Newborn Photography Pre-Shoot Checklist

marie 13th November 2019 Newborn Photography 21 Comments

How to prepare for your newborn session.

So, you’ve booked your newborn session, baby has arrived and you’ve let us know they’re here, you now have a date in your diary, so what next?

Lots of new parents are a little nervous about how baby will do in their session, will baby sleep, will they just want to feed all the time? So I thought I’d put a bit of advice to help the session go as smoothly as possible.

We understand this maybe your first outing with your baby and we do our upmost to make it a pleasant one. We pride ourselves on having a lovely relaxed and homely feel so you and your baby can enjoy the session.

Before you arrive

We ask you to do two things to help the session go as smoothly as possible:

Keep baby awake

Newborn babies sleep around 17 hours a day, but when it comes to the session they maybe awake because of being naked and moved around. We ask that you keep your baby awake for 2 hours before the session. If you can give baby a bath, keep them naked, play with interactive toys or sing, this will help to keep them awake longer and hopefully sleep through most of the session.

Feed baby just before session

A fed baby is usually a happy sleepy baby. We would ask that you aim to hold off their second feed until you get to the studio. As a mum myself, I completely understand that babies do not work to any sort of timetable, but if you are able to do this, it would make the session run much more smoothly as baby will be more relaxed directly after a feed. We can of course stop at any time during the session if baby requires a top up.

Things to bring

Please bring all baby’s necessities and extra feeds. Baby may well feed more than at home. This is because of the moving around of baby during the session.

If you have anything you would like to incorporate into your session (special blanket, jewellery etc.) you are more than welcome to bring these with you.

Other things to help the session

White noise

Baby has only just emerged from a very noisy place; it is surprising how noisy the womb actually is. With this in mind we will be playing white noise during our photography session. This technique is proven to help newborns feel safe and relaxed. We will also sooth baby with shhhhing, again this is an additional white noise technique.

Warm room

As your baby will be photographed unclothed, it is essential that we have the room pretty warm. This will feel very warm to you, but it is necessary to be able to photograph your baby without it becoming chilly.

We aim to make the session an enjoyable experience for all, while we create beautiful images of your baby.

If you would like some more information or to book a session please get in touch at Marie Myers Photography

One of my Newborn Photographer friends, Louise Ferguson a Newborn Photography, in Sussex has a lovely blog about Newborn Mini session this week. For newborn photography in Worcester Marie Myers.