New Mommy PIttsburgh 2023-24 Edition

New Mommy Pittsburgh | 2023-24 20 2 3 The ideal time to book your newborn photographer is in your 2nd trimester. photographer you really want may be completely booked and unable to accommodate you. I personally will take as many last-minute newborn bookings as I can manage with my schedule, but sometimes it’s tough to be able to squeeze someone in. How do you schedule a newborn session when you’re not quite sure what day the baby will be born? I can’t speak for all newborn photographers, but I know that many of us have a similar procedure when it comes to booking for newborns. When you book with us, we will mark your due date in our schedules, which will give us a general idea for when we need to be available for your newborn session. However, we won’t actually schedule your photo session date and time until you contact us to let us know the baby has arrived. Once baby is here, we’ll schedule your photo shoot for sometime within the following week or so. There’s no need to worry if baby comes very early or very late. We’re pretty accustomed to their unpredictable nature! Why do you have to schedule newborn sessions when the babies are so young? Every photographer has a different “sweet spot” for newborn ages that they prefer to photograph, and many photographers will refuse to book a posed newborn session after a certain age. I promise, we are not doing this to try to make your life more difficult! There are several reasons why this “perfect window for newborn photos” exists. First, the younger that babies are, the sleepier they are, and sleepier babies are much more likely to cooperate when getting them into those perfect poses. As babies spend more time outside the womb, the sensory nerves in their skin begin to develop rapidly, which means that “older” newborns are much more receptive to touch and likely to wake from slight pose adjustments. Finally, the longer they spend outside the womb, the less curly babies get, so if you really love the poses that capture how flexible and curled up babies can be, those poses will be more uncomfortable for babies as they approach the 1-month- old mark. The general rule of thumb for the “best” time to schedule a posed newborn session is around 7-14 days old. Hopefully these explanations help you to feel a little more enlightened and prepared for your newborn portrait session! You will have plenty of things to stress over as you get ready to bring your little miracle into the world, but making sure that you have someone ready to take gorgeous portraits of this fleeting time in your little one’s life should not be one of them! Article and photo provided by Emily Novak of Emily Novak Photography. Email questions to info@emilynovakphotography.com.