21 Creative Monthly Milestone Picture Ideas For Your Baby (Under 1 year)

For any parent, taking monthly milestone photos of their child is a fun and meaningful way to preserve the priceless moments of their baby's first year. However, it can be difficult to come up with iconic ideas for each month.

For this reason, I'll be sharing 21 creative and unique baby photoshoot ideas for monthly milestone photos that you can take with your child (under 1 year). These adorable ideas will help you, whether you are a real pro or a first-time parent taking milestone pictures.

1. Monthly onesie with the age in months: 

Image courtesy: Britney Cunningham

One of the simple yet inventive baby photoshoot ideas could be monthly onesies with the age in months.  All you need is a collection of number customized onesies in various sizes to take a picture of your baby each month.

2. With a favorite toy or stuffed animal

Image Courtesy: Samantha Plans to Decorate

A favorite toy or stuffed animal can add a personal touch to the monthly milestone photos. Every month, take a picture of your child holding or playing with their favorite stuffed toy that they may have grown to love.

3. With a family pet

Image Courtesy: Courtney Monson

Include your family pet in the photos of your baby to show off their relationship with their furry friend. You could have your pet lying next to your baby or on your baby's lap only if it's small enough.

4. As a Fairytale Prince or Princess

Image Courtesy: Sjannie *

Out of all the monthly milestone photo ideas, this one may be the most enjoyable one. Can take a little more effort from you though. Select a fairytale theme. Dress up your baby as a different prince or princess and arrange their surroundings accordingly. You can also use famous cartoon or movie characters or your favorite characters instead of fairytale princes or princesses as reference.

5. One Wild Year with hand-made photo frame

Photo Courtesy: Ilanit Varela

The first year of your child's life is really quite chaotic. With pictures of your baby's various activities every month, you can easily document this wild ride in a handmade photo frame. The scene can be anywhere and reflect any series of events, including playing with pets or taking a nap. 

6. With a hand-painted milestone marker or card

Image courtesy: Ashleigh Wilcox

To represent the month numbers of your baby's first year, use a hand-painted milestone marker or card with a particular design or theme. You can be as imaginative as you like with the design and use acrylic or watercolor paint as well. The name and month numbers, as well as any other unique information you choose, can be added.

7. The baby and the art

Image Courtesy: Baby Drawings

If you are an artist who enjoys drawing itty bitty cute little things like we used to do in the corner of our exercise books, this is where your talent comes in handy. A towel and a picture of your baby are all that is required. Apps like Pixel enable you to draw on the image. This image shows the baby doing a variety of activities, such as weightlifting and playing the guitar.

8. The photo garland

Image Courtesy: Temu

A monthly photo garland or banner on your bedroom wall is a great visual. Each month, take a picture, print it, attach it to a string or ribbon with clips or clothespins, and hang it on a special wall or mantel. The garland can be updated as the baby gets older with new pictures, and the family can treasure it as a special keepsake.

9. With a special flower or plant

Image Courtesy: Kathy Wilfong

This, in my opinion, is one of the most unique monthly milestone photo ideas because it incorporates a hint of nature. You can photograph your child each month next to a special flower or plant that was planted when they were born. The flower or plant might only have a tiny seed or be in full bloom after a year, but it will hold a deeper meaning for your family. 

10. With a photo prop, such as ‘One To Twelve’ balloon

Image Courtesy: Laiba Ali

Every time you take a picture of your baby, add a new balloon as it grows. The baby can be shown holding the balloon's string while taking a nap, or sitting with the balloon bobbing above them.

11. Recreating a classic work of art with the baby as the subject

Image courtesy: Daily Mail

Recreating a well-known painting in a photograph with your child as the subject is a wonderful way to show off your artistic abilities as a parent while also paying homage to your favorite artists. Pick a piece of art that is iconic and recreate it in a setting similar to it. 'The Starry Night' by Vincent van Gogh, and 'The Scream' by Edvard Munch, etc. are a few examples. If you are a social media enthusiast, you will find your friends loving these shoots. But before sharing these, make sure you made birth announcement of your baby! 

12. DIY a makeshift tent or a homemade teepee

Image Courtesy: Alee Perez

I love photoshoot ideas of using makeshift tents, and teepees as a backdrop for the photos. To make the tent shape, you'll need blankets or sheets. To decorate it, add stuffed animals, pillows, and fairy lights. For a more realistic appearance, you can also add some organic components like flowers or greenery.

13. In a black-and-white setting

Image Courtesy: Pinterest

Your photos may look more sophisticated and simple when they are in a black-and-white pattern. Use a wall, a white or black sheet, a blanket, or something similar as a backdrop. To give the final image a more dramatic appearance, use a softbox or reflector, and apply a monochrome filter.

14. In a onesie with a funny saying related to their age

Image courtesy: Candice Goodman

Now that's what we mean by creative monthly milestone photo ideas. You can use fabric paint to add the saying to the onesie, or you can just use a milestone card for each picture. The onesie can be plain white or colored. You could use the following funny sayings:

"I'm no longer a baby; I'm a toddler-in-training," a 12-month-old says."I'm not crawling, I'm speed-walking," an 8-month-old says.

15. With a parent or sibling

Image courtesy: Thoughtfully Simple

Have the parent or sibling hold the little one in the exact position or while engaging in a fun activity. It's a plus if the sibling or parents and the baby wear matching outfits or shades. Set up your backdrop against a wall or a blanket for ease of maintaining consistency.

16. Make a flower bed

Image from: Pinterest

Make a flower bed or use real flowers in season to mark the baby's age. For example, for month two, you could use a mix of daisies and dahlias. You can have a mix of various textures and colors by combining real and artificial flowers.

17. Baby and the pizza

Image courtesy: Dani Leigh Photography

Food items are very fashionable when taking milestone photos. To show the baby's age in months, you can use doughnuts, pizza slices, and so forth. For instance, you could place one pizza slice next to the baby to represent one month, two slices for two months, and a whole pizza to represent one year.

18. As a tiny beach babe

Image courtesy: Pinterest

You don't have to take your tiny one to any seaside to put this idea into action. All you need for the photo shoot is a brown carpet for the sand, a blue and a greyish sheet. This setup can be made with just your baby dressed in a bikini or swim trunks, along with a beach ball, shovel, and a beach towel.

19. In a festive holiday-themed setting

Image courtesy: Baby Story App

For the Easter theme, you can dress your baby as an Easter bunny or a turkey if you want  Thanksgiving. You can also dress them as Santa Claus for the first Christmas. Every month, there is a special day you can use to dress your baby.

20. With a baby-sized kitchen utensil, such as a spatula or rolling pin

Image courtesy: Margee Emad

A baby-sized kitchen tool, such as a spatula or rolling pin, can be used to capture an adorable moment of a baby exploring its surroundings. Set up a play kitchen scene for your infant, and give them a miniature chef's hat and apron to wear while holding a spatula or rolling pin.

21. BABY STORY APP

Photo courtesy: Cassidy Broll

The Baby Story app is a good option to consider if you don't have the expertise, time, or energy to set up a theme for recording your baby's milestones. By adding custom text, hand-drawn illustrations, and filters to your regular photos, the app makes it simple to create memory boards that look polished.

Here we've mentioned some easy and some not-so-easy DIY ideas for your baby's monthly milestone photos. Try them and you can always have some keepsake of your baby growing up!