06/12/2026
The firstborn is THE most important part of a newborn session
Hear me out
Newborns are the easy part. They always fall into rhythm. Eat, p**p, change, sleep. Toddlers are the wildcard and will absolutely dictate how your session will go.
It wasn’t until I had my youngest that I really understood how big of a shift this is for the firstborn. Suddenly baby comes first if they’re crying, hungry, tired, and the toddler notices all of it. They’re watching mom and dad get pulled in every direction and trying to make sense of why this tiny person gets so much of them now. It can feel like they’re being replaced in real time, when nobody meant for it to feel that way.
So when I come into your home, I always say hi to the toddler first before I acknowledge baby. I’ll ask them to carry a blanket for me, tell me their favorite color, show me their favorite toy, or help me figure out what’s going on in their world that day.
Once the toddler likes me, we’re golden. They start to feel like I’m there for them too, not just for the baby. I let them come and go as they please. I don’t force them into anything. I’ll even lean into their sense of humor with prompts like, “I think baby’s head smells stinky, what do you think?”
And I stay with that.
If I notice them drifting, I go right back to them for a minute. Reset it. Pull them back in. Then we come back to baby when it feels natural again.
I care about the photos, obviously. But I care more about what’s happening in your home while I’m there. I’ve watched it now in my own life… the adjustment for the firstborn and how much they’re taking in. So I don’t try to skip over it or rush it along. We just work with it as it comes and I make a new bestie along the way 🫶🏼
