Newborn baby girl laying asleep on her side on a pink blanket. She is covered in a small pink blanket and is wearing a pink and pearl headband

The newborn stage flies by quicker than you can ever imagine.

In a world full of nappies, no sleep, cuddles and more love than you ever knew existed - one minute you’re in the car bringing your newborn home and the next that newborn scrunch is gone and it feels like they’re growing at the speed of light.

So how can you capture this short moment in time to remember forever?

Hand and Foot Casts

If you want to remember exactly how tiny those little hands and feet are, you can either do an at home casting kit or there are companies you can go to to get them done. Personally, this is something I’d leave to the experts!
Cast&Present are based in Milton Keynes and come to your home for the casting. Each mould takes less than 5 minutes so is nice and easy on your baby and you’ll have gorgeous mouldings you can treasure.

Hand and Foot Prints

A simpler version of a casting is a hand or foot print. You can get inkless sets from Amazon in either black and white or colour and all you do is press your baby’s hand or foot against the pad and it transfers on the paper. No mess and nice and easy to do at home.

Salt Dough Ornaments

Did you ever make salt dough ornaments when you were a child? The dough is really easy to make (plain flour, salt and water) and you can mould it into whatever shape you like, put it in the oven and it’ll go hard.
Roll the dough out and press your baby’s hand or foot gently into it until it leaves an imprint. Pop it in the oven and once it’s hardened you can either leave it how it is or paint it.
You can read full instructions on MadeForMums Here.

Professional Newborn Photo Shoot

Now what kind of photographer would I be without mentioning a Newborn Photo Shoot? Whether you’re looking for a lifestyle photo shoot in your home or studio Newborn Photography, these photos really will be something you treasure forever. If you’re looking for just a few images of your baby or want to include the whole family, there are lots of options out there. Newborn Photographers style do vary so do some research and find a style you love. For the sleepy photos, it’s best to book in when your newborn is 1-3 weeks old. If you don’t mind awake photos, they can be booked at any time.

Tell Me More About Newborn Photo Shoots

Scrap book or memory box

If you find yourself already wanting to hang onto every little item from your baby’s first weeks, maybe think about starting a scrap book or memory book. A scrap book is best for photos and paperwork and a memory box for hospital bands, first hat, the outfit they came home in etc. A memory box is definitely less work than a scrap book and will be treasured just as much. My parents kept the newspaper that came out the day I was born and I absolutely love looking at it.

Start a Video Diary

If you love to record videos, start a video diary of your newborn’s first weeks, months or even years. These can be sit down videos or just little clips of your new arrival. Make sure you feature in them because that’s what they’ll love to look back on the most when they’re older. I’d absolutely love to have videos of me as a baby with my parents.
And most importantly - BACK UP THE VIDEOS! Don’t wait for that stomach dropping moment when you lose your phone or your computer dies and they’re gone forever. Make sure you have multiple copies stored on your phone, phone backup and computer.

Email Your Baby

Start an email account and email them every month or so on special occasions. When they’re 18, give them the sign in information and let them go through and read all the emails. Imagine them being able to go back and read about how you were feeling when they took their first steps, started school, celebrated birthdays. How proud you were of them at different times in their life and lots of funny things that happened. I think that’s beautiful.

Recycle Newborn Outfits into Blankets or Teddies

There are some very clever companies out there where you can send your old newborn and baby clothes for them to turn into blankets and teddies. It’s even better if you can do it yourself (I certainly can’t!)
Mandy’s Memory Bears is based in Onley and makes gorgeous bears (and other animals) out of old clothes.
I can’t find any local companies that make blankets but there are plenty where you send the items to them and they make it and send it back.
I think this a lovely way to keep your baby’s old items and actually get use out of them rather than keep them in a box.