Although I photograph a lot of first-time parents, it’s actually very common for me to receive an email that goes something along the lines of:

This is our second baby and we also have a toddler who is VERY busy. For our first baby, we did newborn photos in a studio, but we cannot even begin to imagine dragging my tornado-of-a-3-year-old into a studio and ask him to smile. So, this time around we’d like to do the photos in our home. Can you work with siblings?

Mama! I’ve got you!

The answer is YES!

Siblings are such an integral part of at-home lifestyle newborn photo sessions. The goal of my sessions is to capture the story of what life is like for you right here, right now and that story isn’t complete without big brother or sister being in the photos.

Here are my top tips when it comes for including big siblings in newborn photo sessions.

I let the baby and siblings control the photo session

Now, that’s not to say I’m not in control. But, what it means is that we follow their lead. If the baby needs to feed, we take that cue and feed. If the toddler needs a story break, we do that! Sometimes that’ll mean a story in a quiet room alone with mom or dad, and sometimes that’ll mean everyone cuddles on the big bed for a story and I click away through the whole thing – that’s going to be unique to your family and your situation.

Let interactions happen naturally

I know it’s important to you to have photos with all of your kids together, and I’ll do my absolute very best to make sure that happens, but I’ll never force it. If a big sibling doesn’t want to hold baby brother then I’m not going to force it to happen and risk the baby being tossed to the floor or the big sibling crying. Instead, I’ll dig deep into my bag of tricks (I’ve been doing this 6 years, my bag is big!) and try other tactics like getting all the kids laying on the bed, having big sister show the baby a toy, or having you hold the baby while your older child interacts with both of you. As I’m sure you know, forcing a toddler into doing anything generally doesn’t result in the behaviour you actually want. 😉

We work around nap time

When it comes to newborn sessions on their own, they can really happen anytime during daylight hours. But, if a sibling who naps is involved? You can bet I’ll schedule your newborn session for the morning! It’s best to do the session when everyone is at their most rested and happiest, and for most kids, that happens before lunch.

So, to bring this back all the way to that initial email saying this session NEEDS to be more relaxed…..

Rest assured that I’ve got you.

I might even be walking out the door and your kiddo will turn to you and say, “Mom, that was fun, when do we get to have her here again?”.

I’ve heard it more than once. 😊

P.S. Curious if we can incorporate your pets into your newborn session? The answer to that is also YES, and you can read all about pets and newborn babies here.

Fiddle Leaf Photography offers in-home newborn photo sessions in and around Edmonton including the cities of Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Leduc, and Spruce Grove. If you’d like to have a chat to see if we’re the right fit, shoot me a message and I’ll get right back to you.