The Not-So-New-Newborn Session – San Diego Newborn Photographer

San Diego In-Home Newborn Photographer

It feels weird, right? Booking a session without knowing when it will happen. When I book newborn clients, I make a promise to hold space on my calendar for their session whenever baby arrives (after being on call for weeks at a time when I photographed births, maintaining space for last-minute newborn sessions is a piece of cake).

But I often get the follow up question: How old should baby be for the session?

Short answer: It doesn’t matter.

Long answer: It really, really doesn’t matter! Truly. It’s entirely up to you (mostly you, Mom, since you’re the one who just gave birth). Some families want to capture the day baby comes home, some families want a chance to recover and get their bearings first. Sometimes life happens and baby is a couple of months old before I get to see them.

If you’ve seen any of my work, you’ll know that I am not in the business of posing people, babies included. This means that I don’t need babies to be under two weeks old so they’re nice and sleepy. They can be wide awake the whole session if they please (as long as they promise to take an extra long nap for you later).

Take some time to consider what part of the newborn stage you think you’ll miss the most, how you and your family will adjust to a whole new human in the house, and whether you prefer the reflexive gas smiles or legit social smiles (they’re both equally adorable). Babies change so fast during their first year that there’s always something worth documenting. See also: Baby’s 1st Year Plan for a year’s worth of sessions so you don’t have to worry about missing anything.

If you need any more convincing that age ain’t nothing but a number, baby Austin was six weeks old for his newborn session and he was the perfect little gentleman. No matter when I end up seeing you for your newborn session, you’ll end up with a gallery full of photos that highlight all of the wonderful and messy changes that come with this new season of life.

Interested in a Maternity or Newborn Session or online mentoring? Email me at Kayla@kaylamaltesephotography.com to find out more and be sure to follow me on Facebook.