Sharing newborn baby pictures on social media

[Deleted]

So I just thought about this because an old friend from high school and his wife recently had their second baby. He posted a picture on Instagram and Facebook of his wife at the hospital, before the baby was born. The baby was born at 2 PM and they posted pictures at 7 PM that same night of the new baby. He's been posting pictures every day of the new baby and their older daughter. Their kids are beautiful, and I'm a nosy creeper, so this doesn't bother me at all. I actually love seeing pictures of people's new babies! 

However, when it comes to my own baby, I don't know that I would want to share so much so soon. I think I would want to share pictures of the baby with my relatives first before posting it online for everyone else to see. DH hates social media so he doesn't think we should post anything ever. Realistically, that's just not going to happen. I know myself and I'm definitely sharing baby pics for the whole world to see, eventually. 

What are your thoughts on this when it comes to your own LO? When is it too soon to share? Would you share right away, after a few days, after a week, never? Would you post a pic from the hospital or wait until you're home?

[Deleted]

It just depends on what time of day LO is born. If it's the middle of the night we'll wait until the next morning to call our parents and tell them. If they want to start spreading the word to family, that's fine with us. We'll also send an email out to the immediate family with a picture. Once the parents have been told and the email sent out, we'll probably wait a few hours and the post a FB announcement.

I truly don't think anything of it when I see a FB announcement with pictures within 24 hours of a birth. Most people I know who have babies do it.

ETA:  However, there will be no announcement about leaving for the hospital and sure as heck no updates or pictures from the hospital while I am in labor.   

[ladysif]

Both DH and I severely cut our FB friends list down to people we actually communicate with regularly/see at least once a year before DS was born. I think we did finally post one pic from the hospital, after family had seen him, and then deleted it later.

Further pics we only share with a very small number of close family and friends via a closed picasa album or e-mail. One thing out of my control is that the photographer is on FB and posts the sneak peeks of the photo sessions on FB for all her clients to see, but as those are usually good pics and it is only one or two, I don't pitch a fit about it. That's what everyone on FB gets to see annually. I'm sadly among the super paranoid but articles like that one are exactly why I limit it. I don't do Instagram or anything else, and we've asked friends and family to please ask us before posting any pics online anywhere.

[leenziepops]

I really don't want my baby to have his life splashed out on social media BUT I have a feeling I won't be able to control it because my DH is a FB whore. I can't really tell him off because he has many friends and family overseas and this is how they share with one another. I will have a chat to him about private albums but I have a feeling he will be disagreeable.

[bruunk]

I love seeing others' baby photos and watching friends kids grow up, but I'm leery of adding photos of mine online. My instagram is only friends and family, so I might put photos there? And prob. announce on FB after the email to family has been sent. We're not announcing publicly that we've gone to the hospital and if I have it my way (HA) I'll be out before anyone realizes I'm in there. I'm not a hospital fan, and would rather have guest show up at my house where I'm super comfortable, then in a hospital. But I'm aware that a) I might not have a choice on my duration and b) several family members are already excited about coming to the hospital ... I've just been smiling and changing the subject.

Here's a question - how to you ask family members to not post photos online? I know who can see my photos, but what about family members and friends posting pictures online - it's not your photo and out of your hands. Anyone have this issue (am I being a SS?)

ETA - some of you beat me to it with answers to my question! Thank you

[billyhorrible]

I don't share anything about pregnancy or childbirth on facebook, so I won't be posting a birth announcement or newborn pictures. The first picture of my son on facebook was posted by DH's best friend when she was visiting of the whole group of us and he was 2 months old at the time. The first time I posted a picture of him on Facebook he was 15 months old.

[noeliav]

It was days or possibly weeks before I shared a photo of DD on social media. DH shared pretty quickly.

I'm still very conservative about sharing photos of her on FB because it makes me feel weird to post her image in ways that she may not be kosher with when she's older? The internet can be forever, and I feel like she should have control over what is/is not shared when she's old enough to do so and be responsible about the possible consequences. I know that's not everyone's approach, however.

That's mostly how I approach most things when it comes to her/other future kids. If it has the possibility/likelihood of affecting their future lives, then I try to go with the most conservative course of action. As an example, no ear piercing until she's a) old enough to ask for it and b) responsible enough to care for them properly.

[tiffbot]

Since DS was early, he was taken away to NICU right away, our phones were dead from not being prepared and having chargers with us, and he was born at 2:21pm and we got to see him after 7pm that night. Therefore, no family members had seen him/taken pictures of him, and we didn't until that evening. However all of our immediate family (minus H's brother who lived too far away) were at the hospital that day with us. So after they and our closest friends knew name/stats/sex I think we made FB posts the next day and I did leading up to his leaving the hospital 2 weeks later. It was a great support, as my FB is basically down to people I actually want on there anyway and not random 'I met you once at a party' people. We did not announce anything on social media when we left the hospital as we wanted that afternoon alone at home, but did text our nearest and dearest to let them know the big day had come!

