Sibling Photos

As a mother of three myself, I knew that when I got my newborn photos done, I was always most excited about getting professional photos with all of my precious children all together. The pressure was on and I always seemed to be bribing them days in advance in hopes that they would cooperate for their photo session. I just kept asking myself what I needed to do to prepare my older kids for these photos with their newborn sibling! Below I will share some tips on how to prepare your children for their newborn photo session with their new sibling.

There are four main things that we focus on when capturing images with your toddlers or young children and your newborns, and they are ; Preparation, Timing, flexibility, and of course Safety! Lets dive in –

If You booked me for your maternity photos as well as newborn, this is an ideal opportunity for me to connect with your older child(ten) and get to know them before our newborn session. During a maternity session I love to chat away with your older children so I can learn about their interests even if its as simple as tossing stones in the water a few times or talking about “Bluey”.

If you booking newborn only, I encourage parents to do some gentle preparing at home in the days leading up to your session. Explaining to your little one that a friend will be taking pictures of them their new sibling. I like to make the start of the session really about your older child. I generally keep babies wrapped for sibling and family poses. When you arrive I will wrap your newborn, and try to include your toddler the most I can. I like to have them hold wraps for me or pass me clothes ect while I chat with them about their new sibling. Obviously depending on their age and development this might be a little bit different for each family. Some children may not want to be involved at all or feel unsure at first while I gain their trust, this is all ok and we work through it. I try my best to read them and go at their pace. I have found this type of prep work helps older siblings feel comfortable enough with me to pose with their sibling. Toddlers I find especially can feel jealous and have a hard time seeing baby getting all the attention. When we frame it as an exciting day to take photos with “their baby” it can help your child feel more included and be more willing and excited to participate!

The Next thing I like to have parents think about is timing of when they book their session. Does your older child take an afternoon nap? Do they have lunch or breakfast at a certain time? Its always best to try and stick to their regular routine on your photoshoot day as much as you can. Skipping a nap or changing around meal times can set us up for a rocky sibling photos. I am more than happy to work with you and your older Childs schedule to make sure we cause minimal dis-regulation in your older children. In addition to this, I like to begin my session with sibling and family photos so that we can capture your whole family before older kiddos become bored or tired. This ensure a stress free positive newborn session experience for your entire family.

When it comes time to finally get your two (or three) little ones in position, I generally have your older one lay on a fur blanket or flokati wool with one arm out. I explain to your child that I will place their baby right down beside them, and they will hold them and look up at my camera! Most of the time I can capture siblings in this classic pose. I do encourage parents to be flexible in their expectations of sibling poses especially with toddlers or young children. Sometimes they will be laughing, crying, or in a different pose entirely. For example, this little one (see image below this paragraph) felt uncomfortable laying down beside her brother, but was happy to crawl up to him and interact that way. This created some of my favourite ever sibling captures! We still got beautiful timeless images, because we were comfortable being flexible and moving away from a pose that this little one felt uncomfortable in. Flexibility, creativity and calmness are huge strengths of mine that I have found help me greatly when I am capturing portraits of siblings.

I had mentioned before that I like to keep newborns wrapped for their family photos. Wrapping keeps your baby comfortable, settled and normally asleep, for this portion of the shoot. A sleepy wrapped baby helps things go smoothly, and grants us the ability to focus on your biggest kid, since of course this is their time to shine! If your biggest little one is comfortable laying down, keeping your newborn baby wrapped helps your older child hold onto their baby securely, and keeps baby from startling or moving away from their sibling. When posing young children, we always choose poses close to the ground. As you can see baby is laying on a blanket directly on the floor, and the other images, your youngest is laying back with baby. This eliminates the chance of any accidents. In addition to floor poses, we make sure to have one parents off camera to keep a close eye on your toddlers every move while I capture their interactions.

Do you have still have questions or concerns about sibling photos and how to prepare?? Send me an email and we can chat further about a plan for you and your families session

Hayley

xx