The Baby Selfie app is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds.

The Baby Selfie app is exactly as ridiculous as it sounds.

When you have a baby, you’re going to witness a lot of firsts in their life. Like the first time they eat a solid without getting it in their hair. The first time they use the toilet unaided. The first time they speak a word recognised by the English language.

Of course, there’s also the day they nail their first selfie. And now there’s an app to ensure Baby’s First Duckface is as Facebook-worthy as possible.

The app, called 'Baby Selfie', combines a classic baby activity - Peek-a-Boo - with the selfie phenomenon so popular among modern teenagers (and, cough, full-grown adults), which means your baby will be fluent in selfie before they even know what a phone is. Oi.

"Baby Selfie uses custom drawings and fun sounds to grab your baby's attention and surprise them," the app's Google Play description reads.

"We capture your baby's reaction in a unique, unexpected photos that you'll love to share." (Yes, your Facebook friends will love receiving an endless stream of fuzzy, out-of-focus headshots.)

All you have to do then is teach bub how to share their portraits on Instagram with ironic hashtags and pithy captions, and bam! An Internet star is born.

The app, created by Pittsburgh software developer and new dad Matthew Pegula, raises myriad questions. Do apps like these foster dependence on technology? Isn't excessive screen time damaging for babies? Aren't selfies really narcissistic? And so on.

Pegula addressed some of these questions in an email to the Washington Post. “I think it’s good because it engages parents and babies with the screen, it’s not really something where you can park your kid in front of it and walk away," he writes.

Okay. But there's one question that overrides them all: Is this app even necessary? Probably not.

It's not like there's a dire worldwide shortage of baby photos right now. You'll rarely meet a parent whose phone isn't groaning under the weight of several thousand snapshots documenting their cherub's every move (hey, we all do it).

The same goes for selfies - as anyone with kids will tell you, bubs love getting their hands on mum's smartphone, and without even knowing it they manage to take photos of themselves all the time. They don't need an app to make it happen.

Kids will naturally develop an interest in their appearance, and documenting it, when the time comes. For now, why not just let babies do their thing? The selfies will come later.

Trust us on that one.

What do you think of this app? Is it cute, ridiculous or silly but harmless fun? How many photos of your kids do you have on your phone right now?