Baby's Face on Social Media

I remember feeling similar about my little one & my partner & I agreed on a limited number of photos to upload after she was born as an announcements, but for a long time after that we wouldn’t post her face - well, I wouldn’t; he’s not as active uploading, etc. Now I am a bit more chilled about it, but I will post more pics without her face than with it. Our pages are private & only our friends or people we know follow us. Sometimes I think I’ve over shared so will go through & review my Instagram, but yeah it’s a tough one & personal choice when they can’t consent. Just do what feels right for you & your family x

I do the same. I rarely share my daughter, but when I do I cover her face. I don’t judge other people for sharing their little ones, but I feel like there’s a whole generation of children having their lives put on display without their consent. Maybe I’m OTT, but that’s my take on it. You also don’t know who is really seeing the images etc. We have the FamilyAlbum app to share photos with immediate family.

I totally feel you! I have been having this internal debate as well even before I had my baby. I do not share any photos of my baby (or myself and the baby) on social media. I personally do not think it is right and ethical to post someone's photo without their consent, no matter his/her age. I do, however, send baby photos to individual people, like family and friends. That is the happy medium for me :) You do what makes feel right to you though!

I don't post my baby on social media at all. Didn't announce pregnancy or birth or anything either. Those close to us have met baby and get regular updates 🤷‍♀️

I’m curious what is the difference between posting baby’s face and going out in public? 🤔

I started posting my boy but then had these fears so stopped. I use an app for family where I post all his photos/videos and now only post special photos but ones without his full face being visible. I've not taken down the others just because they have already been seen now (my profiles are all very private anyway) but won't be posting more. All our family and my husband are very good for respecting this.

I don’t share my babies face on social media (tbf, peanut is the only social media i have) and never have, my family and friends respect this.
However my daughters father does share photos, it really upsets me 😢 I begged him not to but he still does. It’s a really tricky one but something I feel strongly about…no judgement if people do but I’m a worrier xx

We got a nixplay frame for grandparents and have a group what's app chat just for close friends and family to send pictures.

I feel exactly the same. I’ve not put either of my children on social media as those photos will likely still be there into their adulthood, which isn’t fair to them. Once they can decide for themselves then they can put photos of themselves up. If people are wondering what my kids are up to then they can either arrange to see us or I’d happily send them photos privately.

I felt the same way! We have a shared album in the iOS photos app where we post photos and videos of our little guy but people have to be added to the app to see the photos! It’s just for family and close friends and we love that!!

i don’t post my babies face. people are just weird & you never know who’s gonna see it. i just put a sticker or something over it in pictures. it’s just a privacy thing

We decided not to put our daughter on Social media and made a WhatsApp group for friends and family to share milestones and events. This is so much better as people we know and love get to see her but the whole world and their friends. It'll be up to her when she's older whether she wants to put pictures on but for now its a no.

I’ve not announced my pregnancy nor the birth of my baby. Unless you’ve seen me in real life you wouldn’t know that I have a 2 year old!

I post pics occasionally, but I've asked friends and family not to.
I know it's not fool proof, but I feel like at least this way the images are only seen by people I'm connected to.

I have friends and family living abroad so facebook is the only way they get to see her. Had to find a bit of a balance x

SO I ussaly don't talk to or try to connect w people who don't have their kids pic on here bc I figure there creepers or don't really have kids this is probably the unpopular opp but that's how I do it here

We had our first in Nov 2020 so in the middle of the Covid fiasco it was the only way really for people we care about but don’t see every day to feel part of our son’s life ❤️ We’re now expecting our second in a couple months though and have thought deeper into it. I’ve stopped posting my son once he was a year old because I felt that they change so much each week in that first year, but once they turn 1 they really develop more long-term features and I felt it wasn’t the wisest thing. We won’t be sharing photos either even though I’d gone through friends/followers lists and made my page private to make sure it was only people I knew well personally that could see photos before, but now I feel that if someone isn’t close enough to either be sent pictures directly or see us in person then there’s really no need to share so much of our personal life with them 🤷🏻‍♀️

Also how do u know people.in public aren't taking pics of ur kids

I dont post my kids on social media at all anymore but that is for personal reasons. It is all about what you feel is right and ok. There are photo sharing apps that might be a better way to share with family and friends xx

I personally don’t post pics of my baby by herself, either me or my husband is always in the pic. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard of someone not posting their baby because they don’t have consent….from a newborn

I won’t be sharing my babies face either. I’m mostly just hyper aware of bad people… Even though my profiles are private. I’d just feel safer to not plaster him all over social media when he arrives. So I’m with you on not sharing their faces!

