HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR NEWBORN SESSION

1. Feed your baby around an hour and a half before arriving at the newborn session and then do not feed your baby again until after you arrive at the studio. This gives us time to talk about the session and ensure that your baby is well fed and settled.

2. Keep your baby awake from just after the full feeding until you arrive at the studio. This will help your newborn be extra tired for the session. Baths, playing and un-swaddling work well to keep newborns awake.

3. Slightly loosen your baby’s nappy about an hour before your session. This helps prevent red marks. Arrive at the studio with your baby only wearing a baby grow (no vests underneath), this is so we don’t have to disturb them too much by removing multiple layers.

4. Wash or sponge-clean your baby’s hair on the morning of the session. This will help make sure the hair is fluffy instead of oily in the photos.
5. You may want to have extra pumped milk or formula prepared in a bottle. Overfeeding helps your baby stay really sleepy. We may bottle-feed several times in various poses/positions.

6. Have your baby’s pacifier handy (if you are comfortable with a pacifier). Even if the baby isn’t usually good at taking one, it can often be very helpful while they are settling into a pose. A pacifier can make the difference between a successful session and a stressful one.

7. Avoid using lotion on the baby the morning of the session as it can make them look shiny.

8. The studio will be nice and warm for your baby so that they are comfortable when naked. You might prefer to wear something light when we are not taking family/parent/sibling poses.

9. When possible, newborn sessions work best when the baby is between 6 and 21 days old. While newborns can be photographed at any point, this timeframe generally works best for having a sleepy baby. Sleepy babies make for much less stressful newborn photography sessions than awake babies. This is also the ideal timeframe for generally avoiding significant baby acne, although this and other skin conditions common to newborns will be edited in post production.

10. Mornings are ideal for a newborn photo session, as many newborns are more colicky and unhappy in the afternoon and evening.