How to start a Baby Journal?

Recording your baby memories in a journal is a great way to bond with your baby and can boost your mental health by allowing you to process and reflect thoughts and feelings of the birth experience and parenthood.

Journaling has been proven to help deal people with their excitement, anxiety and fears surrounding momentous life events. Externalising your emotions provides a feeling of relief and allows a period of reflection and introspection that puts that sense of intensity into perspective. Every parent has their own birth story, and documenting the journey is a great way to manage any stress you are experiencing. 

How to choose the right baby journal?

Choosing the right journal for you will depend on whether you are looking for a journal with a rigid template and lots of prompts or if you would like a little more freedom to express yourself. ‘Love You to the Moon & Back baby journals’ provide lots of space for you to get creative with, allowing you to write as much or as little about particular aspects as you desire. The flexible format allows you to get creative while providing gentle nudges for ideas of what you could include in your journal. You may be a parent that loves including lots of photos, or you may prefer to document every one of your baby's firsts. Whatever your persuasion, the journal is adaptable to your needs. 

Another consideration to make when choosing your journal is whether the build quality of the book is good enough. After spending time assembling your treasured memories, photos and thoughts, the last thing you want is for your baby journal to come unbound at the seams or for pages to fall out. Solstice Stories ensure that the best quality paper and materials are used in the production of the journal. Plenty of space is provided for photos, and the paper used is thick enough to allow good adhesion for the photos. The linen cover and gold embossed lettering also give a superior look and feel to the journal. 

Choosing a pen to go write your baby journal

Once you have chosen your baby journal, you will need to select a suitable pen to write your entries. Comfort and reliability key qualities you should look for. A ballpoint pen gives an easy and free flowing writing experience, and you should not have to worry about blotches forming on the paper, or ink bleeding through to the pages below. The quick drying ink means smudging is kept to a minimum, which is particularly helpful for left handers. Ballpoints are available in a wide variety of colours, perfect if you want to pen in black, blue or even gold. Ball point pens will last a long time, meaning you don’t need to worry about running out of ink. Some ballpoint pens come with rubber grips, providing even more comfortable journal entries. 

Choosing photos for your journal

Adding photos to your baby journal can really bring your story to life. It is important to use standard thickness photo paper (up to 240gsm) for photos in the journal to avoid causing the pages to sag and problems with the journal closing. 

Adding your photos to the journal

The type of glue used to adhere the photos to the journal pages is important to prevent marks seeping through the photos and fixing the photos securely. Having photos damaged or come loose is something every journal keeper wants to avoid. To achieve a superior photo fixing, we recommend using a standard glue stick such as Pritt Stick. The glue should also be labelled as ‘toxic free’ in order to protect you and your little one. An alternative fixing option is to use double sided sticky tape. This method is quick and simple and gives a clean finish. You just need to apply the stick tape to the four sides of the photo, remove the glue protector on the other side of the tape and push to fit onto the page of your choice. Top tips for when you are gluing your photos include: washing your hands before glueing to prevent debris adhering to the photos; use glue sparingly to avoid overspill when sticking the photo down; use a straightedge to ensure that the photos are being glued down straight.

Looking for more inspiration? What to include in a Baby Journal? and What is a baby Journal? will have all the information you need to start your journaling journey.