Keeping Up With Baby: The Best Memory Books To Document Your Little One’s First Year

While picking out a baby memory book may not seem like a big to-do now, just you wait until your little lima bean arrives and you’re experiencing a wave of “firsts.” These are mega milestones, people! The first time baby lifts their head, the first time they do the army-crawl and break out of their play yard, the first time baby says “ma-ma” or “da-da” (write it down, you’ll fight about it for years). In the span of 365 days, trust us, the simple everyday moments start to add up. No pressure or anything! Before you know it, you’ll be researching toddler step stools instead of baby books! Time flies mama, and you’re going to want to remember every second of their first year.

Shopping for a baby boy (or girl) memory book isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all experience. We get it: Not everyone is into zoo animals and soft pastel hues… nor are you a budding Martha Stewart scrapbooking queen. Whether you decide to document solely your baby’s first year or everything that happens between then and high school graduation (you’re not a clingy mom or anything), these are the moments that will last you a lifetime. Even if you don’t think you’ll have time to keep up with it, you may find a personalized baby memory book useful for storing important mementos like your ultrasound pics and hospital bracelet.

Keep reading for the best baby memory books of 2022—from minimalist day journals to fancy photo books—to fill up to your heart’s content. Pssst: If you know of an expectant mama, they make fantastic baby shower gifts, too.

Best Baby Memory Books

Oh, baby! From birth to five years old, be prepared to record every step of BB’s journey. Whether you’re a first-time mama or you’re going on your second (or third!) pregnancy, you’ll never run out of new “firsts” to jot down. This memory book from Bobee will give you the creative freedom to journal at your own pace—aka, you won’t be forced to fill in any silly milestones that aren’t relevant to you. This journal is very inclusive and welcoming to all family situations (same-sex couples and single parents included). One Amazon customer shares, “I love the fact that it doesn’t have tons of pages devoted to pregnancy, just a couple of ‘before’ pages. It also has a lot of blank spaces with the words ‘first...’ which makes it easy for me to record what is special for me and not as per someone else’s opinion.”

With well over 3,000 ratings (and 85 percent of buyers giving it five stars), this modern wonderland-themed memory book gets our vote. You’ll never run out of cute/random/aww-worthy things to jot down—the simple prompts will help guide you along as you record all of baby’s special milestones and firsts. Unlike some memory books that solely target the parents, this one is filled with whimsical woodland creatures so that you can include BB in the storytelling. One Amazon customer weighs in, “There are a lot of pages about a newborn that you should begin writing the first week of having your new baby. I loved this so much I bought one for a friend as a gift for her first baby. I am going to buy one for any future babies we have. It is a must-have. I can't wait until I'm older and my babies are grown and I open the book and remember all the cute things I wrote down.”

Start documenting your little bear’s first adventures with this super cute camping-themed memory book. Busy expectant parents who like to do creative $h!t (PSA: Bring the washi tape) will appreciate the multi-functional format. Part journal, part scrapbook, part baby photo album, this bad boy is loaded and ready for you to make magic. And with a stellar 4.9 out of 5 stars, parents agree. “This first-year memory book is adorable, a nice size, and easy to use,” one said. “It fits perfectly with our mountain adventure theme and the theme is well done throughout the book. There are pages for each month, plus extra pages for miscellaneous “firsts” and pages for before birth and the big event. Plus, this goes beyond the first year with pages for [the] first 5 birthdays and [the] first day of school. This book is creative, adorable, and well made.”

This modern linen memory book combines hand-drawn illustrations with a timeless (gender-neutral) design to help you record all your special moments. The open-ended structure even works for foster/adoptive moms and extended families. Simply remove pages that aren’t applicable to your story and write your heart out. “This listing does not even do this book justice: this is my first pregnancy and so I really wanted a baby book that was in-depth from beginning to end and with the modern look,” one parent on Amazon said. “I’ve seriously never seen a more sweet baby book. This book goes all the way from a family tree, to finding out about the pregnancy, milestones, first holidays and seasons up to five years old!”

