When is the Best Time to take Newborn Photos?

When I speak with parents looking to book newborn photos, they often ask me how soon they should schedule their newborn photo session after baby is born.

Many photographers will say within the first two weeks after birth as a general rule of thumb. However, as a Boston newborn photographer, I’ve learned that the answer is a bit more complicated than that. 

One thing I tell parents is you definitely want to avoid the first few days as baby has still not established a proper feeding schedule, especially if Mom’s milk hasn’t come in yet. Baby may be eating more often in smaller amounts, making it tough to work in newborn photos. 

Also, I think it is good for the whole family to have a few days after they get home from the hospital to settle into their new routine. This also gives Mom some time to rest and recover – after all, giving birth is exhausting!

In my experience, the best time to come into the studio for newborn photos is 8 to 20 days after baby is born. 

During this time baby is still sleepy and it is usually easy to get those cozy, curled-up poses that are so precious. There is a reason why so many new parents love them!

At about three weeks old, baby starts to stay awake for longer periods of time and it may be more difficult to coax them into the deep sleep that is essential to capture those posed photos.

Also, it is common for baby acne to appear around the third week which makes editing skin less fun for me. 

So what happens if you wait to schedule and have to come in after those first few weeks? 

First, I will say that you can have beautiful photos of your baby at any age! 

Even if you missed out on that sleepy window, you definitely deserve to have gorgeous photos of your new baby. 

Maybe, Mom had a c-section and it took longer to recover and she just wasn’t feeling up to it. 

Or maybe you didn’t think you would want to do a newborn photoshoot and then after having baby home for a couple of weeks you knew you had to capture this special time with a professional photo session. 

If I have space in my calendar I will never turn down a request for a newborn photo session just because a baby is “too old” for a traditional posed session. 

I will tell parents to adjust their expectations a bit since after this time your baby is unlikely to curl up easily into a bunch of sleepy poses. But I do have a few tricks up my sleeves that will gently nudge baby to sleep and into modified poses until about one month old, like this little sweetheart who was four and a half weeks when she came into the studio.

And even up until six weeks baby can be swaddled and settled pretty easily. 

At this time they will most likely be awake during the session but then we can get some great open-eyed photos that are just as cute and parents adore them! 

If you are expecting a little one and are looking for newborn photography in Boston, please take a look at my newborn services, and then reach out so we can schedule a time to plan your newborn photo session!