What’s the best age to take baby photos?

As a newborn and baby photographer I get asked this question so often by mums-to-be. I love baby photos at any age so the best time is most defiantly NOW.  Blink and your baby will have changed or life will have got in the way and you may never get around to having them photographed professionally. 

Sometimes it’s just not possible to photograph a baby in the first 2 weeks. Maybe they are needing a little extra stay in hospital or maybe as a new mum you aren’t feeling like going to a photoshoot.  If your baby is a little older than 14 days then please don’t worry. 

Here are a few tips about the different stages of babyhood and what to expect from a photo session at each stage from birth through to 18 months.

Newborn Baby Photos

My expert advice is that it’s best to have your baby’s first photographs taken within the first 2 weeks of their life. When babies are born they are generally very curled up and you can really see how they were in the womb. Their skin is so new and delicate and often they have a covering of that incredible soft downy-like hair that so many babies are born with. I would give anything to have a memory of this from any of my children. From the second your baby is born they will start to loose all these “I’m a brand-new, newborn-baby” characteristics and so it’s really important that they are photographed as early as possible. This is why I recommend that you book your session within the first 14 days of your due date.  It’s best to book your newborn photographer when you are in your 2nd trimester. Just after your 12 week scan is a very good time.

New Baby Photos

Somewhere between Newborn and Older Baby comes the New Baby stage.  I think of this stage as from around 14 days to 12 weeks. They are still a very tiny baby,  anyone, except a newborn photographer, would describe them as a New Baby. This stage is often called the 4th trimester. They are asleep more than they are awake and they are still feeding for long periods of time. They will have started to uncurl from when the were born. They will have lost the downy body hair. The hair on their head may look very different from when they were born. Their little cheeks will be filling out a bit and they open their eyes. Much more than most newborn babies do. Baby photos at this stage look really different from newborn photos taken before a baby 14 days old.

Older Baby Photos

This stage is from 3 months until they are just sitting up unaided.  This is often around 7 months but every baby is different. I am always amazed at how different the same baby can look in a gallery of portraits taken at their older baby stage. If they are sleepy they are often still more than happy to be snuggled in a blanket, and then after a quick nap they are sitting up and playing with toys. The results can be very different. 

Sitting and Crawling Baby Photos

This is such an exciting stage. It really is 100% baby led. It’s very rare to have a photoshoot booked to coincide with one day in your baby’s little life when they can sit up and play with toys and haven’t yet mastered being mobile. Once they have learned to roll, or crawl or move under their own steam then the fun really starts. The photography session becomes one big game with your baby calling all the shots. I have an army of handmade wooden toys to amuse them and gently coax them to do cute things.  I spend much of my time zooming wooden trains, making crocodile noises and scooting about the studio floor on my bum after a newly mobile and very giggly baby. Mums and dads don’t get let off lightly either. If their baby is a fast crawler then we all end up exhausted but very happy.

First Birthday Photo Sessions

1st Birthdays are a huge milestone in a families life. For parents it is the end of a 12 month period that has usually been a rollercoaster of emotion and little sleep. Raising a child from birth to 12 months is an incredible achievement and should be celebrated. At these sessions we sing Happy Birthday and play a wooden birthday cake and blow out pretend candles.

12 to 18 months 

The difference in a little person in this time period is huge. At 12 months they are usually still babies. They have often taken a few steps and are starting to speak but by 18 months they turned into little people.  It’s quite incredible to photograph an 18 month old who I photographed just a few days after they were born.  It actually makes me quite emotional. 

My sessions are all totally baby-led which simply means that your baby just does his or her own thing what ever stage they are at. 

Not quite ready to book your newborn portraits but would you like some more information.