A Newborn Photographer's Guide to Soothing Babies

As a professional newborn photographer, I have had the privilege of working with hundreds of newborn babies. Many of the babies I photograph come for a studio newborn session, where I soothe, rock, and then pose the newborns in various ways to achieve beautiful images their parents love and treasure.

This job requires an interesting mix of skills. Not only did I have to learn equipment settings, professional lighting, styling, posing, swaddling (more on that in a moment), and camera angles, but I also had to up my game on a huge part of the job; soothing babies.

Most newborn studio poses require a baby to be sound asleep. I have to be able to not only get an infant to sleep but also keep them asleep while I say, roll them onto their tummy, tuck their fingers under their chin, and align their legs and feet in a way that makes the final image visually pleasing (see below). All babies are different, and some tolerate this better than others. However, in my years of doing this work, I’ve found a few things that work for almost every baby.

Find out my favorite five tips for soothing babies over at Fairfield County Moms.