Newborn Prep Guide

The session flows best when we have a sleepy baby! 

Your beautiful newborn should sleep between 16-20 hours a day, but if we don't prepare properly, it's all but guaranteed that baby will be awake for the entire shoot.

When baby sleeps, they look beautiful and peaceful and we can safely position them in the most beautiful poses.

When baby is awake, they want feeding or hugs, and we can't put them down or pose them which means you might not get as many images!

So here are a few things that could help ensure that baby will sleep.

Stimulate baby in the morning

Please give baby a bath in the morning before coming in for the session. This will stimulate baby and help baby tire out. Lotioning your baby after the bath and allowing your baby to kick and be free for around 10-15 minutes will also help.

Dress baby appropriately

Dress baby in a zip up sleeper, or a button up. NO undershirt please! We do not want any clothing we have to pull over the baby's head that will ensure they wake just as we are getting started.

Feed Baby

Before you leave the house for your session, please FEED baby. 

This will allow baby to fall into a deep sleep while you are driving to the studio. 

Babies have very few requirements at this early age, nourishment and warmth. If you satisfy these two ingredients for life, they will sleep and continue to grow and develop.

Try bring a bottle (expressed or formula)

As a new mother, if you have chosen to breast feed, you will still be coming into your flow - you won't produce anywhere near as much milk as you will in a few months time and so your baby will feed little and often. Your body is wonderful and can quickly adapt to the babies demands but there will be times of the day where you produce more or less as your body adapts.

In order to ensure we are not unlucky during our session I highly recommend expressing a bottle or two in advance to ensure you can satisfy baby's hunger during the session otherwise they may not settle.

If you are mixing breast and formula, this becomes even more important because your body will have already limited the supply and it would be much harder to quench babies thirst with just the boob alone.

Bring a pacifier / soother

If your baby is only a little hungry or just looking for comfort a pacifier / soother works amazingly.

I will only use the pacifier/soother if your baby is having trouble transitioning into different poses or if the baby is simply unable to settle. Sometimes a baby just needs to suck for a few seconds to relax. This does not mean that they are hungry. However, if they are rooting for longer, I will give baby to mom for a feed and a snuggle. 

If you are worried about nipple confusion, as a mother of 2 children, I can assure you that the few seconds or minutes of a pacifier/soother will not affect them. They will always prefer the breast milk over a dry pacifier however during a session it is sometimes impossible to move them off the breast without disturbing them.

I have had sessions without pacifiers/soothers and the babies were unable to settle for the full 3 hours. I feel terrible for the parents as they are unlikely to get this opportunity again with that baby. I keep a stock of new pacifiers/soothers in my studio which will be available to purchase for $5.00 if you have forgotten yours.

The studio room will be hot and the newborn session can last 3 hours. We will begin the session with your family shots, Mom can relax for the rest of the session, and Dad and siblings can go check out Okotoks leaving the studio as peaceful as possible. The family session is where we will capture the entire family together with baby, parent shots with baby, and sibling shots.

The family portion can take 30 to 60 minutes after which, only mother and baby will be permitted into the studio unless otherwise agreed in advance. 

If this is your first child, then Dad is welcome to stay, however it is still advisable for him to go for a coffee and come back afterwards.

Every newborn session is different because every baby is unique, but I'll try split the session as evenly as possible to 60 minutes each for a Premium session or 40 minutes each for the Essential package. If we finish ahead of schedule, you can either call it and save yourself some time, or we try another prop or wrap and get a few more images.

Following this guide might not seem like much, but I can usually tell who has followed it because it really does make a positive difference. Ultimately this is your session, you have paid for it, and if it goes well you get so many more beautiful images than if you don't.

The session takes place from mid morning and usually goes past the lunch hour. Please bring yourself lunch and snacks. Moms are welcome to eat in the studio room during the session.  *****please don't try to tough it out, it's important to bring food to your session******​

Picking your colours can be difficult, and we've probably already had a conversation about them! I have made a colour wheel which I use below to make things easier, it has bold colours on the outside and pastel / neutral colours on the inside. The following themes can be appiled to the fabric and prop sections of your gallery, the family portion is largely determined by your own clothing which you can choose to coordinate with the theme or not. I generally recommend the family images are more neutral and I prefer to use creams, browns or greys as backdrops as these colours will compliment any clothing you choose.

The colour wheel options for the fabric and prop sections are:

• Monochromatic (One Colour) : we'll use one main colour throughout the shoot using the full depth of the colour from bold to neutrals.
• Complementary (Two Colours) : colours on the opposite side of the wheel, compliment each other.
• Analogous (Two or Three Colours) : colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel.
• Browns/Grays with Anything : Browns/Grays basically will go with any other colour.

In the questions below, please indicate which colours you would like in your session using the logic from above, for example, "Teals and Reds" would be an example of two complementary colours that would work great together. ​