As newborn photography experts here in the South Riding, VA area, we’ve worked with our share of fussy babies. That is no surprise, of course! What newborn or baby isn’t fussy at some point?! Through the years, though, we’ve learned a few things about soothing a fussy baby. So, we thought we’d share a few tips with you.

Sound and Movement:
Remember that your baby heard plenty of noises and experienced movement during the months in your belly. Then one day, they’re born, and the world seems intent on keeping things quiet for them. They might miss the rhythmic sounds they heard in your womb. Try soothing them with repetitive motion in your arms, rocking chair, or infant swing. In a pinch, try taking them for a drive – in their car seat, of course. Repetitive motion can be an effective sleep tonic.

As for sound, there is something to shushing a fussy or crying baby. A gentle, soft “shushing” or humming sound repeated while rocking your baby can be very soothing to them. They did spend months inside of you serenaded by the melody of your heart. Babies are often comforted by soft, repetitive sounds.

Feeding:
Sometimes a fussy baby is just hungry. Sometimes a growing baby is hungry. Fussing is their way of letting you know they want more food than they are receiving. With your doctor’s approval, it might be time to increase their nutritional intake.

Swaddling:
While many ancient cultures have long practiced swaddling, it’s become popular in the U.S. mostly in recent decades. Try swaddling your baby. You want to wrap them in a tight but comfortable swaddle. After your child is born, most hospitals will review with you how to wrap your baby. Most parents report their child seems to feel comforted by being swaddled.

Position:
While some babies love that you rock them in a prone position, others prefer to be more vertical especially if they suffer from reflux (not uncommon in newborns). After you feed your baby, keep them upright for a short time while you burp them and allow some digestion to occur. We suggest you watch this video on how to hold a fussy baby by Dr. Robert Hamilton. It’s garnered more than 25 million views for his technique!

Touch Therapy:
There are many benefits to touch therapy, and as a baby photographer, we couldn’t agree more. We often try light massage on a baby’s back or forehead as we are gently posing them for portraits. Try it at home next time your child is struggling to fall asleep.

We enjoy our work with newborn photography in the South Riding, VA and Northern Virginia area. Photographing children and babies is one of the most rewarding aspects of our profession. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our tips on how to soothe a fussy baby.
 

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer, Newborn Photography

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near South Riding, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby portraits. Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

There is a palpable excitement with every newborn photography session we do in our studios near Round Hill, VA. It’s the same emotion we felt the first time we shot newborn portraits. But beyond feeling excited, we also felt exceptionally prepared. That level of preparation is what you should look for in any baby photographer.

The more prepared one is, the fewer nerves they’re likely to feel! And, the less nervous, the better the process and the outcomes.

The very first Newborn Portrait Session we did was of gorgeous little JD! For that first newborn session, as with all our sessions since, we spent a lot of time preparing in advance. To be the best baby photographer we could be for the first newborn session, we knew that things needed to be ready for the baby and new parents. How did we know it was so important? Because before we began doing newborn portraits, we were a long-time, fine art family photographer.

Although some things will have to occur during a portrait session (like moving lights or other equipment around), experienced photographers will do as much as they can in advance of a session. Digging through a camera bag in search of a flash that’s nowhere to be found, or finding you ran out of battery 10 minutes into the shoot, doesn’t inspire much confidence.

Today, we still double check everything before any client arrives – baby or not. It’s a process we have fine-tuned through the years, but one we still practice with great diligence today. It is a significant part of our success. It’s also why we have a reputation across Northern Virginia for being a trustworthy and skilled family and baby photographer.

If you would like to work with a reliable and reputable photographer experienced in newborn photography near the Round Hill, VA, contact us to schedule an appointment. We promise we will be ready for you!
 

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer, Newborn Photography

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near Round Hill, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby portraits. Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

As specialists in newborn photography near Round Hill, VA, it’s not surprising that we find inspiration in the lives of our clients, especially mothers. Raising a child is a blessing but never without some challenges. Perhaps, that is why this story in the acclaimed “Humans of New York” photo series caught our attention:

“I have four boys. I was a single mother for most of my life. But I’ve been a good mother. I’m going to pat myself on the back for that. It wasn’t easy. I struggled hard. In my twenties, I got kicked out on the street with four young kids. But I made sure they were always safe, fed, sheltered, and had proper clothes for the season. They always had bikes and skates. And I kept them busy. I signed them up for everything: karate, basketball, swimming, you name it. I paid for it all. I didn’t want them spending time in the streets, so I’d work overtime just to keep them busy. I never had much left over for myself. I sacrificed a lot for them. I still wake up at 3:30 every morning to beat the traffic across the bridge. But they always come first. Because they never asked to come here. They were my decision.”

If you look carefully at her shirt, you’ll see that she’s wearing a U.S. Postal Service uniform. This mother went from having so little to become a role model of courage for her boys. Her story is one of love, commitment, and achievement. There is no better role model for her children. Her determination to triumph for her kids moved and inspired us, and we applaud her.

As a baby photographer, we meet new parents, each with their own story. It’s our goal to convey their stories through our craft. Portraits don’t have to be fancy, feature props, or be heavily photoshopped if they capture that in their subjects. (Therein lies the beauty, as well as the popularity, of the “Humans of New York” series.)

