Are you expecting your first baby? Are you ready for your newborn session?

I am sure it will be the most wonderful and joyful experience. To have a wonderful newborn session, I would like to write about what to prepare for your first newborn session.

Let them be sleepy

-Avoid coffee if you are coffee drinker

We are Portlanders, I drink at least 3 cups of coffee, so it is tough for me to tell my clients who love coffee…but yes, caffeine does not help to let your baby sleep if you breastfeed them. I think refraining from caffeine a day before the session would really help your baby to sleep well during the session.

Here is an article about caffeine for breastfeeding moms!

https://www.webmd.com/baby/is-caffeine-safe-while-breastfeeding

-Timing direction for feeding will be given when you book your session with us. Usually we ask you to feed them right after you arrive at our studio, but it really depends. So instead of getting nervous about it, let’s just focus on what your baby needs. Most babies will sleep when they are in their car seat, so how long it would take you from your home to our studio matters. I can give you some advice from my experience once we schedule your session!

-If your baby tends not to sleep at night, they will sleep during the session most of the time, so we hope you can relax while we take care your baby. Some parents bring their laptop, snacks, and books.

-Even you want pictures with their eyes open, let’s let them sleep first. Some clients see my Instagram posts with smiling babies and babies that are awake, and ask if I can photograph a wide awake baby. It is easy to let them be awake in a new environment. Calming down however is a key to photograph happy mellow babies!

Clothing for your 1st family picture

This is something you can prepare before the baby is born. We usually ask what color you would like me to coordinate for your session, so wearing something that will go well with the colors of the theme or even neutral colors might be a good choice.

Newborn clothing and swaddle wraps are prepared at our studio, so unless you have something you really want your baby to wear a picture with, all baby stuff is ready at our studio.

Also mom’s dresses are available. We have a few different sizes and colors. Please ask for more details.

Bring extra bottles and diapers

Many babies come to us between 5 to 14 days old, so coming to the session can be their first time to go out for a long time. It would be a 3 hour session, so please prepare extra bottles. We don’t feed them constantly, so no worries. We feed the amount the baby will take. We believe that taking anxiety away from parents help make their baby calm and the session always go well. Happy full babies are better than crying hungry babies 🙂

I just wrote what to prepare for your first newborn session. We have experienced that these worked with other babies, but everybody is different! Some parents care about us so much and being sorry if things do not go smooth during the session, but seriously no worries. We enjoy seeing those personalities! We know all new parents are adjusting to their new life when they come for our newborn photo session.

If it is hard to follow anything above, then please ,mbring your joy and happiness to your newborn photo session!