As a long-time newborn photographer, I feel that one of the most important interactions you can have with your clients is during the preparation stage. How you prepare your clients for the newborn session with their little one can make or break the success of the session. These newborn session prep tips are sure to help ease your clients prior to their newborn photos.
Check out my newborn photography courses where I go over session prep, newborn lighting, newborn posing and so much more!
How to prepare the parents for the newborn session:
The following are points that I make sure to mention to my clients before the session. Some of them I even discuss at booking, depending on importance.
- Keep baby awake 2-3 hours before the session
- Feed baby 2 hours before the session- this may require adjusting the baby’s schedule
- Be prepared to feed baby when they arrive
- Bring a Soothie pacifier
- If they bottle feed, bring PLENTY. Babies almost always eat away more than usual during a session.
- I notify them of the temperature and advise them to dress accordingly usually in layers
- Important: I advise them of the length of the session so that they are both mentally and physically prepared, especially if there are siblings coming.
All of these things can make or break your session. If the baby sleeps all morning and then shows up to their session, you can end up with them being awake the entire session because it’s their “wake time”- especially if they are older than 10 or so days.
Have Your Clients Feed Baby Prior To Newborn Session:
Feeding baby right before the session starts and adjusting the morning schedule to accommodate that, can help prevent baby from needing to immediately eat 20 minutes into the session when you’ve already started and gotten deep into it. I ask them to feed 2 hours before and then when they arrive they can feed again and baby should be ready to knock out and be good for a few hours.
Have Them Bring A Soothie To The Newborn Session:
Not everyone uses a pacifier, and that’s okay. During a newborn session when you need to soothe and settle, it can be especially crucial. The Soothie is nice because it doesn’t have plastic parts and therefore doesn’t leave red marks on the baby’s face around the mouth from sucking on it. Most parents receive one at the hospital so they are pretty universally available.
I make sure to let parents know that not using a pacifier during the 2-3 hour stretch is their choice, but I let them know how important it can be to my job and successful posing- and that I won’t be responsible for baby’s cooperation if they choose not to use one during the session.
Make Sure They Bring Food:
Bring PLENTY of food- whether baby is formula fed or mom pumps, bottle fed babies need to have more food than they normally eat, available. I’ve had parents have to go home before to get more because they overlooked this little detail and brought what their child normally ate in a 2-3 hour period- usually 4-5 ounces.
When you are posing and working with a baby for hours at a time as opposed to just feeding, swaddling and sticking them in a crib, they are going to eat more during that time period as/if they awaken. The last thing you want is a client that lives far enough away for it to be really inconvenient, to either have to go home to get more food, or have to call the session early and quit because baby is starving and they’re out of food.
Have Your Client Know What To Wear:
Always make sure your clients know what kind of environment to expect. It can get really hot during newborn sessions and a new mom with post-delivery hormones can be very uncomfortable if not prepared accordingly. Make sure they know that cold water will be readily available (good hospitality).
Prepare Your Client For The Time It Takes To Photograph A Newborn Session:
One of the most important ones to me, is advising parents of the length of the session. Is this their first baby? Have they had newborn photos before? Was it a 20 minute Sears session or have they had a custom newborn session before? Are they mainly family session clients (1 hour) and expect the same amount of time during this session? If that’s the case, they’ll be in for a rude awakening, and it can put a serious damper on your session, as well as your relationship with the client.
I encourage people to not schedule anything else for that day because I don’t want them stressed and rushed during the session and pulling baby away from me when he has finally settled into a pose, etc.
Make sure that they are aware of your average session length, but that it can stretch as long as however many hours you personally are willing to shoot. For me, it’s 4 MAX. The only time I shoot 4 hours is if baby has been difficult but with persistence, usable (for lack of a better word, haha!).
Usually the difficult babies will finally give up and sleep a couple hours into the session and then you still have the 1-2 hours it takes to fully pose them depending on how well they stay asleep at that point. I tell parents to plan on 2-3 hours, but to leave at least 4 in their schedule in case baby needs some extra TLC and the session stretches because of that.
Pro Newborn Session Tip: When parents are bringing siblings, it’s especially important to make sure they know what they are getting into in terms of how long the session is! Try having them bring the siblings towards the end or beginning of the newborn session. They are also made aware that I have a TV and some basic video games for kids, but they can free to bring a tablet, coloring books, etc as well.
Amy Cook Photography is a world renowned newborn photographer. Want to learn more from Amy? Check out her newborn photography courses.
Other Blog Posts You Might Like:
50 Free Newborn Captions for Newborn Photographers
Top 15 Places To Market Your Newborn Photography
10 Posts To Use On Social Media for Family Photographers