This heirloom baby book contains 144 high-quality stock pages with the most open-ended template on this list, which is a great fit for creative parents who want to record memories of their growing babies in their own way. It’s still a gorgeous keepsake with a gray linen hardcover and gold foil; inside there’s a woven ribbon to use as a bookmark.
With mostly blank pages to fill in as you like, you can write letters to your baby to read when they’re older and jot down the tiny moments and the bigger milestones. The flexible content design allows you to record throughout the first year, pregnancy, and beyond your kid’s first birthday. There are simple prompts throughout the journal to get ideas flowing about what to write, and there are more than a dozen pages throughout the book of colorful illustrations. The simple and modern book fits on any bookshelf and the neutral aesthetic feels timeless enough to grow with your child.
A helpful review: “I bought two of these, one for each of my sons to write letters and record special memories I share with them. It is such a sweet keepsake and I hope someday they enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed writing in it.”
7. A Memory Book For Twins That Comes With Fun Emoji Stickers
Now, if you’re welcoming two bundles of joy soon, you don’t have to keep up with two baby memory books. This baby memory book for twins has kid-friendly illustrations and templates for capturing milestones and memories from the first year of both babies in one book.
Though this 40-page book focuses mostly on the first year you’ll fill out plenty of details, like birth certificates, monthly photos and milestones, dental and doctor visits, immunizations, holidays, birthdays, first day of school, and trips. There’s also one page for pregnancy memories and photos of mom and dad. This spiral-bound book lays flat so it’s easy to write in. This book has a colorful adventure theme and comes with three sheets of emoji-inspired stickers to make it your own, but it also is available in a floral design and a farm animal theme.
A helpful review: “I was so happy to find out that I did not have to write in 2 different books. I am a first time mother, and I already feel overwhelmed at times. This was definitely a relief for me! The book is so colorful and cute.”