For me, the most important is knowing our immediate family/friends know the deets, but I do like sharing on FB because of the extended family and friends I do have on there, so whenever things have settled from the day or the next, I'm fine with sharing. We have no problem telling our family's we want to do it ourselves first and they've always respected that.

ETA- I should add that I'm also not a post a day person. I don't care how other people post, but if I do it's something generally I've found especially funny or an awesome story/milestone I want to share.

[belle0720]

I'd like H or myself to be the first to share a picture of baby and that will just be whenever we are feeling up to it.

My parents don't post things on facebook so I'm not worried about them posting anything. I imagine that my ILs will want to post pictures right away (my FIL especially tends to post a lot of pictures on facebook), so we will let them know that we want to be the first to share pictures with people.

[mrskblack11]

My Facebook and instagram is mostly close friends and family. I will probably have to go through my friends list and weed out some people before I share pictures of our baby. I see a LOT of babies on my Facebook feed. I love seeing pictures of my cousin's kids. We have a lot of family out of state so it is a great way to stay in touch.

[sugarkissed]

I'm pretty guilty of sharing way too many photos of DD. I'm a newborn photographer so it can be hard to resist sharing my favourites.

We posted a photo of her on Facebook within 24 hours and will probably do the same for this baby. Like some PPs we have a lot of family and friends that live far away, so this was the easiest way to share the news.

[belle0720]

I'll add too that I don't really post much on facebook, mostly just for birthdays or holidays. My last 3 posts were a Happy Birthday post for my DH in February, an 'It's a Girl' post in January, and a 'We're expecting!' post in December. I do post a picture on instagram maybe once a week (sometimes more, sometimes less). I don't see either of those habits changing too much. I'm sure I'll post pictures of my LO, but definitely not an every day kind of thing. I can't imagine I'll have any more time on my hands than I do now.

[cnumbers]

I haven't posted anything to social media for awhile now and have no plans too. I haven't posted about baby at all. I don't know what I'll do when he is here, still undecided. As I haven't shared anything yet i don't see it happening. SO and I even talked of deactivating our accounts for a bit after he's here.

[Widget123]

We shared pics of DD on FB within 24 hrs after her birth and will likely do the same for this LO. I am only friends with people I know in real life and pics are only shared with friends. A lot of my friends and family live out of state. It is what it is.

What did irritate me though was my cousin posted on FB that I was having DD before she was born. It was a long induction so my parents were telling people. Yeah I hope that doesn't happen again.

[Bluedaisy]

I hate Fb oversharing so I rarely update anything. I only have people I know in real life on my fb so we'll probably post a picture within the first day but after that it will be rare if at all.

[erbear]

As long as h and I are the first to share pictures, I don't care. I've got it locked down and Instagram is as well. We have a blog and we'll likely password protect it when we post pictures.

[laurenlou83]

DH and I both have large families, none of which live in the same city we are. FB is a way we keep in touch with them , see pictures of their kids, etc. We will post pictures of our son on FB, but I doubt it will be an everyday thing of doing so! We will most likely wait until we are leaving the hospital to post anything about his arrival, too. Oh, and there will be no updates while I'm in L&D... No one needs to know how dilated I am!

[veggiemo]

I have no issues with people who post pics right away. It's so much more meaningful and interesting than half the other crap people post on Facebook. We posted DS as soon as we had texted all family and close friends first. I think it's normal to want to share and celebrate your new baby. Call me crazy, but I would rather see that than the stupid buzzfeed quiz about which Disney character you most associate with.

[Deleted]

Both DH and I are not active on Facebook so we won't post any photos there. We are both members we just don't check or stay active w our accounts. We both use Instagram pretty regularly as do most of our friends so we'll be posting baby photos at least a few times a month. I'm not the type of person to post baby or family photos on social media everyday.

[megd893]

My brother and SIL had (and still have) a strict policy about not posting photos of their boys on FB, at all, ever. If anyone is going to post pics, its them - and thus far it's worked. There were a few hiccups when my first nephew was born, but everyone is pretty easy going about it now.

While I love to creep other over sharer's photos... I'm not the same. I cut my FB 'friends' a few times a year. If I see you in the grocery store and knew you in highschool and we cant even say hi to one another? We don't need to be FB friends.
I havent posted any pregnancy photos and will probably post one, singular announcement when he comes along. We're not big photo sharers.

[wifedeangel]

Add us to the list of large families scattered far and wide, so we'll be sharing pictures on FB once the main telephone calls have been made. Both H and I have our FB profiles locked down pretty tight, so I'm not worried about the pictures getting out.

[alayne926]

My FB is just people I know IRL, I have been thinking about going through and deleting people that I haven't had any contact with for awhile. We posted a pic of DS a few hours after he was born. I had a rule with my family that DH and I were the first to post anything on FB and they did really well with it. I also have my profile locked to friends only. We'll probably post a pic a few hours after this LO is born and DS and our families have met him or her.

[mmo2112]

We'll probably do a mass text when she's born, followed w/in 24 hours or so by a FB post. MIL will probably post something before we do, which I'm okay with.

