One of the hardest parts about being the parent of a newborn is lack of sleep. Here are some tips and tricks to get your newborn to sleep that I use as a newborn photographer.
- Swaddle your newborn.
As a newborn photographer, I have heard countless times from new parents that their baby does not like to be swaddled. While some newborns don’t love the process of being swaddled, they will feel comforted once they are swaddled. Newborns are used to being tight inside their mother’s womb and it is comforting for them to be swaddled. While some will suggest pinning a newborn’s arms to their sides in a swaddle, I suggest keeping their arms bent and up near the chest. They key to a good swaddle is having their little legs and shoulders secured.
2. White Noise
Newborns love the sound of white noise. The inside of the womb is loud! The volume inside the womb is somewhere between a vacuum and a lawnmower. In fact, many crying babies will stop crying simply by the sound of a vacuum or hair dryer running. Try it and see! It would use a lot of energy not to mention, be really loud for you to run either of those all the time, so I suggest running a white noise machine. I use one similar to this one that can be found here:
I also really love The Baby Shusher. It can be purchased here:
3. Rocking
Babies love rocking. One form of rocking that works for a baby that won’t stop fussing is what I call the dip. Holding the baby, dip up and down as if you are doing squats.You don’t have to dip really low but this up and down motion works wonders.
4. Gentle Head Massage
I employ this trick all the time during a newborn session. Gently brush your fingertips over the baby’s forehead and eyes. The baby gets a soothing head rub and this also makes the baby close their eyes which helps them fall asleep faster.
I regularly utilize all of these techniques to get newborns to sleep during a photography session. I hope they can help you out too!
View my newborn photography work here:
http://www.gretchenbarros.com/newborn
