Congratulations on the arrival of your new baby and thank you for choosing COJO Photo to capture this incredibly special time in your lives. Your newborn photography session will take place in the comfort of your own home. I will create the perfect environment and will provide everything that is needed for your baby’s first photos. I like to allow plenty of time for feeding and cuddling, which means your session can take between 2-4.5 hours.
What to expect:
To make sure your baby is kept nice and comfortable through-out the session, I will set up in an area of your own home that has a large window. This is generally the living room, or dining room. Whichever is larger, and allows for most day light. This also means that furniture will most likely have to be removed from the area to allow for my set up. Including area rugs as well.
Please know that babies pee and poo on everything, and you do not need to worry, everything I washable!
Having some extra receiving blankets, as well as some wipes and an extra diaper or two handy, will be of great help.
It is recommended that you avoid scheduling doctor appointments or any other appointments on the day of your sessions. Due to the unknown amount of time the session will take, and having the baby poked or handled a lot during the day of the session will make them more agitated, and harder for me to get them calm and into a deep sleep.
Please also avoid having visitors to your home, the more relaxed you can keep your baby before the session, the better.
What to do before I arrive:
At least an hour before I come to your home, please try and keep baby awake and alert as best as you can via stimulation. Baths work great for this! Interact with them as much as possible so that we are not spending too much time trying to get them to sleep when I arrive.
Please do not lotion baby the day of the photo session with a thick lotion or coconut oil.
Have baby undressed, in a loose diaper, and wrapped in a blanket, and start feeding baby about 15 minutes prior to my arrival. Please try and have Baby very full for the session.
Having extra bottles of formula, and/or breast milk help fill up baby faster, and get them into a sound sleep, even if you are not bottle feeding, it will help the session go faster and smoother, as I am not having to hand baby back and forth every time they need a top up.
If breast feeding, please try to avoid eating the following foods 24 hours prior to the session as it may upset baby’s tummy: Spicy or gassy food (such as broccoli, beans etc), heavy dairy, caffeine & chocolate.
During the session I will take care of your baby if he/she gets fussy or starts to wake up as I have many soothing techniques that will help settle baby down.
What to have available:
Extra bottles, wipes, extra receiving blankets, gripe water/oval drops and a soother. Even if you aren’t thinking you will want to use a soother I still suggest having one available. The short
amount of time we will be using one will not affect any habit-forming behaviors for your baby.
My goal is to help keep baby happy and calm during your session and is only used if assistance is needed to capture certain poses.
I have a variety of props, headbands and hats that fit within my style to use during the session. I will go through various poses during the session. I will try my very best to get every pose and prop possible with your baby however some babies just don’t like certain poses. Should your newborn be fussy and uncooperative then I will move onto some simpler posing/props. A re-shoot will only be offered should I not be able to pose or soothe your baby at all.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me prior to your scheduled newborn session.