Top tricks newborn photographers use to make babies sleep (they work for Mommas too)

Top tricks newborn photographers use to make babies sleep (they work for Mommas too)

As a newborn photographer, I've been asked so many times, how do you get babies to sleep through an entire photography session. Well, the truth is, in most cases they don't. I would say in over half the sessions, baby starts awake. When they are wide awake, I like to start by capturing some of the many expressions newborns make, I call these mug shots and they can be beautiful and hilarious. From there, I will usually wrap baby and do a few wrapped poses. Wrapping babies almost always gets them to sleep. I would say swaddling and wrapping is the number one go to method.

Besides wrapping, the tried and true methods are making sure baby is warm and comfortable. Gently pressing on their bellies to make sure they are soft and not hard (which can sometimes mean gassy)is one way to make sure they are comfortable. Gently rocking or swaying baby works wonders. And another method I use often is white noise or heartbeat sounds or even soft music. Baby spent typically nine months in a very warm, cozy but quite noisy environment. If you look for ways to remind them of being in mom's womb, you will get them to sleep (almost) every time.

Contrary to what a lot of people believe, newborn babies have deep sleep cycles only about 4 to 6 hours during a 24 hour period. The rest of the time, is lighter sleep and awake time. And of course the older they get the more awake time they have. Which is one reason most newborn photographers try to photograph newborns within the first couple of weeks of birth. Every newborn is different and I have had some that sleep better at two to four weeks of age than when they were first born, so it really does depend on the baby. With photography, you just have to learn to go with the flow and adapt to what the baby is feeling. If you are relaxed and tuned into the baby, you will usually have a successful session.