……….Newborn and your baby’s 1st birthday and both incredible milestones to have photographed

This wee button was wide awake at full of beans at her newborn session and she was just as lively when she came back for her 1st birthday photoshoot. She was being a mummy’s girl that day, (they all have mummy days, and daddy days), so when she had exhausted herself her dad scooped her up in his arms just like he had done when she was a tiny newborn. 

Close your eyes for a few moments and your baby will have changed, just a tiny bit. Children are constantly growing and changing, but never quite as fast as in those first 12 months. It would be wonderful to be able to have weekly professional photographs of your baby ( I can promise you that each session would look different ) but in reality that’s just not practical. 

I would recommend having 4 sessions in their first year, newborn, which would mean under 4 weeks old, older baby, that’s around the 3 months stage when they are getting chubby cheeks and you can really see their little personality, the sitting stage, when they can sit unaided but before they have turned in to crazy fast crawlers, and finally their first birthday portraits. 

Some parents are in the lucky position to be able to have all 4 of these baby stages captured. But if it’s just 2 of these ages that you choose to have photographed, you will still have beautiful memories to pass on to your child. 

Newborn is a stage that can often be missed. That can happen for a number of reasons. The baby’s health, or mum’s health may be needing a little extra post natal care and of course that always has to come before a photoshoot. Maybe something totally out with anyone’s control happened (think the pandemic is 2020), which meant you simply couldn’t have your baby photographed within the first few days or maybe you didn’t book your favourite photographer in time and then were fully booked. And not everyone knows that newborn photography is even a thing. It’s only in the past few years that booking a newborn photographer is becoming as normal, as booking a wedding photographer. 

If, for any reason, you didn’t mange to have your baby photographed as a newborn, then the older baby stage is perfect to create those fabulous memories. 

The older baby stage is when your little one, has stopped looking quite so curled up, they will be opening their eyes much wider than they did at birth, and they will be getting wee chubby cheeks. They still look like newborn babies (to anyone other than a newborn photographer) and your baby’s photographs will still be absolutely gorgeous. 

This beautiful baby girl came to the Mabel & Møøse studio shortly after her birth and then came back to celebrate her 1st birthday. It was quite incredible to see just how much she had developed in 12 months. I’m not sure why this always amazes me so much.

All babies grow but every time I see an older baby that I photographed as a newborn, I am blown away. It’s also lovely to see how that first year has changed first time parents. Often new mums and dads are, quite understandably, a little unsure. They are sleep deprived and everything about being parents and caring for a newborn has to be learned. Roll on 12 months and they are complete pros at this parenting lark. 

Booking a 1st Birthday photoshoot is a fabulous day to mark this first year of your baby’s life. 365 days of joy, happiness, fun, occasional sleep, breast feeding, bottle feeding, baby-led weaning, naps, no naps, and walks with the pram. So much has happened in a year and you, as a mum or dad have done an incredible thing. You have created a new life and nurtured your little person for a full year. At a Mabel & Møøse photoshoot parents are always a part at least a few of the photos. Your baby will want to be able to see what you were like when they were tiny and they’ll cherish the love that you have for them, that they will be able to see in the images.

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