I’ve been a newborn photography now for over 14 years and I always suggest that parents schedule their newborn photo session in the second trimester. This allows for photos to be taken within the optimum time to capture the cute curled up poses that every parent wants.
The best times that I have found to have newborn photos taken before baby has passed the two week mark (14 days), this is because the baby is still in womb mode you are more likely to get the cute curled up poses.
I only photograph babies as newborns to a maximum of four weeks old after this you have missed your chance and baby is far too old for a newborn session. Covid forced a lot of newborn photographers like myself to photograph babies much later than we usually do due to us being in a lockdown. I myself successfully posed a 10 week old in the newborn poses, however this is not something that I would do unless absolutely necessary.
Week 1 – week 2 – The ideal window
Within the first two weeks is the ideal window to photograph your newborn. In order to make this window you will need to have booked your session well before your baby is born. This is because I have limited space in the diary each month for newborns and this way you will be guaranteed to get a slot in my diary.
Up until four weeks old newborns are more flexible and are still in a womblike state, making it easier to get them into those beautiful snuggled up poses and they have more of a predictable feeding schedule and tend to sleep after feeds making it easier to sooth them to sleep.
So if you’re wanting to capture those teeny tiny, ultra snuggly newborn poses you need to be scheduling your newborn photography session well in advance.
Preemies
Premature babies are the exception to the rule. They tend to be born small and require a longer stay in hospital until they are further along in their development. In this case we schedule them in for a soon as they leave hospital, most of the time this is roundabout their due date and then they are treated like any normal newborn baby.
For example a baby born 10 weeks early would be photographed around 11 weeks old. Please note that I only class premature babies as preemies who are over 7 week early.
Twins and multiples
Twins and multiple babies tend to be born a little earlier than single babies and are usually smaller them then their singleton counterparts. Again we try and schedule them for as soon as they’ve left hospital but they can be photographed a little older up to the six week mark.
If you would like more information about my newborn shoots you can check out the page here or drop me an email to Lyn@wingsphotography.co.uk
