When you're expecting or have just given birth, a baby journal is high on the list. A gift from grandma, a present for the new arrival, or simply because you want to record how it all began. With so many options (a paper fill-in book, a photo book, an app, or a mix), the choice is harder than it looks.
What is a baby journal?
A baby journal records what happens around your child's birth and early years: the birth weight, the name you had chosen, how the birth went, the first photos, the reactions of the grandparents. It's the start of your child's life story.
Traditionally that's a paper fill-in book. They come in every shape and size, from cheap and plain to beautifully bound with handwritten pages. More and more parents are choosing a digital version, for practical and emotional reasons alike.
The paper baby journal: tangible, but often half empty
A paper fill-in book has charm. It's tangible, you can pass it on to your child, and grandparents love being allowed to hold it. Brands such as Woezel & Pip, Baby's Eerste Jaar and Baby Art make lovely editions.
Pros:
- Tangible and gift-worthy
- No account or app needed
- Good for a one-off record (birth, first year)
Cons:
- Often stays half empty. Most parents fill in the first part and then stop
- Sticking in photos takes time and money (printing)
- Can't be shared with a co-parent or family who live far away
- There's only one copy. Lose it, and you've lost everything
- Usually stops after year 1 or year 3, after which you have to come up with something new
Life with a baby is intense. Keeping up a paper book takes discipline that isn't always there, and then it disappears into a drawer.
What you can put in it
A baby journal goes further than the birth details:
- Birth weight, length, time and date
- The names you considered
- How the birth went (for yourself, and for your child later)
- First photos in hospital, at home, with brothers and sisters
- Reactions from grandparents, aunts and uncles
- First smile, first steps, first words
- Drawings, handprints, footprints
That list never really ends. The first day of school is just as precious as the first step, and you won't want to forget the drawing they bring home at five either. A complete baby journal keeps going long after the baby years.
A digital baby journal: always to hand
A digital baby journal works as an app on your phone. You add photos, milestones and notes whenever it suits you: on the train, right after a funny moment, or while you're sitting on the sofa for a minute. Everything is saved to the cloud automatically.
The big advantages over paper:
Always to hand. You have your phone with you anyway. Keeping an app up to date takes less effort than walking to the fill-in book, finding a pen and turning to the right page.
Photos straight in. You take a photo, add a note, done. No fuss with printing and sticking.
Shareable with whoever you choose. Grandparents follow along through their own secure link that only your family gets, and you can revoke it at any time. Your co-parent can contribute from their own home. For the rest of the world, the journal stays private.
Grows with your child. You start on the date of birth and keep going for as long as you like. One timeline for your child's whole story, instead of a separate journal for baby, toddler, preschooler and teenager.
Kept safe. A paper journal can get damaged or lost. A digital app saves everything automatically, with backups.
Ouderliefde as a digital baby journal
Ouderliefde is a Dutch app built specifically for this purpose. You start with your child's date of birth and build a private timeline from there. Photos, videos, milestones, drawings, school reports: everything in one place.
What sets Ouderliefde apart:
- Built in the Netherlands, available in English and Dutch
- No ads, no data collection for algorithms
- Grandparents follow along through a secure link that can't be guessed or found by Google
- Time capsule: write a letter for later that is delivered automatically, for example on your child's 18th birthday
- A co-parent can contribute from another home
- Everything on European servers (GDPR-compliant)
Want to know more? Have a look at our articles on what to write in a baby book and recording everything in your baby's first year.
Paper and digital don't have to rule each other out
Some parents keep a beautiful paper fill-in book for the birth details, as a gift copy or for the grandparents, and use a digital app alongside it for everyday life. You can later export the photos from the app for a photo book as an extra keepsake.
That way the fill-in book sits on the shelf for the week of the birth, while the app carries on all the way to secondary school.
Try Ouderliefde free for 7 days
Every new account starts with 7 days of free Premium: the full digital baby journal, without limits. Normally €5.49 a month, free for the first 7 days.
Create a free account → No payment details needed.