We gladly welcome a new birthday club member. A house full of sweet girls for dad! We have enjoyed working with these sisters and can’t wait to watch them grow up together. We will see them often since they are all birthday club members. Each newborn session has been different for this family. Starting off with a quite in home session with the first one, a bit more chaotic studio session with baby two, and now a well planned and perfectly executed newborn session with baby three. Here are a few tips to consider for a newborn session when working with older siblings. Talk with the older siblings about ways they can help. They can listen to you and the photographer, or they can also help to get baby to sleep. We encourage them to be involved a bit because then that makes all kids more likely to sit for a photo and “help”. When siblings get the impression that they are helping they are relaxed. They feel like they are having a say in the photos which make them more natural and relaxed. Why would you want a grumpy face photo because we forced them to sit in a chair together? What if your older child likes to lay next to baby, that would be a more relaxed and natural photo. We are very flexible with our posing to get the biggest smiles. We can easily go between sibling photos and individual photos of the newborn. So fitting in some breaks for older kids is essential for the session to run smoothly. Snacks or a favorite toy is welcome so parents can focus on baby while the older kids have a break. Lastly, but probably the most important is to have your older children work with baby at home. We don’t want the first time they hold or sit next to them is during the session. Depending on their age they will interact with babies differently and it is a great idea to know that before the session. Do they like to snuggle a bit too much or do they push the baby away? The more interactions they have together the better for the session. We are excited to photograph your growing family. Contact us to start at the beginning with a newborn session. We are happy to give you all the tips and tricks to a smooth session with photos that last a lifetime. #ravettaphotography #stlphotographer #newbornsession #birthdayclub #studiosession #newbornwithsiblings