Preparing Your Baby For Their Sacramento In-Home Newborn Session

It’s time to book your Newborn photography session in the Sacramento area! This guide will take you through the booking and preparing process for getting your newborn portrait photography session with me, as I specialize in In-Home newborn sessions all over Sacramento. It includes both things to keep in mind before the session, and preparations day of to help the photo session be a success! The convenient thing about an in-home session is that I travel to you!

Booking Your Session: Timing and Pricing

Ideally, you book your newborn session a few months before giving birth to ensure there is availability. However, do not stress if baby is already born. Reach out and see if I have availability! Here are some fast facts to make the booking process easier:

1. The best time for your newborn photography session is 1-3 weeks after birth. However, I’m happy to take sessions as late as 6 weeks post your original due date. Older newborns might be slightly less sleepy or slightly less willing to be swaddled, but they are still adorable and we will still get wonderful photos. Never feel that it is “too late” to get photos taken of your little one! That being said, for the snuggliest sleepiest pictures, 1-3 weeks after birth is the ideal window!

2. Check out my Newborn Specific Pricing and Newborn Portfolio Here Newborn Packages start at $400 and include a lot of digital images and options for additional and prints. A popular option is to choose a Membership, which includes Milestone Pictures at 3 months, 6 months or 1 year for cheaper!

3. Booking early? No need to set a date! I always recommend booking a newborn session before baby is born to ensure there will be an open spot…but how do you do that when the baby isn’t even born yet? When you book your session while still pregnant, you won’t need to schedule a specific date. Instead, you will be booking a spot for a specific month or time range, and then once baby is born you simply contact me and we will schedule a good date that works for both of us. I don’t book more than 4 newborn sessions a month to ensure that I will always have time for your session, no matter if your baby is born early or late.

Preparing your Home for your Newborn Photography Session

Here are a few tips and tricks that will help your in-home newborn photography session go more smoothly. This guide will work for any type of home, from apartment to house located anywhere in the Greater Sacramento Region.

1. Read my “Prepare Your Home for an In-Home Session” Guide: This link will give you a more in-depth guide in how to prepare your home. The short takeaway is that you do want to organize your home, but that the whole house definitely does not have to be clean. It will be strategic organizing and decluttering of small areas of your home, as opposed to the whole thing! I always encourage my clients to send me pictures of their home and I can give you advice on which rooms or even corners of rooms will work best. Do not feel overwhelmed, your house does not have to be clean!

2. Plan to temporarily keep your home at a warmer temperature during our photoshoot. Whether your photo session is in the hot Sacramento summer or in the chilly winter, babies prefer warmer temperatures (around 80F) than us adults! This is especially true because the ideal setup for a lot of newborn pictures is for babies to be swaddled in just their diaper. As such, it is important for them to feel comfortable for the photoshoot which lead to better and deeper sleep. If it is winter, plan to turn on your heat a bit warmer than normal for your photo session. If it is summer, consider turning off your AC for the session and maybe for a few hours before, depending on how cool you normally keep your house.

3. Pull out Keep Sakes and Special Items to Photograph Make sure you have any special items pulled out and ready to go for our session so those details can be photographed too. Things like special blankets, stuffed animals, outfits, tiny baby shoes, rattles or pacifiers can all make photos more special. Those detail shots are often just as treasured and we can easily incorporate special items into your photographs, such as having baby swaddled in a photo with their crocheted blanket from grandma, or taking a photo of you reading a special picture book to your baby.

Preparing Your Baby for your Newborn Portraits

So before we get started with the meat of this post, I want to say something very important: We will try to game the system but not all babies like to be gamed. IT WILL BE OK if nothing goes to plan. Even if your baby is awake the whole session or crying and fussy, I promise you we will get some wonderful cherished photographs of your baby. Here are some tips that often work in helping your baby be extra happy and sleepy for your session, but it will be ok regardless! My own son was always wide awake during any newborn photo attempts (it was so exciting afterall!) and I still absolutely love his wide awake newborn photos!

• Tip #1: Feed your baby between 30-60 minutes before our photo session. Number 1 priority we want to avoid is your baby getting hungry during our session and the easiest way to avoid this is by feeding them just before. That being said, it will be ok regardless! I’ve had newborn sessions where the baby was clusterfeeding throughout and we still ended up with wonderful photos.

• Tip #2: Try to keep your baby awake after feeding until our session time (and maybe a bit before too). We want your baby to have an especially long wake time right before our session, as then they will be more likely to sleep deeply for the photography session. Play with your baby, show them the house, take them for a little held walk, extra diaper changes or tummy time, anything to try to extend that wake window. Again, no stress if it doesn’t work! I’ve been there, trying to keep my son awake and him literally sleeping through loud singing and leg bicycle kicks. I just recommend the attempt :-)

• Tip #3: Keep baby in just their diaper (and then warm blankets/swaddles) OR easy to remove clothing. Ideally, we will have your baby in just a diaper for a lot of the photo session as this makes the swaddling poses easier and prevents offcolored clothing peaking through in photos. In order to ensure a sleepy baby, it can often be easier to start baby out like that, rather than potentially awaken baby in the undressing. However, this is definitely weather and temperature dependent, so do what you feel is best for your baby! Regardless, you will want to keep your baby warm, so make sure you have a warm blanket while waiting for your photo session to start.