Photographers most of the time will say the best time to bring your baby for a newborn session is anytime before 2 weeks old. I have some parents that come to me on the way home from the hospital and others that want to get settled at home first. There is a good reason for doing the pictures as early as possible. The longer they have out of the womb the less they want to be “posed”. The cute poses that everyone wants in their sessions are much harder after they have been moving around with no restrictions for an extended period of time. Babies also sleep much better earlier on which gives the photographer the ability to move through the poses much faster without having to settle the babies after each photo. Some of the photos parents like are not possible when they are awake so that also can limit the different looks you can choose from when you have to keep them wrapped to sleep.
Some babies are super laid back and sleep wonderfully even after that 2 week window but most struggle with being moved around so much while they are sleeping. Cluster feeding also starts around 3 weeks and that makes things very interesting. Sessions can last a very long time when they want to eat every time they wake up and it wears poor momma out!
Some parents don’t contact me until they have gotten home from the hospital and I am booked up and they have to wait a few weeks to get them in which puts them over a month. Every parent should get the opportunity to get newborn photos if they want them so I never turn anyone away.
This is Abby. I took her photos back in January 2015. She was 7 weeks old by the time I got her in the studio. She was wide awake when she got here but after awhile I think I wore her out. The parents got some awake happy baby photos and a few sleeping ones as well and didn’t have to miss out on newborn photos. She was not able to get into some of the poses that I would normally do but when you just want beautiful photos of your new baby that doesn’t matter.
This family came to see me 4 more times after this in the first year! I loved watching baby Abby grow into a little kid with tons of personality. Sharing these special times with these families is why I love doing this job.
If you are on the fence about getting newborn photos done because you feel like you may have missed the window of opportunity please call me. We can talk about what is possible for your session. Don’t miss out on documenting these beautiful moments with you and your baby because of them being older than 2 weeks.
If you are interested in Newborn photography session, find out more here.
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