If you are booking an in studio or posed newborn session you likely noticed that babies are sleeping for these photos. You may wonder why this is, and question if it’s ok that your baby is awake for these photos.
In reality, those first few weeks of birth, babies are more asleep than awake (even though it maybe doesn’t feel like it when you are a sleep deprived parent!)
If a baby is awake but relaxed, I will snap a few pictures of that but for the majority of the session, we want baby to be super sleepy. There are a few reasons for that.
Most newborn babies aren’t relaxed enough for photos
I most commonly photograph newborns when they are between 7-10 days old. They sleep most during this time period unless they need to be changed or are hungry. Although every baby is different, most newborns are quite wiggly when they are awake at this age. Some will be happy to be relaxed and pose but most often they make awkward faces or wiggle, arch their back, etc.
Some poses aren’t safe while baby is awake
For nearly half of the poses I do, it is simply not safe to pose baby while awake. For example, while on tummy, the baby may use feet to kick themselves and they could roll off my beanbag or out of my baskets and props. Although I never go far enough from baby without a spotter, I don’t like to take any chances!
Awake babies are wiggly!
Babies startle easily, causing them to “flail” or move their hands and legs on impulse. They rarely keep their limbs steady while awake, so in order to get those squishy snuggly poses its necessary for baby to be asleep.
Even poses that would be safe to get while baby are awake likely won’t happen as babies typically wont stay still in those poses for longer than a millisecond.
We capture more images when baby is sleeping
It is much more likely to get a nice full variety of images for your gallery if baby is relaxed and in a nice, deep sleep. I am able to quickly and safely photograph a variety of images when they aren’t flailing or clenching their fists, rooting, etc.
What if my baby doesn’t sleep?
Although my typical newborn sessions last around 1.5 hours, we don’t typically shoot that entire time. A lot of the time is for snuggling baby, feeding baby, changing baby, and getting baby to sleep. It is very unlikely that during this time period your newborn wouldn’t sleep at all, so it is very rare that I have to reschedule a newborn shoot.
In the rare even that your newborn isn’t sleeping or is fussy and not relaxed, their safety and happiness is my top priority. This might mean rescheduling to a different day, or trying a more lifestlyle approach to your newborn session. Although I very rarely recommend lifestyle in a posed strobe light setting, it is possible! Whatever happens, my priority is to capture beautiful photos of you and your family!
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