If you’re expecting a baby soon and are interested in including siblings, you might be wondering if siblings can be included. The answer is yes, and we have a few tricks up our sleeves to help make it a great experience for your family.

Including Siblings

Including siblings in maternity and newborn photoshoots can be a heartwarming experience for the entire family. It not only captures the essence of your growing family but also creates beautiful memories for everyone involved.

Meet the incredible Sousa family. They contacted the studio for portraits that would celebrate the next chapter in their family’s story with baby number three – a baby boy in a house full of little girls. Before booking, I always want to hear about what’s important to families and how they want to preserve their images. Their main goals (like many families) was to create a family portrait with everyone included, include solo images of the girls, and include a few images that felt a bit more candid. And they wanted a great album as a keepsake.

Keys to Successfully Including Siblings

We have over a decade of experience when including siblings in your maternity and newborn photoshoot. Here are a few tips and tricks to help create a great experience for everyone.

1. Prepare in Advance: Before the photoshoot, talk to your older children about what to expect and how they can participate. Let them know we are going to have fun playing and will need their help.
2. Be Patient and Flexible: Realistic expectations based on your older children’s ages is key. Understand that young children may not always cooperate or stay still during the photoshoot. Be patient and flexible, allowing for breaks and spontaneous moments that capture the essence of your family. We start sessions with siblings and work on family images (while they’re still inquisitive and excited to be in a new place). Then, I ask that a family member or friend be on hand to whisk them off for an afternoon of fun while we finish the majority of your portrait session with you and your new baby.
3. Calm Play: We make sessions more about focused, calm play and we pretend quite a bit. Young children bond over play. Before your session, I like to find out what interests your older children have before we meet. This helps us become instant BFFs.
4. Snacks: Everyone loves a reward for doing something awesome, but it isn’t always needed. If we do need to move to rewards for our youngest guests, the reward needs to be instant. I keep a few handy rewards at the studio just for this purpose, and I’ll always check with your prior to your session to know what would be best. One of our best secret tricks is hiding a snack or two around your baby. While they’re on the hunt for a treat, in images it looks like big brother or big sister are really interested in their new sibling. Win, win!

If you’re like the Sousa family and expecting soon, we would love to have you as a guest at our St Matthews, Ky studio. My hope is that you love what you see, and after your session you’ll see how incredibly easy we’ve made this for families. With over a decade of experience, we’ve thought through all of the details and taken care of them, so you don’t have to. So can we include siblings in newborn pictures? Absolutely! And I’m happy to walk you through how we can best do this for your family.

Follow along on Instagram for behind the scenes and more.
Want details about a Louisville KY maternity, newborn, or family portrait session? Say hello here!