Newborn Photography East Grinstead West Sussex

The thought that your newborn baby might not sleep at their photo shoot is quite a common worry. As is the idea that they might cry or want feeding during your time at the studio.

I hate the idea that you have any kind of worries about your photo shoot as it really should be a fun and relaxing experience for you so I’m going to be honest.  There have been a few babies over the years – maybe two or three over the hundreds that I’ve photographed – and they haven’t slept at any point in their photo shoot.  So it’s possible, I won’t deny that.  However, it isn’t very likely that they will be awake throughout.  What is likely is that they will wake up at some point during the session.  I think that about 2% of babies arrive asleep and leave that way with no changes in between – I wish that number was higher, it really would save me a lot of time and rocking but it is what it is.  Newborn photography isn’t a thing that you can predict with any great certainty.  So yeah, they’re going to wake up – probably want a feed and quite likely have a cry too.

The question really is how does that impact your photos – well not a lot really. Obviously if they are in the rare category of a wide awake throughout baby, that’s not to say that they are unhappy about it.  In fact, on the occasions when I’ve had a fully paid up member of the wide awake club, they’ve been perfectly content to lie down and get photographed while they take everything in. It does limit some poses as an awake baby won’t get posed on their tummy but other than that, there’s still plenty of beautiful shots that you can create.  When they’re awake, because they don’t have any motor control at this point, we tend to work with them at least partially swaddled which keeps them immobile so they don’t have arms and legs flying around and getting in front of their faces while I’m trying to take their picture.  The good news about working with them like this is that they tend to be very relaxed in a swaddle so we can do lots with them.

If your baby is in the largest category of newborns who sleep for a bit, wake up for a bit, repeat – then it doesn’t make any difference to your photos.  These sessions are scheduled for two hours in the studio to allow for exactly this – even if they were hard asleep, we wouldn’t be taking pictures for two hours. The extra time is to allow for them to have feed and settling time.  Generally speaking, once they start getting hungry, we top them up with food and then soothe them until they’re happy to go back to the Land of Nod and then we simply carry on.

So my best piece of advice for you, if you’re feeling worried about your newborn waking up at your photo shoot is don’t.  Great advice right?  Seriously though, I’ve been doing this for a really long time and it would be super weird if I was in the slightest bit concerned about a baby crying, feeding or just generally being awake during their session.  It’s probably going to happen and I’m pretty well versed in baby soothing techniques, posing and making the most of all the opportunities that they give us to ensure that we can create beautiful images of those early newborn days.

PS.  They’re pretty likely to pee, poo or vomit during their session too and if they’re not wearing a nappy, yep it will go everywhere.  Don’t sweat it. Everything is washable in the studio, including me 🙂

Newborn Photography

A newborn photo shoot is best when your baby is between 5 and 10 days old as this is when they are at their maximum sleepiness and poseability to capture those dreamy shots.  For this reason, I definitely recommend that you book when you are pregnant as this is one less thing to worry about scheduling when you’ve just got home from the hospital.   We make an appointment for your due date plus 7 days and then adjust it as needed.

My newborn shoots include your three favourite digital images which you select from your online gallery a few weeks after your photo shoot – I don’t make you attend a sales or viewing session.  Sessions take place in my warm and cosy studio in Crawley Down and cost £95.