Time flies when you’re having fun, or rather, raising a baby. Introducing RubyRoo’s highly acclaimed memory book. From the floral theme consisting of vintage-inspired flowers, bouquets, and wreaths to the Instagram-friendly square photo frames, you’ll have no problem filling this 56-page scrapbook up with all your baby’s firsts (and then some). Bonus: It makes the perfect baby shower gift for expecting moms. “What a quality book,” one customer said. “The pages are beautiful and thick. There are so many pages and that celebrate everyone’s religious values or families styles. You have the opportunity to move pages around and take pages out that aren’t part of your family story.”

You’ve got to hand it to Lucy Darling. Her “simple book of firsts” not only caters to busy moms but the pages (animal theme FTW!) are cute AF. You will not—repeat, will not—be required to fill out copious amounts of info. Instead, use the provided templates (or the blank pages in the back) to record darling memories and observations. With so many baby books to choose from, you’ll want to make sure to pick one that speaks to YOU. Says one parent, “Perfect for the parent who wants a simple baby book but doesn’t need the very elaborate pages where you record every sneeze and weigh-in. It’s realistic that a busy new parent could actually fill it in. Now I just need to explain to my older son why his little sister will have her baby book filled out while his huge one is blank...poor guy.”

Oui, oui! This keepsake baby book is one that you’ll cherish for a lifetime. Besides the beautiful illustrations and pop-ups, there’s space for photos as well as mini envelopes to stash personalized notes to le bébé. Amazon reviewers weigh in: “This is an absolutely lovely baby book. I was overwhelmed when it arrived in the mail today - the book is much bigger than I expected and has pages and pages of beautiful illustrations, places with envelopes for special momentos and wonderful illustrations. This baby book is a true treasure.”

Fans of Emily Winfield Martin’s bestselling children’s books will be delighted to get their hands on this gem. Inside you’ll find her whimsical illustrations accompanied by ample space to record all those magical, fleeting firsts and can’t-miss milestones. To find a baby book that ticks all the boxes (and then some) is truly rare but this Amazon customer couldn’t have been more pleased. “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.”

If you love journaling, then documenting every microsecond of your newborn’s life (we kid, we kid… sort of) should be a cinch. While there are pages devoted to photos, family history, and milestones, don’t expect to do a lot of scrapbooking. Promptly’s childhood history journals—spanning from pregnancy through the 18th year—encourage you to be as verbose or concise in your writing as you see fit. (It’s also available in six different colors so if pink isn’t your #1 preferred choice, just know you’ve got options.) “I like this journal because it's realistic for the busy mom who isn't going to document every detail of her child's life, but still wants to capture the highlights,” said one Amazon customer. “I love that it goes to age 18. I'm sure I will cherish it for a lifetime. Bonus: our other child is adopted and there is a version for adopted children, which made this even more appealing. I like it that they can have matching journals.”

It’s a girl! Once she arrives, we know that you’ll hardly be able to contain your excitement. Get ready to record all those precious “firsts” (and every milestone along the way) with this girly giraffe memory book consisting of 60 pages of beautiful illustrations and prompts. Inside, you’ll find Instagram-friendly square photo frames, monthly birthday pages, and plenty of space to record special memories and stories. Doubling as a scrapbook and photo album, the Ronica Baby Journal makes for the perfect baby shower gift (a little hint-hint-nudge-nudge if you know of an expecting mama…). Beyond toddlerhood, it also allows you to document years 1-5 so you’ll never have to worry about missing a moment. It even comes with monthly stickers and a keepsake envelope to store small mementos (like hospital bracelets and lost teeth) that you’ll want to hold onto forever.

Let the adorableness ensue with this super heartwarming baby scrapbook from KiddosArt (peep the zoo animal-filled cover. How adorable.) Tell the amazing story of your L.O. through photos, memories, fill-in-prompts, and random facts (everything from the “cost of milk” to “famous celebrities”) that reflect the year in which your baby was born. Not into arts and crafts? Say no more. You don’t have to have an aesthetic eye—or even love scrapbooking for that matter—to fill this bad boy up. In the span of 72 colorful pages, this book lays everything out for you so that you’ll never feel stuck. “I was looking for a scrapbook that would be easy to fill in since I'm not a scrapbooking/creative person and this was perfect! This book is very gender neutral and allows you to keep track of the little things such as the things babies loved and disliked at every month,” said one Amazon reviewer.