The Perfect Age to Photograph a Newborn
Frequently, clients and fellow photographers ask when is the perfect age to photograph a newborn baby. Back in the day, a newborn baby was 6 or 8 weeks of age. Most of us likely have baby portraits taken at the local portrait studio. Things have changed a lot since Anne Geddes pioneered a specialized newborn photography technique. It was 6 years ago when I photographed my first newborn baby and things have changed a lot since then. Over 550 babies later, my technique has changed a lot and I have developed my own style for photographing these beautiful little ones.
So, over and over the question is asked – when should a newborn be photographed? When they first arrive home from the hospital? When they are two weeks old?
If you Google “when is a newborn not a newborn”, Wikipedia defines a newborn as the following:
“A newborn is an infant who is only hours, days or up to a few weeks old. In medical contexts, newborn or neonate (from Latin, neonates, newborn) refers to an infant in the first 28 days after birth”
When consulting clients, we advise that the best time to photograph their newborn baby is between day 5 and day 8 of baby’s arrival. We also let mom know that there are some exceptions to this rule that will be detailed later in this article.
Important Factors for Determining the Right Time to Photograph a Newborn
1. Arrival Time. The most important factor is the time of baby’s arrival. If baby is born overdue, it is a good idea to have clients come in as soon as possible. If baby is born more than 5 days overdue, I say “how fast can you get here?”. Day 5 to day 7 is the ideal time for babies born past their gestational due date. If babies are more than 7 days overdue, day 5 is a good rule of thumb. Babies that are overdue are more developed and usually much more alert and awake. As a rule of thumb, I usually add the amount of days that the baby is overdue to the age of the newborn on the day of the photo session. For instance, if baby is 7 days overdue and is photographed on day 10, the baby will generally act more like a 17 day old baby.
If baby is born a few weeks early, it is still best to photograph between day 5 and day 8. That being said, it is usually okay to wait a few extra days as babies born a bit early are usually curly and sleepy for awhile longer.
2. Breast Milk. When mother’s are breastfeeding, milk generally comes in on day 4 or day 5. It is best to allow 24 hours to elapse between the time of the milk coming in and the day of your newborn session. Therefore, day 5 is the earliest day I will photograph a newborn. If mother’s milk has not come in yet, baby will be fussy during your photo session. If baby is being formula fed, you can photograph as soon as baby arrives home from the hospital.
3. Weight. The smallest baby I have photographed was just over 4 pounds. She was a twin and her twin sister was an entire pound heavier. I find that when babies are under 5.5 pounds, it is best to give them a few extra days to get back to their birth weight. It is quite common for babies to lose up to 10% of their birth weight after being born. After about one week, babies usually have regained the 10% lost. For the first few days of life, babies live off of the colostrum their mother’s produce as they wait for milk to come in. Colostrum is the first milk a mother produces. Colostrum is full of antibodies and immunoglobulins. A laxative effect from colostrum helps babies to expel the first tarry stools called meconium. Referred to as “high octane” milk, colostrum protects babies from bacteria and viruses. Colostrum is all a baby needs to survive for the first days of life before mother’s breast milk arrives.
4. Premature Babies. It does happen that babies arrive very early. The earliest pre-term baby I have photographed was born at 29 weeks. Just recently, I photographed a baby born at 30 weeks gestation. It goes without saying that baby’s health and safety always come first. We waited until baby arrived home from the hospital in both instances. Both babies were photographed at 6 weeks and were still very curly and sleepy for their newborn session. It’s always suggested to clients having premature babies to wait until baby has been given the clear from the doctor and have the photo session done within 7 days of arriving home from the hospital.
5. Twins. It is not uncommon to photograph twins at 4 weeks if they are born premature. If twins are born around their due date, I recommend photographing twins between day 7 and day 10 if mom is feeling well and up to her session.
6. Religious Cultures. Certain cultures have traditions of house confinement of one month to six weeks after baby’s arrival. I have many potential clients ask me if I can travel to their home to be their newborn photographer. As a specialized newborn photographer, I do prefer to have the newborn sessions take place inside the studio as it provides access to a tremendous amount of equipment, props, supplies and beautiful light. On-location newborn sessions may be arranged, although posing is limited and the sessions are more candid in nature. It is often very beautiful to capture a newborn in his/her natural home environment where you can showcase baby’s nursery. I have photographed many newborns in their home and at various ages with great success.
7. Post Partum Depression. Many new moms experience post partum. It can creep up on any new mom and is quite natural and common. Having a baby is a life changing event and mothers experience many changes. Post partum is a type of clinical depression which can affect any woman. Symptoms can occur any time in the first year postpartum and can include but are not limited to sadness, fatigue, low self esteem, hopelessness, changes in sleep or eating patterns, episodes of crying, irritability, anxiety, a sense of being overwhelmed, social withdrawal and more. If a new mom is not able to have her newborn session right away, it is important to let mom know that it’s okay. A newborn session will be honoured at any age. This may mean that the baby is no longer a newborn but we will still capture beautiful images at 6 months or one year. Post partum is very real and every photographer should be patient and understanding.
