Session Information
What you need to know
What you need to bring with you
- A dummy if you plan on using one with your baby.
- 10 newborn nappies and a full bag of wipes. When your baby is naked, we tend to go through a lot!
- A couple of wraps to comfort your baby in between poses when naked and when feeding.
- Newborns tend to require many more top-up feeds during the session to help settle them, as we are handling them more than they are used to. Please be prepared for this. If you are mix feeding I suggest bringing a bottle of formula to be used if needed.
- A spare top for each of you. Accidents can and do happen!
- For family photos, I aim to take some with your baby naked if sleepy or wrapped If awake so there is no need to bring any special outfits for your baby.
What to wear
Colours that work well against both a black or white backdrop are pastels, silvers/greys or neutrals. Jeans or dark pants are fine. One tip is to lay out your outfits together on the bed to ensure one item or colour is not dominant. You may decide to both wear white tops, black tops, or coloured tops. I recommend the plain coloured tops. Polo tops are preferable to business shirts.
Make sure your sleeve lengths are the same (i.e. both short or both long). Try to avoid tops with logos, text or stripes and patterns. We want the focus to be you and your baby and these sorts of tops can be distracting.
Breastfeeding Guide
This list is a helpful guide to common foods best avoided when breastfeeding a newborn baby. Please try to steer away from these foods for 48 hours prior to your session.
Every baby is different but I tend to find gassy or grunting babies are often this way due to intolerance to spicy or gassy foods. Citrus acidic, foods and drinks such as cranberries, pineapple, grapefruit, oranges, lemons, strawberries & all berries, tomatoes or tomato products, pizza, chili, tomato sauce, and gassy vegetables such as asparagus, onions, cucumbers/pickles, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cabbage.
Siblings
I love to include any older siblings in our newborn sessions. I find it easiest on everyone to take the family and sibling photos first, then those of the baby. That way I can get some good photos before the little one’s attention span has evaporated.
Please bring plenty of snacks for them. If one parent or another family member can take the older siblings out or home after family photos are taken, I can then fully focus on your baby. There is also a beautiful big park just a few meters down the road with a large playground to keep them happy.
Attention Dads!
Your partner may like to bring something to read or work on. Due to the length of the session and lots of downtime when the baby is feeding and setting, there is plenty of waiting. If you are lucky enough, you may even manage a short nap!
If you have any questions read my FAQS page or