Imagine with me for a minute. Today is the day! Your new baby is ready for his first newborn photos! You arrive at my Norman Newborn Photography studio and I try to fold him into a sweet, cuddly pose. But he isn’t having it. It’s his call because at my studio, Baby is always in charge. Don’t give up hope if you find yourself in this situation! We can definitely get some sweet newborn photography shots, and we may even be able to get Baby into those precious curled up poses…after a good burp or toot!

My typical order of newborn poses doesn’t vary much from baby to baby. That’s because gas is the most common complaint among fussy newborns and there are 3 poses that work well for gassy babies. They are, in no particular order:

Prone

Placing Baby on her tummy with her head elevated can relieve gas pain. This is similar to the position Baby is in when Dad places her upright on his shoulder. The pressure on her tummy might help her burp or just move air out of uncomfortable places. This is a sweet pose where you can see Baby’s rolls and wrinkles, fingers and toes, and even her sweet pudgy cheeks.

Side-lying

This pose is a favorite because Baby is not folded in half, but her knees are tuck up slightly to make her appear small and precious. I can also play with the camera angle to make her appear smaller or at least shorter than she is!

Head on Hands

In the head on hands pose, Baby’s face is in clear view, and you can see her sweet fingers. This is pretty comfortable for Baby, too, because of the pressure on her tummy.

Transitional Pose

Even if things are going well and Baby is settling, I won’t jump right into folding him in half! Half-taco is a great in-between pose to gauge whether or not Baby will be comfortable in a more compressed position. It looks like this:

So there you have it! Don’t panic if your Norman newborn photography session doesn’t start out as planned. I have some Baby-loved newborn photography poses I can start off with and then follow Baby’s lead for the rest of the session!