8. Newborns with Medical Conditions. I have photographed babies with varying medical conditions. Complications may arise, stays in the NICU or surgeries. It is important for new parents to take care of their babies before worrying about their photo session. A baby I photographed last year had a surgical sac during her photo session. We waited until baby was much older and she was photographed when receiving the okay from her doctor. Much care was taken during her photo session and poses needed to be adapted. The surgical sac was removed during post processing in Photoshop. Another baby I photographed had a rash covering one entire leg. Another baby recently photographed was born with a club foot. Over the years I have learned to adapt my posing techniques and work with babies and special conditions to highlight their beautiful features.
Why So Early?
Babies are generally very sleepy in the first few days of life. Okay, not all babies. My daughter came out crying, wide eyed and alert at 8 pounds, 11.5 ounces. I have photographed babies who are very alert and awake at 5 days new. On the other hand, I have photographed 18 day old babies who are extremely calm and sleepy. Every baby has a different personality and generally how they are at home is how they will be during their session. It takes a very experienced photographer to know how to adapt to each baby’s personality and work with them to create beautiful poses and images. As baby’s skin conditions to his/her new environment, their skin may be flaky/peely and their umbilical cord may not have fallen off just yet. Their is something to be said about newborns in dreamland and during the first few days of life, babies are in a sleepy and peaceful state. After 10 days, in my experience, babies are much more alert and awake. Being much more aware of their surroundings, they wake more easily and are disturbed while being posed after 10 days. Newborns also start to lost their curliness and will be more difficult to pose in the “curly” newborn poses. A new trend in newborn photography is the stretched out newborn poses. They are beautiful and I will admit took me awhile to master. In my experience of photographing over 550 newborn babies, a baby needs to be in a deep deep sleep to accomplish these particular poses. That being said, nothing is impossible, just more challenging.
Within the first 10 days of life, babies are still curly as they were in the womb and love to be curled up and kept warm. You can create amazing fetal like poses featuring a baby’s newness.
Tips for Preparing Your Studio
The studio should be kept clean at all times. Before every photo session, the studio is swept and moped. All blankets and fabrics are washed with a baby safe detergent such as Baby Purex or Baby Ivory detergent. Hands should be washed frequently and hand sanitizer applied prior to working with baby.
The studio is kept warm. Inside the womb, babies are 98.6 degrees fahrenheit (37 degrees celsius). I generally find that newborn sessions work best when the temperature inside the studio is set between 80 and 85 degrees fahrenheit (27 and 29 degrees celsius).
I do not use heating pads. The air is kept warm with a space heater. In winter, I turn on the fireplace to warm the studio. Blankets are put in the dryer for 5 or 10 minutes to remove wrinkles and warm them up just before placing baby down.
The photo session is usually started with baby wearing an adorable pair of newborn pants. This way the diaper can be left on and then taken off after baby is settled. Wrap poses are saved for later when baby may be fussy. It is easy to settle a fussy infant by swaddling and wrapping them. This mimics their natural environment inside the womb where there was little space to move and helps them to feel safe and secure.
Try not to let a newborn baby cry during your photo session. I know how to quickly calm a fussy infant and put parent’s at ease. Babies love to be snuggled, rocked and shushed to sleep.
A tip for getting baby to close their eyes is to stand next to a window. The light forces them to close their eyes and will help them get into a sleepy state. Babies also have a pressure point between their eyes that is calming to them.
Inside the womb babies hear a large vacuum type sound. This is why white noise is used during every newborn photo session. There is a Graco Sweet Slumber Sound Machine machine that I purchased many years ago from Babies R Us that works well. I believe it was around $50. It uses batteries or can be plugged into an electrical outlet. There is also a heart inside a teddy bear you may purchase from Babies R Us. I personally love to use my iPhone. There is a white noise app that is free and works the best of all. I use both the iPhone and the Graco machine during each photo session.
Tips for Preparing Baby
All clients are provided with a preparation email to help them ready baby and themselves for their newborn portrait session. The email is very simple as to not overwhelm mom who has just had a baby. The two most important items is to bring more bottles than needed if bottle feeding and to dress lightly and advise clients that the studio is kept very warm for newborn sessions. If mom is breastfeeding, we will take time to feed baby before the photo session gets started. We are together for awhile (between 4 and 5 hours), so it is recommended to bring snacks or a packed lunch. Cold bottles of water are kept on hand.
There really is no right or wrong answer on when to photograph a newborn baby. These are my personal suggestions after photographing 550 newborn babies over the last 6 years. Next to my daughter Madison, I love photographing babies more than life itself. As a newborn baby photographer, my job is my passion.
Always learn from someone more experienced whether at a workshop or individual training. A professional newborn photographer will teach you how to safely work with newborn babies.
