Are you wondering what your newborn should wear for newborn photos? As a professional newborn photographer, here are the recommendations I give my clients —

Although anything your baby wears will be adorable, there are a few things that can help take your newborn photos from good to great. A little bit of planning and preparation for your newborn photography session will go a long way. What you choose to wear in your photos will bring a different feeling to your photos, so it's important to plan ahead. I also share a bonus tip at the end of this article that you might not have thought of!

What To Wear Tip #1 — Pick Neutral Colours, Earth Tones, Solids or Light Pattern

When selecting your newborn photo outfit, we want to choose something that will still look great for years to come. To create a timeless newborn outfit, pick soft and good quality fabrics that is simple and comfortable. Anything that is a solid colour or light pattern (such as floral or small shapes) will photograph well. My personal preference is for newborns to wear something cozy like soft pants or a onesie. Sometimes it's nice to pick out one or two outfits that you love but you know won't fit them for very long.

Try to avoid text and graphic t-shirts

Little newborn outfits with sayings on them are so cute, but let's save them for a different occasion. It has been proven that text and logos are the first thing that our eyes will be drawn to in a photo. For your newborn session, we definitely want the focus to be all about you and your baby! So while you decide what your newborn should wear for newborn photos, pick the more timeless outfits and leave the graphics for another day.

Also, trust me that in ten years when you are looking back on your newborn photos, the sayings will be outdated or won't make sense.

Skip the neon colours

Neon and highlighter colours never photograph well because the colour is too saturated and is unpleasing to the eye. In addition, neons are so bright that they tend to reflect onto your newborn's skin, giving them strange coloured patches on your neck and arms/hands. Skip the neon colours and pick a newborn outfit that is more neutral or earth toned.

Avoid Current Trendy-Trends

We all know that trends come and go very quickly. What's cute one year will be outdated the next. (Do you remember the posed sleeping babies in little animal costumes trend?)

Like I mentioned before, we want your newborn photos to be timeless and a true representation of who you are. Generally, when we look back on a fast-trend, we can easily see that we weren't really being true to ourselves (us 90's babies can attest to that). To me, it is more important to document the real life moments that you experience with your newborn, rather than participate in a trend.

Or skip the baby clothes entirely

This one is my personal favourite and is always something I offer to do at newborn photo sessions! It is so stinkin' cute to ditch the outfit all together and do naked or diaper photos.

Their newborn fuzzy skin and baby rolls don't last forever. Those are details that I love to photograph for my clients during our newborn photo sessions. Plus, who doesn't love a tiny baby bum photo?

Bonus Tip — It's Not What, But When

You can spend all day deciding what to wear for your newborn photo session, but it doesn't matter if it gets dirty right before the photographer arrives.

It's Murphy's Law that your baby will throw up or their diaper will explode on your favourite outfit that you wanted to use for photos. So, once you decide on that perfect newborn outfit or two that you want them to wear, put them in your bag to bring to your photo session. This way, if something happens along the way, the outfits you chose will stay clean!

Bonus Tip No. 2 — What else should I bring to newborn photos?

While you are in the mindset of preparing for your newborn photography session, consider pulling out a few other things to add meaning and interest to your photos.

I always ask my clients if they have a favourite blanket/swaddle, extra outfits, any gifts from the grandparents, your ultrasound picture, favourite toys, extra diapers, cloth, formula/bottle, warm clothes. Items such as these can really add a special touch to your photos and will be really lovely to look back on.

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These are just a few of the tips that I share with my newborn photography clients. If you are one my clients, know that we will meet before your session to talk about these details. I love to have a hand in helping pick outfits as I know what photographs well and will look great in your space. You can also grab my free What To Wear Ultimate Guide for more in-depth information about what to wear for your photo sessions.