When to Book a Newborn Session
If you have found yourself here reading this post, you are probably trying to decide when to book a newborn session. If that is the case, it probably means you or your spouse are due with a baby soon. In that case, CONGRATULATIONS. You are about to embark on one of the sweetest, most life-changing experiences out there. When to book a newborn session is no doubt one of the most common questions I get as a Fort Worth newborn photographer. Guess what? I am going to take all the guesswork out of the equation for you by telling you when to book a newborn session and answering some other common questions about newborn sessions.
The question of when to book a newborn session is two-fold. There is the actual question of when to reach out to photographers to inquire about booking. Then, there is when to schedule the actual session. I have both of those answers for you!
When to reach out to photographers about booking….
My number one piece of advice here is to NOT wait until the last minute. I don’t just say this for the sake of the photographer either. I say this because being a mom myself, I know that the last few weeks of pregnancy and the first few weeks of parenthood are incredibly overwhelming! The last thing you will want to be doing when 39 weeks pregnant is trying to schedule photos. Another problem with trying to book last minute is that a photographer’s availability can be super limited.
I recommended reaching out to book a newborn session no less than two months from your due date.
Now the question of when to actually schedule the newborn session…
As a professional Fort Worth & Dallas newborn photographer, I recommended scheduling the session when the baby is 7-17 days old!
There is some wiggle room with this suggested time frame, but 7-14 days is definitely the prime time, and here is why…
- Waiting until a week after birth gives mama time to heal a little bit. If you have ever given birth you know that it can be quite traumatic on the body – no matter what kind of birth experience you had.
- If you wait until the end of the 7-17 day period, it will give the baby’s umbilical cord time to fall off. Now don’t get me wrong, that is not a necessity for newborn photos. Umbilical cords are welcome of course, some people just prefer them to have fallen off before photos.
- Booking the photos under the three-week mark helps ensure that we get the session underway before the newborn acne appears. All of those baby hormones can cause the baby to have some serious acne that disrupts their beautiful smooth baby skin. The acne typically doesn’t appear until around three weeks.
- The younger the baby is, the sleepier they are. Aka, the more still they are.
- The younger the baby is, the more likely that older siblings are still enthralled with the new family addition. And let me tell you, there are few things sweeter than big siblings loving on their baby sister or brother.
Stay tuned for my next post giving you all the tips on how to plan for a newborn session. This will include outfit inspiration (hint, hint all the gorgeous Lou Lou and Company swaddled) and advice on how to prepare the whole family.
If you are in the DFW area, I would love for you to book your newborn session with me. Head on over to my Instagram to keep up with my latest work.