We don’t share photos with any identifying features mainly because we want our child to have a choice about when his data becomes training data for a private company. We are also concerned about predators but feel like that is easier to protect against than massive companies and advertising agencies building a profile of him before he can speak. Also who knows where deep fake technology is going to be by the time he’s in middle school? We’d just rather wait. It’s been nice to just live in the moment though and not feel compelled to share everything online! I feel like I am more present.

We don’t share our daughters face on social, i barely use it at all these days tbh i enjoy life so much more when i dont feel the need to share what i’m doing all the time. Several reasons why

1. Other people then feel they have the right to post pictures on their social of your kid - not cool if i dont know the audience

2. She should get to choose

3. Not everyone is kind

4. People don’t bother to check in as much if they see them growing up through a screen when they scroll

I don't post my daughter on social media at all (I have one photo on this app of my daughter but, its from the back). I had a similar thought process to you & I would not like the thought of photographs of my daughter ending up in the wrong hands. Plus, she currently doesn't understand what it means to have her photograph on social media & the internet. Until she is old enough to fully understand consent & social media etc... then, I'm not going to put photo's out for everyone to see.

I personally don’t post photos of her face on socials. It will be side of her head or the back of it. I have an app for family to see her photos and friends I send photos to as and when. Hubby and both family’s are on board with it and they haven’t posted anything either x

I post pictures very rarely of her. Those close to her know what she looks like and get sent pictures of her directly to them. It scares me how many creeps are out there online

Claire.cloverhouse on IG is a great account to follow regarding this topic, highly recommend!

i think theres nothing wrong with sharing on a personal level. im 22, my mom has had facebook since it came out. i know there are pics of me on there ive never seen before. i feel indifferent about it. its pictures of our daily life, and i know its nothing invasive. its different when you have a following of strangers looking at your kids everyday and youre telling them every single detail about bathtime potty training tantrums like it doesnt need to be shared

Wouldn’t dream of posting my baby’s face on social media. Luckily when I was born social media wasn’t a thing but, if it had been, and I’d found out my mum had been posting my photos all over the internet without my knowledge, I think I’d be pretty upset now.

I post my kids on social media, it's whatever you decide as parents, there's no right or wrong and shouldn't be judgement on it either way 😊

I will be posting pics of my boy up.... my hubby is from Ireland and we live in New Zealand so want to have our friends and family able to see what our little family is up to. I wouldn't post any naked pics due to creeps and the fact he won't appreciate that when he's older either.

Whatever you feel comfortable with as a parent because as much as we try to do our best they’ll still tell us as teens what we did wrong🤦🏻‍♀️

I dont post my boys face on social media either. I just feel theres alot of weirdos on the internet and dont want my baby any way involved in weird ish. I started feeling like this when I got pregnant. Didnt even post his scans or anything lool

I will not be posting any pictures of my baby on social except for maybe a post announcing the birth (and it won’t have his/her face). I also feel quite strongly about consent. It really scares me that kids are going to end up with 1000s of pictures of their milestones on the internet forever, viewed be people they’ve never met, and have no say in the matter. The people who count in our lives can see pics any time they like so it won’t stop us sharing with our close family/friends.

I personally don't share any on my personal Facebook. I have created a second Facebook with only family and really close friends that I do post photos. It is extremely locked down.

Aside from the obvious concern of strangers with bad intentions seeing the child, it’s important to consider the amount of data that is collected on social media by the company itself and third party partners. Facebook and IG have facial recognition (it will recommend the person you should tag etc) this is all personal data that we allow social media platforms to process and use. I personally feel uncomfortable with sharing my babies data online. We have a whole generation who’s entire lifetime of data is online and processed by hundreds of different companies every day and this data will be used to at best market to and influence them or worst exploited and sold. The rate that people post their children along with personal information like school, location, date of birth, birth weight, full name etc is scary to me. Our personal data is one of the most valuable things we have, I personally think we should protect it as much as possible on behalf of our children.

