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LETTERS · TO A BABY

Letters to my baby, to read when they are older

Letters to my baby are written for a reader who cannot read yet. This page covers what to write, five examples from parents of newborns and of babies still on the way, and how to seal a letter for the day they turn 13, 18 or any day you pick.

Start a letter to your baby

Open when you turn 18Write →Open when you turn 13Write →Open when you leave homeWrite →Open when you have a baby of your ownWrite →Open when you have a hard dayWrite →A letter for a new babyWrite →To the baby I lostWrite →

Each one opens a blank letter with the moment already on the envelope. No account needed.

An example to start from

To the baby who hiccups at 3 a.m.

Hello you,

I am 36 weeks and I am writing this on the couch because you will not let me sleep. You hiccup every night around 3. Your dad talks to my belly in a funny voice and you kick him back.

We have a crib that is not built, a name we are mostly sure of, and no idea what we are doing.

Here is what I know already. You are very wanted. I am going to get a lot wrong, and I will say sorry when I do.

See you soon.

Mom
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
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How your letter stays yours
Private by default. Only the person you address can open it.
Delete any time: before it's opened, after, or everything.
Nothing is public unless you ask, and a person reads it first.
How privacy works
A parent's hands holding a newborn's feet
Photo: Legacy Shots by Sharan Sathya on Pexels

What to write in letters to your baby

Write the ordinary things. What the room smells like. The song stuck in your head. What your baby did today that nobody else saw. A letter full of small facts will be worth more in eighteen years than one full of big wishes.

Then add what only you can add:

  • how you chose the name
  • what scared you the week they were born
  • what you hoped for before you met them
  • what you wish for them now, in plain words

If you are writing before the birth, say so. A letter to a baby on the way can include the nursery, the argument over names and the first time you felt a kick.

EXAMPLE LETTERS

Letters to borrow from

We wrote these to show what a letter like this can sound like. Borrow a line, then make it yours: the small, true details are what make it land.

To Noah, the night you were born

Noah,

It is 4:40 in the morning and you are asleep on my chest, which I am told will not last. You have your grandfather's ears. Your mother is asleep too, finally. The nurse brought me a cup of terrible coffee and I have never been so glad to drink one.

I do not know yet what kind of dad I will be. I plan to be the one who is here.

Open this when you turn eighteen. By then I will have embarrassed you a thousand times. Start counting tonight.

Dad
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Zoe, one year old today

Zoe,

You turned one today. You have four teeth, a one-eyed bear named Mr. Tuesday, and a laugh that starts in your stomach and takes about a second to reach your face.

Your first word was last week and it was 'dog', and we do not have a dog. Your dad insists it was 'Dad'. It was dog.

I will write you one of these every year. This is number one. I hope you read them in a row someday and see how much you changed, and how much you did not.

Mom
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Ana, the day you came home

Ana,

We waited for you for three years and we still cannot say your name without our voices wobbling.

Today you came home. You are eight months old and you stared at the ceiling fan for forty minutes, very serious, like an inspector. You ate half a banana and wore the other half.

You have a whole story from before us, and it is yours. When you are ready to ask about it, we will tell you everything we know.

Welcome home, small inspector.

Your dads
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

To Leo, written beside your incubator

Leo,

You weigh two pounds, nine ounces, and you are the smallest person I have ever loved. There are wires on you and a hat the size of a lemon.

I cannot hold you much yet, so I sit here and read you the sports page. You do not understand it and you seem to like it anyway.

If you are reading this at eighteen, you are probably taller than me and you eat everything in the house. Good. I wrote this on a day when I could not know that, and I wanted you to see how much I wanted it.

Your mom
AN EXAMPLE TO BORROW FROM
MAKE IT YOURS

One letter, or one every year

A single letter is enough. A few are better. Some parents write a letter close to each birthday and seal each for a different later moment. Write it while the details are fresh. A first-birthday letter can hold the first word, the first food and the way they sleep.

If you would rather it arrive on the day itself, as a gift in place of a card, see birthday letters.

Sealing a letter for later

Choose a moment: Open when you turn 18, Open when you leave home, Open when you have a baby of your own. Every Open When letter also has a date, chosen by you, before which it cannot be opened.

A baby has no email address, so the simplest route is to keep the letter for now and hand over the private link or QR code yourself when the day comes. Pick a wax seal color and a handwriting style. You can unseal and edit until it is opened, and you can download your own copy of every letter. Because eighteen years is long, keep that copy somewhere safe as well.

A letter to the baby you lost

Some parents write to a baby they did not get to bring home. If a letter to your miscarried baby is what you need, it is yours alone, and there is no right length or tone. You might write the name you had picked, or the day you found out, or what you wish you had been able to say. You can be angry. You can write one line. You might begin with the simplest one: I wanted you.

There is nothing here to promise you. Writing may help a little, and it may not help today. Unsent letters are made for this. There is no send button and no address. The letter stays on your own shelf on your device where only you can see it, or you let it go and it is deleted for good. See unsent letters and goodbye letters.

IF YOU ARE STUCK

Questions that help you start

  • What does your baby do that makes you laugh?
  • What did you think the first time you saw them?
  • How did you choose their name?
  • What are you most afraid of getting wrong?
  • What song, smell or sound belongs to these weeks?
  • What do you hope they never have to learn the hard way?
  • What would you like them to know about the year before they were born?
  • Who held them first, and what did that person say?

Open When never writes your letter for you. These are only here to get the first line down.

QUESTIONS

Questions people ask

What do you write in letters to your baby?
Write what is true today: what they are like, what you feel, what the days look like. Add your hopes and one or two things you are afraid of. Plain details beat grand promises, because a grown child wants to meet the parent who wrote it.
When should my child read a letter I wrote when they were a baby?
Pick the moment that fits what you said. A letter about their first year suits their 13th or 18th birthday. A letter about being a parent suits the day they have a child. You can also write one for a hard day and keep it for now until it is needed.
Can a dad write letters to his baby?
Yes. Short and specific works well. Write about the night they were born, what the house sounds like, and one thing you are going to teach them. You can write one letter together with your partner, or each write your own.
Can I write to my baby before they are born?
Yes. Write about the kicks, the name debates and what you are hoping for. Seal it for a later birthday and add a second letter after the birth. Being able to read both together later shows a child how long they were wanted.
Is it okay to write a letter to my miscarried baby?
Yes. There is no right way to do it and nothing you have to resolve. Keep it as long or as short as you want. An unsent letter stays on your own shelf where only you can see it, and you can delete it for good whenever you choose.
KEEP READING

More letters like this

A time capsule letter to your child, to open at 10, 13, 16 or 18Read →A letter to a granddaughter from Grandma, or to a grandson from GrandpaRead →How to write a happy birthday letter, with examplesRead →Goodbye letter: how to say it when you cannot say it out loudRead →Open when ideas: moments to seal a letter for, and what to writeRead →
Write it tonight, while the details are still sharp.
Write to my baby