SAT on a fluffy blanket, Cody Moore was transfixed by a cuddly monkey as photographer Pete Herbert snapped away.

Mr Herbert cooed: “Look at the monkey? Who’s a good boy?” until he was happy with the shot at Matalan in Cowley.

Nine-month-old Cody is one of the hundreds of beautiful babies entering this year’s Oxford Mail Baby of the Year competition.

His mum Shannon said: “I was going to enter him last time, but we never got around to it, so I thought I would this time.

“It’s just a nice thing to do, something a bit different. If he won I’d be really proud.”

The Kidlington mum explained her baby’s good behaviour on the shoot. She said: “I have got quite a lot of photoshoot pictures of Cody already, so he’s used to them by now.”

Another well-behaved contestant was two-year-old Sophia O’Shea from Cutteslowe, North Oxford.

Her dad Michael said: “I just want to show her off – If she won I’d be really, really happy.”

Sophia’s mum Jessica added: “Our son Isaac has been in it before when he was really little. He’s four now.”

Mum-of-three Caroline Edun was bringing her youngest son Thomas, who is nearly five months old, to be photographed.

She said: “I’ve entered all of my kids, Lamari is four now, and Christian is two, but this is Thomas’s first time.

“It’s just a nice way to get a little photoshoot done. I always buy the pictures of them after so I can give them to friends and family.”

Families who enter will be in with the chance to win a holiday, a voucher, canvas photo print and a trophy. It is free to enter, and you can buy the pictures afterwards.

  • To take part, fill in an entry form, below, and take your child to one of the photo booths listed covering the competition. Entry forms will be printed in the Mail until Saturday, March 29.