We do tinybeans. We can post all of his pics and we have to invite people to see them. I don't know what having a social media trail will do for his future endeavors and I worry about pedophiles easy access to pics of my kids.

I see a lot of people saying they have their littles ones on social media as a way for friends/family to keep up with their lives. Seems to me like an excuse to show off your kid online, even if it’s “lockdown” to strictly ppl they know, but really tho? How do you not understand that once it’s online ANYONE can gain access to it? 🤯

Sorry but if you want to genuinely know about how my kids are doing then you have my number, call me or message me and we can video chat or I can send you a photo privately because I actually KNOW you. Better yet create a group text/WhatsApp and share pics there if you have SO MANY ppl to share with. It’s a hell of a lot more private than the web. Just my unpopular POV. 🙃

My FB profile is extremely private and I only have people on my friends list that I know in real life. People who are not my friend can't see anything I post. So I feel happy posting pics of my LO knowing that only family and friends can see.

I like your considerate parenting...I find it's rare! 👍

we didn’t post any photos of him until he was 5months old for halloween, then nothing until christmas, and now we have only a few photos that i know won’t embarrass him and future employers/girlfriends/friends/etc won’t judge him or our family for. we also don’t share a lot of information about him and try to keep his presence as neutral as possible. and honestly he won’t have his own social media until he’s 16(i said until 18 but my husband disagreed because he doesn’t want our son to feel left out of the loop in social circles)

I personally don’t use any social media anymore except Peanut. Mamas on this app keep it real :D I don’t mind posting his pic but I don’t plan to do it a lot. I mostly take photos and text with family as we moved to a different state and have no fam nearby.

100% with you. I see sharing photos or too much info as a potential security risk for the child in the future. The consent thing is also a real issue too. Plus texting or emailing photos to friends or family is different from a public platform since thats a private form of communication and you know those recipients. Anyone who is not a close friend or family doesn’t deserve to know all the details of my childs life

Ive shared my kids pics on my personal Facebook page, I do not add anyone I dont know personally and my Facebook is set to friends only, I also 'limit past posts' regularly. I love that I have slbums saved with all my kids from babies to growing up! Ive put a couple of pics on here but all fully clothed etc which I dont think is an issue. I dont really use any other social media. Definitely understand mums who dont post pics atall though thats your decision X

Wow! I this was my first post ever and I'm shocked at all the comments and amazing advice it's garnered. Thank you so much for your thoughtful opinions, stories, and advice.

I think something we can all say for certain is that we are all thinking of what is best for our individual children, families, and comfort levels. Whatever it may be it certainly sounds like we are all doing our best and I'm so happy to be a part of this community ❤

I have an app called family album where you can invite family members and post pictures and videos for them to see. My husbands parents live in New Zealand so didn't want them to miss out but also didn't want all photos on social media. We really like it!

This is the exact question I brought up in a pod the other day. Parents post EXCESSIVELY about their kids these days. Sometimes sensitive or what the child could later consider embarrassing content. They’re not a dog or some toy… I also feel the way you do in that it’s pretty weird to be doing that but I also understand that it’s one of the major forms of communication now. Everyone’s just gotta do what makes them comfortable and find the right balance for them but I’m totally with you girl.

I’m currently pregnant with my first and my husband and I before falling pregnant decided we would not post any photos of baby at any stage online. They would get to decide if they want an online presence at an age we feel they can consent like 16+. We both feel we had a great childhood without having an online footprint and want that same anonymity for our child. We will also be asking that no friends or family post photos online of baby too.
I’m always wary that someone who I don’t know would be able to cast eyes on the photo somehow. And I just think I take the stance of if you don’t know what my baby looks like as you’ve not met them in person, because we’re not that close or what have you, then you shouldn’t have acces to them online either. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Love this thread though and seeing everyone’s opinions.

For me as well, privacy and safety aside, it’s future job/life opportunities.

A lot of uk jobs need security clearance (civil servants, teachers, police officers, nurses etc) and things never actually leave the internet.

There are people being “cancelled” for things they said/did as teenagers and I would hate to think that an innocent photo posted 30 years ago could destroy a livelihood as culture evolves.

I am grateful that embarrassing photos of me as a kid aren’t online as the 90s was pre internet. I can choose what I share of my past rather than it being chosen for me 😊

I feel the same about my baby to be, I don’t think strangers need intel on intimate parts of my life, I barely want family to know 😂