Is it safe to pose a newborn?

Absolutely, when done safely!

In the photography world, there are a lot of negative comments on photographer's posts calling what they're doing cruel or mean and the baby looks uncomfortable and these people are just uneducated and wrongly opinionated.

A professional newborn photographer has the knowledge and experience to pose a newborn safely and there is actually a lot to it which is why professionals generally cost more for their services.

There is no college or university diploma or certification for newborn photography, but there are many professionals that teach everything one needs to know about newborn posing and safety. There are courses and one on one or group trainings available pretty much everywhere and available at arms reach. There really is NO excuse for anyone to pose a newborn unsafely with the technology and information we have readily available.

I personally have spent hundreds on courses and I started with that before I ever posed a real newborn. In fact I still have a practice doll that I use for new ideas, and she by no means compares to a real baby but she helps me with proper posing in props and determining if a prop will not work for a real baby and I practice all my wrapping techniques on her after learning them from another professional.

The first thing any professional needs to understand is the anatomy of a newborn because this is the most important thing when posing them. Most of their bones are not actually hard bone at birth, they are made of flexible cartilage that over time turns into hard bones. We know this is so that baby can pass through the birth canal, but it also matters when posing and wrapping them.

The flexibility that newborns have allows them to curl up and be posed into comfortable and safe positions on their own or in a prop and also be wrapped nice and snug. I assure you, if a baby is uncomfortable in a pose they will let you know and they will show it.

When wrapping a baby especially where the hands and feet aren't visible, you need to know how to safely place their limbs so that their circulation is not cut off. When wrapped, you can't see the color of their hands or feet to know if anything is going wrong.

When a professional is working with your baby, all of these things are playing in their mind and they will adjust the posing or wrap for baby's safety and comfort. Baby's will resist or let us know they're not comfortable so a photographer should always take baby's cues and work with them, not against them.

There are poses that are considered more complex than others, however the way baby's limbs and neck are posed matters in all of them. Supporting baby's head and neck is crucial in every single pose.

When I am posing a newborn, it can take what seems like forever to get them in the pose because they often are moving a lot in their sleep, have startle reflexes and they adjust themselves for comfort. I never force a baby into any pose, I will try a pose a couple of times and might come back to it after a while, but if baby resists it and shows discomfort, we adjust it so they are comfortable or forgo it altogether.

There are many poses I do with baby in and out of a prop that require a spotter at all times or hands on and the image is completed as a composite. Froggie or chin on hands is definitely one of them.

There are some terrible human beings out there posing as photographers that do everything solely for the shot, or for rage bait views and comments rather than baby's safety.

There's been one in particular I've seen recently that just makes me so angry, and cringe at the same time. She has over $400K followers and her video views are well into the millions and she gets a lot of comments from other photographers telling her how unsafe she is and she laughs at it and says she's doing nothing wrong.

Not only does she pose babies unsafely, but she kisses them too. She has a lot of reels where she is putting babies into the froggie pose where she lets go of them and one I saw recently the baby fell over and she just laughed as she put her back into position and then kissed the baby. She 'acts' as a professional, but poses like an amateur and dresses very inappropriately in sports bras with a lot of skin showing. Yet she books the clients, and has the online community many of us could only dream about. I don't get it.

She doesn't have a public website, so I don't know her pricing but she clearly convinces parents to trust her and believe she knows what she's doing but judging by her reactions and comments, she's sharing these videos for the views and clicks and it's sickening. I have heard she teaches other photographers as well and that's downright scary.

There are many like this out there, they either truly do not care about the safety of these sweet babies, or they don't care about getting properly educated and trained to handle them safely. Some claim to just not know when someone says something, but in the world we live in where you can access not only paid but free education at any given moment, not knowing is no excuse.

Bad things have happened to newborn babies at the hands of lazy people who do anything and sacrifice everything to get the shot, but just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean the photographer is working safely so always choose a reputable professional who can show that safety is their top priority. A low price is not the most important thing to consider when looking for a newborn photographer, and the ones who might seem high and out of budget aren't priced that way just because they made up that number. They put a lot into their education and have the experience to show they are a true professional and will not sacrifice baby's safety for any shot.

Most of the poses I do mimic baby actually being in the womb or laying on mom's chest for a snuggle so they physically can go into the poses effortlessly and 100% comfortably and when it comes to props, there are many times where we don't get to use some because baby wasn't having it.

My sessions are 100% baby led, so I listen to baby's cues and we either adjust or move on, and that's what all professionals should be doing. My poses are rarely text book perfect to some standards, because I listen to baby and take what I can get and parents are totally ok with that. I can't imagine the parents that are ok with what a lot of people are doing out there, and if I saw my baby fall out of a pose I would lose my mind but some people just don't know any better, and I write these blogs to help educate not only new parents but also other photographers who want to get into newborn photography.

I'm also an open book, so if parents have questions I answer openly and honestly and I can show my work, how I do it and am highly reputable around here by others.

Your baby is the most precious thing you have, and if you're wanting newborn photos, do your research and save for it. Don't just look for the cheapest option out there because when it comes to photography you get what you pay for and especially newborn photography, price speaks volumes to education and experience.

www.littleandsweetphotography.ca