5 Amazing ways to calm your baby

Newborn photography requires plenty of patience and a calm hand. As the photographer, it is essential that I know how to calm a baby with several different soothing techniques. Here are my top 5 that I use in my newborn sessions:  

Swaddling

By the time 40 weeks are up, there is precious little room inside the womb. Your baby is packed in as tight as a tick! Therefore, being wrapped in a blanket is quite a comfort to them and will generally get them to sleep so long as they have been well fed and winded! Swaddling is just a matter of practice and the trick is, to do it tightly so baby feels nice and snug! Here’s a diagram on how to swaddle your baby.

Rocking

Baby’s love a bit of motion, afterall you’ve been carrying them around for 9 months – they’re used to it!! It’s another reason why they love to go for a walk in the push chair or for a drive in the car. You could be at the end of your road and the rocking motion has helped to send them sleep. Obviously I can’t do this in the studio, but I do recommend that the baby is fed before you leave home so that they are pretty much sound asleep once they’ve made the car journey or walk to my studio in Harpenden.

In my sessions I will often gently hold the baby’s feet up to their body and place my hand across their arms to stop them flailing, I then rock them gently from side to side and sometimes this just enough to help them get back to sleep.

Celine Hare Newborn Baby Photgraphy

White noise

The womb is quite a noisy environment, not only with all the external sounds of life on the outside, but also the whooshing sounds of blood in the arteries and mum’s heartbeat. For this reason, white noise can be very soothing to a baby and I use it quite a lot in my newborn sessions. On a personal level, I discovered quite by accident, the power of white noise when my son was a few weeks old.

I was putting him down for his afternoon nap when he was sick. On me. So, I got him back to sleep, gently lowered him back into his cot and then when I released my fingers from beneath his tiny body his little eyes pinged open and he began to cry! Sound familiar? I rushed to sponge down my top and grabbed the hairdryer to quickly dry myself before tending to him. Anyhow, to my amazement, after a few seconds of hairdryer action he had stopped crying and gone straight to sleep. To check that it was no accident, I tried this again the next day. He had his feed, I put him into bed and he cried. I turned on the hairdryer and 60 seconds later he was out like a light. Thrilled with my new find, and not wanting to burn out my hairdryer, I went to search online to see if I could get a recording of this type of white noise, (gone were the days of the old fashioned tape machine where I could record it myself!) Anyhow, low and behold you could buy recordings of dishwashers, washing machines and any number of household appliances. Needless to say, it became a staple in our house and was used successfully with baby number 2! Nowadays there are allsorts of white noise apps you can buy, you can even try them for free to see which one your baby likes. Now my white noise of choice is the ‘Baby Shusher.’

Sucking

The sucking reflex is a very calming, primitive instinct for a new baby. I never push the idea of using a dummy on my photography clients, but if they have already started using a dummy it is a great way to get them to settle long enough for me to take a photo. It distracts to the baby from what I’m doing during the shoot and allows them to settle back to sleep so I can get the shot. If you’re at home then your pinkie could be your baby’s best friend.

Stay calm

Babies pick up on the fact that you’re stressed or anxious. Imagine you’re a little bit nervous of horses and you’re about to go for horse ride. You know the animal will pick up on your fears and neither of you will have a relaxing time. The same is true of babies, if you’re in a rush, or you’ve got lots on your mind - and you’re trying to soothe your baby at the same time then forget it. The baby will pick up on your non soothing vibes! Take some deep breaths, drop your shoulders and go at the baby’s pace, sometimes you just have to surrender yourself to them.

THAT of course is easy for me to say, I have had a good night’s sleep before your session! However as a shoot could take as long as 4 hours, I only plan one shoot on that day. I therefore have the time and patience to devote to your shoot without any other distractions or time pressures.  My sessions take place in a relaxing and calm environment I promise you will never feel rushed or under pressure. A happy baby = happy mummy and daddy = fantastic photos, ones that you will treasure forever.

Celine Hare Newborn Baby Photography

If you’re interested in a newborn shoot with me then please get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!