In general, the best time for newborn photos is during the first 3 weeks after birth. To be more specific, though, I’ve found that the best time to take newborn photos is between 8 days and 16 days old. During this stage, your baby is still sleeping most of the time. This makes them easier to pose and photograph for those sleepy newborn portraits parents love. Your baby is also still very “curled up” and hasn’t yet stretched out much. That allows us to safely and comfortably get them into those cuddly little newborn poses you’ll cherish forever.
Photo by Ana Ramalho
I started to offer newborn session over 10 years and over these years I have noticed various success in timings when to take newborn photos. Remember that every baby is different, and each newborn baby will have individual circumstances.
If your baby arrives say 4 weeks prior the due date, it might be that you will need to spend a little longer in the hospitals NICU for doctors to do all check-ups. I normally would photograph these babies from week 2. If your baby arrives 2 weeks past the due date, I would try to do the session as early as I can, between 8 days and 12 days old.
Newborn feeding. If parents have chosen to breastfeed, I would then advise making a provisional newborn photoshoot booking at around 2 weeks. If all well, we book in the shoot at around 12-14 days. If your doctor advising to do some bottle top-ups, I would give you a couple more days to adjust to this and test out how the formula feeds.
If you choose straight away to go for bottle-feeding, then I would schedule the session for around 10 days age.
Photo by Ana Ramalho
Confidence of parents. If this is your first baby, most likely you will need some time to adjust here and learn. If this is your 3rd or 4rth child, it would make a huge difference in how you feed your baby, how you set your routine, etc.
Weight of the baby. If your baby has arrived very early prior due date or you have twins, in both of these cases babies normally are very tiny. We are talking around 5lb. There is no need to rush within the first 7 days to do a newborn photoshoot. I would wait till baby gains more weight, like around 6lb and then schedule the session. The session would take place around 3-4 weeks time.
Photo by Ana Ramalho
Advantages of taking newborn photos within the first 2 weeks.
They sleep better, love curling into the adorable poses, don’t have much colic, and usually haven’t started developing baby acne or cradle cap.
Is it possible to take newborn photos after 3 weeks?
Absolutely! In fact, after 3 weeks stage, you will be much more confident and life will be settling in. What you need to bear in mind, is if your baby arrived past the due date, we might have half of the gallery with more awake photos. Some poses are not possible with awake wriggle babies.
How about the age of 4+ weeks?
This is where things might start to get a bit more tricky. If babies have arrived on the due date or past due date, chances are that photo session might be quiet awake. It all depends on what would be your expectations here. If you are after some awake photos and simply beautiful newborn photography with parents, the perfect age for this. Also, if you are after more lifestyle natural baby photography then stage between 4-6 weeks is perfect for that as well.
Photo by Ana Ramalho
When Should I Book My Newborn Portraits?
The thought of fitting a newborn photo session into such a tight window might stress you out. I get it! So much is in flux during your pregnancy and your baby’s first days that it’s hard to plan much of anything with any confidence. At the end of the day, babies arrive when they want to arrive. How do you know when that window of 8-16 days will be?
You can’t know for certain, but all we can do is make an approximation and adjust if necessary. To make sure you get a booking in the timeframe you want, it’s best to schedule your newborn photography when you’re in your second trimester of the pregnancy. At this point, you’re past the high-risk period of pregnancy. You’re not yet in the third trimester, though, when you’ll be busy with all the final preparations for your new baby.
Of course, there are many times when babies don’t follow our schedules and they arrive earlier or later than expected. In fact, only 5% of babies are born on their exact due date. Don’t worry! Just send me a text message or an e-mail and we’ll see when we can fit your session in during your baby’s first 3 weeks.
Photo by Ana Ramalho
Hope this post has helped you a bit.