New parents often do not realize that posed newborn sessions should be reserved early, and scheduled prior to 14 days. Photographers are often booked months in advance, and babies will be sleepiest and most easy to pose during this window. Here is a little information you may find helpful if your newborn is more than 14 days old.

What Does an Older Newborn Session Look Like?

Everything we do is baby-led, and we will never pose a baby where they are not comfortable and safe. For this reason, we may not achieve all the kinds of poses you traditionally see on my website. Or, it may take a little more time and patience. Many of the “advanced poses” require babies to be in a deep sleep. As babies get older, their wake periods become longer, they become more fussy, and a little less bendy.

Otherwise, everything about this session will remain about the same. We will, of course, still include parents and siblings in the session. Babies may prefer more wrapped poses over blanket poses, and they are often more awake than sleeping throughout their images (which is also ADORABLE!), and we’ll be sure you still have a beautiful gallery to choose from.

What Does a 3 Month Old Milestone Session Look Like?

We generally schedule 3 Month Milestone sessions once babies can comfortably hold their head up during tummy time. This is such a fun milestone. We schedule these sessions once your baby is content with a little tummy time, and can lift up their head. Babies will usually be wide awake for this session and will interact with their environment around them. From mommy tickling their toes, to looking for daddy’s voice, wide eyed curiosity, and a host of new expressions. There is so much fun to enjoy with this session!

Older Newborn or Milestone Session – Which is Right for Me?

Some families choose to document all (maternity, newborn, 3 months, 6 months, and first year), others will pick a few. It is completely up to each family, but what I usually ask to help parents decide is what are you planning to do with your images?

Would you like their first year documented in an album? Are we creating a hallway gallery to add on to? Are we selecting just a few most special images to showcase these special seasons in your home? Thinking about how these images will be used and benefit for your home and family can often help with planning.

Along those lines, each milestone will capture something a little bit different. Newborn images focus on capturing your baby’s newness and tininess. 3 month milestones will capture more of their curiosity of the world around them. 6 month milestones are our “sitter” sessions when babies are able to sit independently but not quite mobile. 1 Year Milestone and/or Cake Smash & Splash is much busier and celebrates their growth (and parents surviving the first year)! Only you can decide which of these will be most important to you.

I hope you found this helpful! If you have any more questions between older newborn sessions or milestone sessions, please feel free to call or contact us. I’d love to help!