With our newborn photography here near Round Hill, VA, we strive to represent the purity and innocence of our tiniest clients. After all, our clients “tell” their own stories better than we do. We’re just their photographic messengers!
 

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer, Newborn Photography

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near Round Hill, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby portraits. Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

Zeke was a newborn photographer’s dream model in our studio near Purcellville, VA! This little guy was perfectly relaxed (and sound asleep) as we posed him for his adorable portraits.

Newborns:
Any time during the first seven days of a baby’s life is the perfect time for newborn portraits. As you can see, Zeke was the typical newborn who slept through his first-ever portrait session. He looks very much like he did shortly after his birth just days earlier. Therein lies the beauty of newborn photography! Fingers and toes are curled. Eyes are still lazy with sleep. And the tiny bodies, fresh from the womb, are just beginning to settle into their new world. (By the way, most parents are also settling into their new family life when we meet them for newborn portraits!)

Babies:
As we all know, all too soon newborns turn into babies. Doing professional baby photography during the first year of life is as important as the newborn shots. We recommend that you do baby portraits during the first year of life before a child starts walking. If you would like to do both newborn and baby portraits, we recommend our Bebe Coterie Plan! This plan is the perfect combination of both types of photography. In addition to newborn portraits, the plan captures the first-year’s milestones such as sitting and walking. Zeke’s parents purchased the Bebe Coterie plan. Today, they enjoy having documented that darling first year of life for their firstborn son!

Would you like to work with Northern Virginia’s leading newborn photographer with studios in the Northern Virginia area, near Purcellville, VA? Call us today to schedule your appointment! We’d love to work with you and your family.
 

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer, Newborn Photographer

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near Purcellville, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby portraits. Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

“Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.” This is a lovely quote by the French writer and philosopher Voltaire. It makes us think of our newborn photography in Northern Virginia, which is a canvas influenced by love. The love we capture in our work is what delicately embroiders the essence of our portraits. And, our imagination weaves this priceless image into art that our clients will cherish for many years. This is why we have become such a trusted newborn photographer in the Reston, VA and Great Falls, VA area.

The Canvas:
We are the sum of our experiences. As newborns, we are a clean slate not yet shaped or influenced. Throughout our lives, however, we are formed by the love we experience be it romantic, familial, or platonic. As a child of our parents, we are the canvas of their love. As parents ourselves, we know that love is transformative. It is inspirational. As fine art photographers, if we don’t appreciate our clients as more than subjects, then we can’t capture their full worth in their portraits. It takes years of experience, and sensitivity toward others, to be able to accomplish this.

Our Imagination:
Without love, there would be no need for portrait photography – especially newborn and children’s portraits! Parents invest in portraits of their children because they love their children. They want to capture their child’s image so they can treasure it for many years. It’s up to us as their professional newborn photographer to carefully and respectfully craft art “embroidered” with beauty and their love. We know that our clients, like all parents, can imagine a day when their baby is an adult – which is why these portraits are so priceless. It’s important that we get them right.

Our clients appreciate the significance of investing in newborn photography for that moment decades away. If you would like to work with us for your newborn photography in the Reston, VA and Great Falls, VA area, please contact our studio. We would love to capture the love you feel for your child or family!
 

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer, Newborn Photography

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located near Reston, VA and Great Falls, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby portraits. Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits

We have learned a lot from our work in baby photography in the Potomac Falls, VA area. Several important guidelines are flexibility, patience and the need for excellent preparation. You’ll probably agree that these are terrific life lessons for anyone whether they’re a photographer or not! Children like to do their own thing – usually on their own time. To be a successful children’s photographer, understanding and accepting them for who they are is critical. That’s where flexibility, patience and preparation matter!

Flexibility
As a baby and children’s photographer, we know that we need to be flexible as well as nimble during their portrait session. We need to be ready to adapt our original vision to the session’s circumstances. We have learned to accept that things could turn out a bit differently than we expected. Life isn’t always linear. However, we’re ready! Bring it on!

Patience
Every child we work with is different from the previous child – even siblings can behave vastly different from each other. Just as we need to be flexible, we need to be patient (with all our clients, in fact). Working with our littlest of clients means appreciating them and enjoying the journey of working with them. Patience is the bedrock to a fruitful and productive portrait session! You could say that patience is the foundation to nearly anything in life!

Preparation
It’s important that our portrait photography studio be ready when a family with children arrives for a session. While there’s always some on-the-set adjustments, having prepared as much as possible in advance of a portrait session is the professional thing to do! By the time a client arrives, we’ve given a lot of thought to the particular needs of their session. We know as experienced family photographers that we can save our clients time and frustration if we’re ready to go before they arrive!

So, when folks ask us what we’ve learned from our work with baby photography in the Potomac Falls, VA area, we know just what to say! We feel very fortunate to work with children and feel privileged that their parents entrust us with this most precious legacy.
 

Baby Photography, Baby Photographer

Ever After Baby Portraits is comprised of Mindy Belcher and Joriana Belcher Anderson, a mother-daughter baby photography team located in Potomac Falls, VA in Northern Virginia. We specialize in timeless and emotive fine art family portraits, including newborn and baby portraits. Family means everything and capturing those precious moments to preserve forever will mean family heirlooms for you to share for years to come.

Best,
Mindy & Joriana – Contact Us!

View Our Portfolio | Ever After Baby Portraits