From Newborn to First Birthday: Two Stages Worth Photographing

This little one was wide awake and full of energy at her newborn session, and she was just as lively when she came back for her first birthday. She travelled all the way from Montrose to visit us, which always makes me feel particularly honoured. She was having a mummy day when we shot these, and when she had finally worn herself out her dad scooped her up just as he had done when she was a tiny newborn. Same arms, same hold, twelve months apart.

Close your eyes for a moment and your baby will have changed. Children grow constantly throughout their lives but never quite as quickly as in those first twelve months. It would be wonderful to document every stage with a professional session but in reality the most important ones to capture are these.

If I could recommend four sessions in the first year they would be the newborn stage, ideally within the first four weeks, the older baby stage at around three months when the chubby cheeks arrive and the personality really starts to show, the sitter stage when they can sit unaided but before they become fast crawlers, and finally their first birthday. Each stage looks completely different and together they tell the whole story of that first year.

Not every family can do all four sessions and that is absolutely fine. Even two of these stages captured beautifully will give your child something to treasure for the rest of their life.

Newborn sessions can sometimes be missed and it happens for all sorts of reasons. Health, circumstances, the timing just not working out, or simply not knowing that newborn photography was even something you could book. It is only in the past few years that booking a newborn photographer has become as natural as booking a wedding photographer.

If for any reason you missed the newborn stage, the older baby stage is a wonderful alternative for capturing those early memories.

At around three months your baby has changed from that curled, sleepy newborn but they still have that brand new quality about them. Their eyes are wider, their cheeks are getting deliciously chubby and their personality is beginning to emerge. The photographs from this stage are absolutely beautiful.

This little girl came to the studio shortly after her birth and then came back to celebrate her first birthday. Seeing how much she had grown and changed in twelve months was extraordinary. It always is, even after all the years I have been doing this.

Every baby grows but there is something particularly special about seeing a baby you photographed as a newborn return a year later. It is also a pleasure to see how that first year transforms first time parents. At the newborn session they are often exhausted and learning everything from scratch. By the first birthday they are completely at ease, confident and utterly devoted. Twelve months of parenting changes you in the best possible way.

A first birthday photoshoot is a celebration of an extraordinary year. Three hundred and sixty five days of joy, exhaustion, feeding, learning, growing and loving. You have done something remarkable and these photographs mark that. At Mabel & Møøse parents are always part of at least some of the images, because one day your child will want to see what you looked like when they were tiny and how much you loved them.

Newborn and 1st Birthday are a great combination of session to document your baby in pictures.