The first year of a baby’s life is filled with incredible growth. It’s amazing to watch your little one grow from a sleepy newborn into a laughing, cruising toddler in just 12 months. Capturing the milestones of their development as they happen allows you to cling to memories that can seem so fleeting as they pass. But as every seasoned parent will tell you, the time really does fly by! And in the haze of your first-year exhaustion, it can be challenging to remember to pick up your camera and photograph the little everyday memories and moments that will be so meaningful to your family later.
Your child, also, will want to look back on their own infancy and learn about themselves through pictures. Having that visual record available and easily accessible, is a huge gift to your child. It allows them to see their own infancy, especially in relation to you and other family members who also appear in the photos, and it allows them to appreciate how much they were loved and wanted as a baby. That can go a long way toward helping them develop a strong sense of self-esteem and an awareness of their importance in the family.
That’s why it’s so crucial to schedule regular sessions with a professional photographer to capture your child’s changes, especially in their first year. You don’t want to miss a moment as your baby changes and grows because it happens so quickly!
Milestones Your Baby Goes Through
Here are some of the milestones you might want to document with a professional session. You can then compile these images into an album or image box for a beautiful keepsake to one day hand down to your child when he is grown.
Remember, each baby hits their milestones at their own pace, so the ages referenced below are only a general guideline for a typically-developing baby. If your baby is ahead or behind that schedule, don’t worry! We can customize this experience to meet them right where they are.
Pushing Up
To document all the changes your child has undergone since their newborn session, it’s a great idea to schedule another session for them at around five or six months. Your infant may be capable of holding their head up and pushing up on their arms at this stage, which is ideal for looking directly into the camera. No more sleepy newborn poses! Your infant is developing more personality traits every day and will likely be alert and wide-eyed during this session. Your photographer will be able to capture some adorable moments of your baby on their stomach or even rolling over, if they have mastered that skill. If you want to see how much has changed in a short period of time, compare these pictures to the ones you took when your child was a newborn.
Sitting Up
When your baby is eight to nine months old, they may start to sit up on their own and exhibit even more adorable facial expressions for your photographer to record. At this point, they might even be starting to crawl or scoot around the room on their bottoms. To reduce the likelihood that your child will fall over during the shoot, make sure they can sit up unassisted before scheduling this session. Even if they seem to be holding themselves fairly steadily, you’ll still want to make sure you’re close by, just in case.
First Birthday
You’ll start noticing significant changes in your baby around the age of a year; they won’t seem like such a baby anymore! Your child might start to take their first clumsy steps around this time and will likely be flashing their brand-new teeth when they smile. A one-year session is a wonderful opportunity to really capture your child’s personality and to mark how far your family has progressed both individually and collectively. You’ve made it through the baby months and are now entering toddlerhood, which is a whole new adventure!
In addition to simple portraits, it can be fun to schedule a cake smash session as well. We’ll work together to create a theme, and I’ll help with décor and outfit ideas. Then, we’ll welcome your baby to play and explore their first taste of cake as I capture adorable images – the messier the better! As a Philadelphia newborn and family photographer, it’s impossible to pick a favorite type of session…. But if I had to choose, I think cake smash sessions would definitely top my list!
You’ll want to document the development of your child’s personality and physical features as they grow. However, as a parent of a newborn, trying to take routine photos of your child is just one more thing added to your to-do list—and something you might not have time for. Plan sessions with a professional photographer to get high-quality pictures to display on your walls and share with loved ones. That way, you get the beautiful portraits you want, and your child will have many wonderful images to look back on as they grow older.
