How to Get Your Newborn Baby to Sleep

New parents are always floored, flabbergasted and amazed (lol I know they all mean the same thing) that I, their newborn photographer, can get their newborn baby to sleep because they try, unsuccessfully, at home.

I can’t tell you the number of times they’ve told me “she won’t sleep”, “he likes to party”, “my baby hates to be swaddled” and then, voila!, I’ve put their baby to sleep!

So let me introduce myself, “Hi, I’m Jaime, aka The Baby Whisperer, and my magical skill is getting babies to fall asleep.”

How do I do this?

Well, I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve since I’ve studied with the best of the best and have learned from every single one of them. I also have had 3 babies of my own.

First trick

My first trick is that I keep my newborn photography studio like a womb. Seriously. It’s warm and cozy. It has soothing noises. The only thing it’s missing is it being a water bath. I’m committed… but only so far, you know; no amniotic fluid here.

I recommend that you try to mimic the environment newborn babies are used to. That should help you.

Babies are used to being warm. Not too hot, be careful not to overheat them, but warm. I start every newborn photography session by heating the studio around an hour before clients arrive as that gets it to the perfect temperature. I often turn the heater off part-way through our session since the lights and bodies in the studio keep it warm. As I mentioned, we don’t want it to get too hot for baby. Like Goldilocks we are looking for “just right”.

Babies are used to being rocked. Remember how baby seemed to sleep all day and party all night. The rocking motion of mama moving around during the day soothed them. That’s why some parents resort to driving around in the car so baby can fall asleep. Rocking baby gently can help soothe them and help them fall asleep.

Babies are used to noises; it’s not quiet in the womb. They hear your blood swooshing through your veins. Have you heard parents say that running the vacuum or hair dryer can help calm baby? That’s why. Try a white noise machine or app, they can work really well. I always have one running in my studio.

We’ll talk about the 5 Ss in my next post. They really get into how baby felt in the womb and how that can help calm them into sleep.

In the meantime, good luck and sleepy dust!