After that, I don't plan to post much at all. If it becomes an issue, I'll ask others (MIL etc.) to limit the posts.  Neither of us really wants LO to have an online presence just yet.  (Also, when we told people we were pregnant, we also asked them not to put anything on facebook--basically in the same breath. Everyone listened/understood, and it was never awkward.) 

As LO grows, we're using this app to share photos with really close family and friends: dailykiddo.com/

Our friends, who have a 15 mo. old, introduced us to it. IMO it's better/more private than FB and less intrusive than mass texts.

[belle0720]

Mar 5, 2015 12:34:42 GMT -5 mmo2112 said:

We'll probably do a mass text when she's born, followed w/in 24 hours or so by a FB post. MIL will probably post something before we do, which I'm okay with.

After that, I don't plan to post much at all. If it becomes an issue, I'll ask others (MIL etc.) to limit the posts.  Neither of us really wants LO to have an online presence just yet.  (Also, when we told people we were pregnant, we also asked them not to put anything on facebook--basically in the same breath. Everyone listened/understood, and it was never awkward.) 

As LO grows, we're using this app to share photos with really close family and friends: dailykiddo.com/

Our friends, who have a 15 mo. old, introduced us to it. IMO it's better/more private than FB and less intrusive than mass texts.

My H's cousin's husband did a group text when their baby was born in October. It was the most annoying group text ever. My H received the 'Congrats!' replies from all of the zillion people in the group and then people who don't understand group messaging started the, 'Who is this?' texts when they were getting responses from random numbers. If there's a way for you to send out a mass text without it being one big group message, I highly encourage that so as not to drive all of your friends and family crazy.

[mmo2112]

Mar 5, 2015 12:52:24 GMT -5 belle0720 said:

Mar 5, 2015 12:34:42 GMT -5 mmo2112 said:

We'll probably do a mass text when she's born, followed w/in 24 hours or so by a FB post. MIL will probably post something before we do, which I'm okay with.

After that, I don't plan to post much at all. If it becomes an issue, I'll ask others (MIL etc.) to limit the posts.  Neither of us really wants LO to have an online presence just yet.  (Also, when we told people we were pregnant, we also asked them not to put anything on facebook--basically in the same breath. Everyone listened/understood, and it was never awkward.) 

As LO grows, we're using this app to share photos with really close family and friends: dailykiddo.com/

Our friends, who have a 15 mo. old, introduced us to it. IMO it's better/more private than FB and less intrusive than mass texts.

My H's cousin's husband did a group text when their baby was born in October. It was the most annoying group text ever. My H received the 'Congrats!' replies from all of the zillion people in the group and then people who don't understand group messaging started the, 'Who is this?' texts when they were getting responses from random numbers. If there's a way for you to send out a mass text without it being one big group message, I highly encourage that so as not to drive all of your friends and family crazy.

Oh yes, definitely have that in mind and have definitely been stuck on obnoxious/rage-inducing group texts.  My friend split hers up into a few group texts (groups of people who knew each other) and just copied and pasted the same photo/birth stats in each.  We'll probably do that and split the task between DH and me. Or figure out a way to not make them mass texts without being group texts... my uncle does that, but I'm not sure how.

[belle0720]

mmo2112 If you have an iPhone, there's an option to turn off group texting under your settings. I assume that would work, but I haven't tried it out before. Before I had an iPhone I was able to send mass texts that weren't a group text, that was awesome. I feel like it should be an option when you're actually sending the text. It should be like email, there can be a check box to CC everyone or BCC everyone.

[ombradellarosa]

I don't want any pictures of my baby online ever. Not even in email, and certainly not on Facebook. I know full well that people can download those pictures and I don't want them to be able to download pictures of my baby. My parents are totally on board with this (my mum doesn't have a Facebook and likely never will). DH doesn't have Facebook either so he doesn't mind. At first he thought I was being excessive with not even emailing pictures. His parents live across the country, and he asked how they would see pictures of the baby. "The same way they did it in the old days--we'll mail them pictures." If people want pictures that's how we're going to do it. Either prints or a CD if we have a lot and someone like the ILs want them all. I don't care if it's crazy and not how things are done nowadays.
My thing now is how to tell people that if they post pictures of my baby online I won't let them see her ever again. I have a feeling that could come across as melodramatic But both of us have family members who post other people's pictures on Facebook without checking first and if they did that with pictures of my child we would have a serious problem. I am open to suggestions on how to handle this.

[stinybean]

I'm so glad to read that I'm not the only one that hasn't posted anything about LO on FB. I thought I'd be the odd man out.

[Ana0927]

I don't even announce pregnancies on Facebook so unless they are family or a very close friend they have no idea i am expecting.  I posted one picture with DD#2 the day after she was born and she meet big sister.  I might do the same this time around.  For family and close friends I was texting pictures to them while I was still in the er! 

[mrsmonogrammed]

I will be posting pics of LO on FB...athough there will be absolutely NO naked pictures (ever). "Naked" pictures also means w/o a shirt on/in a diaper...that crap bugs the shit out of me!!

Apparently I'm really lax compared to some of you, but it just doesn't seem like a big deal to me. There WILL be rules on who can post the 1st picture after birth and a that, but otherwise, free reign.