How We Pose Your Older Children During Newborn Photography

Photographing your sweet, rambunctious toddler during your newborn session will be an unexpected delight.

I use a combination of years of experience and play to engage your toddler throughout the session to capture treasured portraits of your children.

Adding a new baby is a big transition for your entire family. During your newborn’s portrait session, your toddler may not have fully adjusted to having a new sibling (and less of mom and dad’s attention), and that’s perfectly normal. After photographing families for over two decades, I’ve seen every big feeling you can imagine. Your energetic toddler is welcomed and celebrated during the newborn session.

Inside the comfortable, private studio, we have a few tricks up our sleeves to help your toddler have a great time as well as pose them safely with your newborn. Your newborn’s safety is our top priority, and taking care of your entire family throughout the session is a very close second.

Here are a few ways we safely pose your older children during newborn photography in our Grimbsy studio.

Helping Your Toddler Adjust to a New Baby

Each child is different in how they process and react to a new sibling, but you can do a few things to help your older child with this big transition. As a mom of four, I’ve been through this transition, too, so I’d love to share how to guide your toddler through this big adjustment before the day of the session. I have an entire resource on helping your toddler adjust to a new baby here. 

My number one tip is to have your toddler practice “gentle hands” as much as possible before the baby is born and leading up to the session. You can use a doll to have your toddler practice being very gentle. Practicing gentle hands will help us during the session when we pose the siblings close together.

How We Pose Toddlers During A Newborn Session

We Invite Curiosity - Toddlers are naturally very curious. Before we take a single portrait, I’ll talk with your toddler, so they feel comfortable with me. I’m happy to answer any of their questions and even show them my camera and how it works. The more comfortable they feel in the studio and with me, the more fun they’ll have during the session.

Give Them a Job - Toddlers love helping. I’ll come up with little jobs so that they feel special and important. I might hand them a small wooden camera and ask them to help me take the next photo. Maybe we’ll ask them to stand by me and make a silly face for mom to smile. We’ll think of jobs that are perfect for your little one.

Bring Out the Studio Toys - I have a collection of simple wooden toys at the studio that I can bring out for your toddler to play with. It’ll be very exciting for them to check out these special toys. They can play with these while we document baby’s solo portraits, and sometimes a toy or two makes it into the portrait with your toddler.

Create a Fun Moment With Mom and/or Dad - We usually try to capture a few shots of each parent with their toddler during the session too. Your toddler will love the attention with each parent. We can bring out the bubbles for a fun, sweet moment that your toddler will love.

Safely Pose with Newborn Sibling - Once we’re warmed up and having fun, we can take the toddler and newborn portrait. This is all very much baby/toddler-led, so we take your children’s lead. Sometimes, we can have the older sibling hold their newborn sibling. Sometimes, we can lay baby on a pillow and have your toddler lay next to the baby. No matter what, you will treasure these images.

Grimsby Newborn Photographer 

As you can see, we are ready and excited to have your toddler with us during the session. It is possible to photograph your fun, wiggly toddler along with your newborn baby in a way that’s fun and memorable. If you have any questions for me or wish to schedule your consultation, please send me a message here.