Your baby is here. You made it through pregnancy and birth and the first impossible days at home.
And now, somewhere in the fog of those first days, you have a newborn session coming up.
Maybe you booked it during pregnancy and it felt far away then. Now it’s this week — or next week — and you’re running on three hours of sleep and you’re not entirely sure how you’re going to get yourself and a newborn out the door and to a studio by 9am.
I hear this from clients regularly. And I want to give you the honest, practical version of what to know — not the polished marketing version, but the real information that actually makes a difference in how your session goes.
After 25 years of photographing newborns in Saint Paul and working with thousands of postpartum mothers, here’s what I want you to know before you walk through my door.
Your Body Just Did Something Enormous — And That’s the Starting Point
I want to name something clearly at the beginning of this post because I think it matters.
You are postpartum. Your body has been through labor and delivery and the profound physical shift that follows. Your hormones are doing things that affect your mood, your energy, your skin, your milk supply, and your emotional resilience in ways that are real and significant.
None of that is a problem to solve before your newborn session.
I work with postpartum bodies and postpartum emotions every single week. I understand that you may cry during the session — from joy, from overwhelm, from exhaustion, from all three at once. I understand that you may feel uncomfortable being photographed. I understand that your body doesn’t feel like yours right now.
All of that is accounted for in how I work.
You do not need to arrive recovered. You do not need to arrive camera-ready. You just need to arrive.
Practical Preparation: What Actually Makes a Difference
Feed Your Baby Right Before You Leave
This is the single most impactful practical thing you can do before your session.
A full, recently fed baby settles into sleep much more easily than a hungry one. Aim to finish a complete feeding as close to your departure time as possible — ideally within 30 to 45 minutes of leaving home.
If you’re breastfeeding and your timing is unpredictable, don’t stress about precision. Feed as close as you can and know that we’ll feed again at the studio if needed. Feeding breaks are built into the session — they’re not interruptions.
Keep Your Baby Warm Before the Session
Newborns settle more easily when they’re warm — and they stay settled longer. In the hour or two before your session, keep your baby swaddled and close rather than in a car seat or bouncer.
Skin-to-skin contact in the time leading up to the session can make a real difference in how quickly your baby settles at the studio. If you have a carrier or wrap, wearing your baby on the drive over is one of the most effective ways to arrive with a calm, settled newborn.
Eat Something Before You Come
This sounds basic, but it’s easy to forget when you’re managing a newborn and trying to get out the door.
You need fuel. Especially if you’re breastfeeding. A proper meal or substantial snack before your session makes a real difference in your energy, your mood, and your ability to be present during a 2 to 4 hour session.
Bring snacks and water to the session as well. You’re welcome to eat and drink throughout — this is not a space where you need to perform endurance.
What to Wear
For most postpartum moms, the question of what to wear is a source of more stress than it needs to be.
Here’s my genuine guidance: wear something simple and comfortable in a neutral tone.
Creams, whites, soft grays, dusty mauves, earthy tones — these photograph beautifully and keep the focus on the baby and the connection rather than the clothing.
You do not need to wear something special or something that hides your body. Fitted nursing tanks and simple wrap tops photograph well. Flowy, loose layers can work beautifully too. The goal is for you to feel comfortable — because comfort shows up in the images in a way that no amount of styling can replicate.
If you’re unsure, I’ll send you my full style guide after booking with specific guidance.
Hair and Makeup
Do what makes you feel like yourself — which might mean minimal or might mean a full face. Neither is wrong.
The one practical note: if you’re going to do your hair and makeup, build in extra time before the session rather than rushing. Arriving stressed because you were in a hurry cancels out any confidence boost from feeling put together.
If professional hair and makeup is something you’d enjoy, it can be a wonderful investment for a session day. But it is absolutely not required. I’ve made beautiful images of mothers with no makeup, messy buns, and tired eyes — and those images are among the most honest and powerful in my portfolio.
Emotional Preparation: What to Expect From Yourself
You May Feel More Than You Expect
Newborn sessions often bring up emotions that surprise people.
You might feel joy so intense it makes you cry. You might feel the particular overwhelm of looking at your baby through a camera lens and suddenly seeing them the way the world sees them — impossibly small, impossibly perfect — rather than the way you see them when you’re in the fog of daily survival.
You might feel grief for something you can’t quite name. The end of pregnancy. The speed of time. The awareness that this specific moment is already passing.
All of that is welcome in my studio. I’ve seen it all. It won’t unsettle me, and it won’t ruin your session. Often, those emotionally charged moments produce the most extraordinary images.
You Are Allowed to Not Be “On”
You don’t have to perform positivity or enthusiasm during your session.
If you’re exhausted, it’s okay to say so. If something doesn’t feel comfortable, tell me. If you need a break, take one.
My sessions are not performances. They’re not about producing a version of new parenthood that looks effortless and joyful at all times. They’re about capturing what’s actually there — which is almost always more beautiful and more complex than the cleaned-up version.
Be honest about where you are. I’ll work with it.
It’s Okay to Bring Help
If you have a partner, a parent, a doula, a friend who is coming with you — bring them. The more support you have at a newborn session, the better.
An extra set of hands for soothing, for holding things, for getting you water or a snack — all of it makes the session go more smoothly and leaves you with more energy for the parts that actually matter.
Your support person doesn’t need to be out of the way. They can be actively involved. I’ll direct everyone in the room.
What to Expect From the Session Itself
A full newborn session with me runs 2 to 4 hours. That range exists because I don’t rush — I work at the baby’s pace and yours.
We’ll begin by letting the baby settle. This sometimes takes 20 to 30 minutes, and that’s completely normal. I don’t start photographing until the baby is calm and comfortable.
We’ll pause for feeding whenever the baby needs it. We’ll pause for soothing, for burping, for whatever the moment requires. None of that is lost time — it’s how a safe, baby-led session works.
If you have a partner or other children joining for part of the session, I’ll work them in at the appropriate time. Family images typically happen once the baby is settled and we’ve gotten the solo newborn shots.
By the end of the session, most clients tell me they feel better than when they arrived. Calmer. More present. Sometimes genuinely moved by the experience of having been witnessed in these early days.
That’s always my hope for you. Not just beautiful photos — though I want those for you too. An experience that honors the magnitude of what you’ve just been through.
One More Thing
I want to say something to the postpartum mother who is reading this and wondering if she’s too tired, too undone, too not-herself for this to work.
You are exactly right for this session.
Not in spite of the exhaustion and the rawness. Because of it. The images that matter most — the ones that stop people in their tracks when they look back at them years later — are almost never the ones where everything was perfect.
They’re the ones where everything was real.
Bring your real self. I’ll meet you there.
Want to feel completely prepared for your newborn session — physically, emotionally, and practically? Download my free Newborn Session Prep Guide for New Parents. It covers everything from what to wear to how to handle feeding, and it’s written specifically for the postpartum reality. Drop your email and I’ll send it right to you.
