Birth Pictures Posted on Facebook

When Does a Birth Photo Become TMI For Facebook?

May 24, 2010

Proud parents are often eager to share photos of their new baby and the child's birth on social networking sites. But 74 percent of LilSugar readers said Facebook isn't an appropriate place to share such images. We're curious what type of discretion moms and dads should use when posting their pictures? What's your opinion?

Photo courtesy of HBO

15 Comments

2 years 42 weeks

This is kind of biased, don't you think? Where's the "I don't care what they post in their pictures" option?

2 years 51 weeks

These choices suck. I don't give a crap what people post on their facebook. Where is the "I'm an adult and don't mind seeing photos showing any part of a birth" option?

runningesq 2 years 51 weeks

I agree Anon --- I don't understand why breastfeeding is singled out as "inappropriate" when pictures of girls hanging out of bikinis and guys mooning the camera are not. That's Facebook's issue and I think it's possibly becuase (and I could be wrong here) it's still run by a young guy. I don't post photos of myself drunk (even though it's not illegal) or doing stupid things. I am FB friends with police officers, defense attorneys, and other prosecutors, and I monitor my online presence carefully. I wouldn't post a breastfeeding photo but that's because I am personally not comfortable with all my "friends" seeing that. I know it could hurt my professionally in the legal community. Whether or not that's fair is another issue, but - like having to wear pantyhose in July - it's just the way it is.

2 years 51 weeks

"If you don't want the whole world to see it, don't post it." Agreed to an extent. But I still don't understand why birth and breastfeeding is singled out. If you want a career, be careful of your pictures, regardless of your parental status. Personally, I wouldn't post one showing the baby emerging or a newborn covered in afterbirth. I just think it sucks that when people do choose to, they're targeted far more often than other photos that are just as "inappropriate" but don't involve babies. I would and have posted breastfeeding photos and have no worried about professional options being limited as a result.

2 years 51 weeks

Some of those breastfeeding photos on facebook are just tasteless. The mothers strike poses with blankets and babies strategically placed while they give these strange looks to the camera and then complain when they disappear. Spare us. They ruin it for the people who truly are just posting a proud photo.

runningesq 2 years 51 weeks

Anon, your first point is well taken, but privacy settings on FB aren't always what they seem. If you don't want the whole world to see it, don't post it.

2 years 51 weeks

And my point remains that the same goes for toilet photos and making out, yet birth and breastfeeding are always targeted. And that goes into another tangent of having work associates on your Facebook page, which is another thing I do not do, nor is anything on my page viewable by people I haven't approved.

phatE 2 years 51 weeks

anonymous #2 - yes you can post whatever you want, but good luck if you ever want to have a professional career & have birth/breast-feeding images linked to your name.

2 years 51 weeks

"No, then can't Anon No. 2 - Facebook has TOS and if you violate they can remove your photo." That's not what I meant by "anything they want." And Facebook's admin is really spotty. For instance, they remove breastfeeding photos that show no areola or nipple, less than what a bikini photo shows, but they leave up groups for Sh*tting that show a fully naked person sitting on a toilet.

snarkypants 2 years 51 weeks

i would never post pictures of my children on facebook, but that's just a personal choice, i don't judge when others do. unless there are genitals or afterbirth!

pixiedusk 2 years 51 weeks

Giving birth soon and i will post my baby's pictures of course! im a proud mOm! but no flesh, gooey stuff, and no genitals! what youll see is a cute clean and cuddly baby!

MissSushi 2 years 51 weeks

lol. im ultraconservative with what i post. I post pictures of my family and other such, but everything is very g rated, and I'm NOT into birth photo's etc etc. When I had my son in March, he slept SO well right off the bat that I had free time to upload pictures. I browsed through the ones my husband and the nurses took of the baby after he was born, and popped several online. I should have waited until I was a little more rested from the birth, because I ended up accidentally uploading a shot i would not have... It was the baby, held up right after birth being suctioned, but if you look to the very very very far right of the shot, where its out of focus and dark, you can make out that the damn nurse took it RIGHT above me looking down, so you can see my legs and the blue paper they put over you and the cord leading back to me.. EEK. It's vague, you can't see anything but all the covers and teh cord, but it still eeks me out. i deleted it as soon as i noticed, but it had been up a few days.

runningesq 2 years 51 weeks

No, then can't Anon No. 2 - Facebook has TOS and if you violate they can remove your photo.

2 years 51 weeks

Excellent point. The choices suck. And I can't use the "bodily fluids" option either because a) I don't care if a photo shows afterbirth, and b) breastfeeding photos are totally fine by me as well, which involves a "bodily fluid." And again I say a person can post anything they want on Facebook and adjust their settings accordingly, and their friends can adjust their hide option accordingly. Mothers are not singled out for this, the same goes for someone who posts pictures of their bikini wax and it's in my News Feed.

2 years 51 weeks

What do you mean by 'anatomy' or 'flesh'? Either of those could mean faces or hands.

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