What if my baby is awake during a newborn photo shoot?

I have over 9 years experience working with newborns capturing all of those cosy sleepy photos. But what if they are awake?

I like to embrace those awake moments as much as sleepy ones.

We will be able to capture beautiful images of your baby even when they're wide awake! If they decide to have an awake moment just remember, We have time. Your beautiful bundle will eventually get tired enough to sleep, but as long as they are happy and calm it is still lovely to capture them with their eyes open and taking in the world.

There’s a whole bunch of things we can do though in the mean time to help settle them back down.

1) I talk to babies. It might sound odd but they just seem to want to know who I am and what that strange instrument I seem to hide behind is. They can see contrasting shapes and with a white studio they can see my shape and camera. Often they stare at my dark hair. But to keep things calm, I tell them about what we are doing today, ask them how their night was ect. Sometimes I will hum songs or make shhh sounds and mostly they get bored of me or are just too tired to process any more and fall right asleep.

2) If there are no signs of sleep, another option is walking round the studio. I get so many steps in just walking around the studios settling babies down to sleep as I take steps around they haven’t got a lot of ability to focus on one thing and the rocking motion or soothing taps from my hand can settle them into sleep. I don’t put them down until I feel like they are in a deep enough sleep to.

3) Cuddles can work wonders and so can a swaddle. If they are nice and calm I will wrap them up all cosy. If not I can hand them over to you. Milk can also work but what we don’t want to do is over feed them so they are uncomfortable or sick.

4) Keeping the room warm. I have plenty of heaters and the room holds a nice temperature. So if needed I will warm the room up to around 20-23 degrees.

If your newborn is awake during their photo shoot, try not to worry. Enjoy your time here at the studio, try to stay present, have a lovely hot cup of tea or take a little snooze on the sofa. No two newborn sessions are the same but the one thing that they do have in common is that we work together at babies own pace. If they are happy, I am happy. This is how I continue to capture beautiful images.

If you think you would like to book a newborn photoshoot please reach out via my contact page. I am happy to answer any questions you might have.