What If My Newborn Won't Settle During the Photo Shoot?

A reassuring guide for new parents in South London — from a newborn photographer who has heard this question more times than she can count

"What if she just won't stop crying?" "What if he's hungry the whole time?" "What if the baby has a terrible day and the whole thing is a disaster?"

These are, hands down, the questions I hear most often from parents who are thinking about booking a newborn photography session. And I completely understand why. You've just brought a tiny, unpredictable new person home. You have no idea what a 'normal' day looks like yet. The idea of adding a photographer — a stranger! with a camera! — into the mix can feel like one thing too many.

So let me say this, as clearly as I can, and as someone who has photographed hundreds of newborn babies at home in Balham, Clapham, Tooting, Wandsworth, Streatham, and all across South West London: a baby who won't settle is not a problem. It is just a baby. And I have never, not once, left a session without photographs that made the parents stop and catch their breath.

Here's everything you need to know.

Why the Settling Question Comes Up So Often

Newborns are wonderfully, magnificently unpredictable. Some babies arrive at their sessions in a milk-drunk stupor and sleep for three hours while I work around them. Others are awake, alert, and very much exercising their lungs. Most do both, sometimes within the same twenty minutes.

As a new parent, you have very little control over which version of your baby turns up on any given day — and I think that's what makes this worry feel so loaded. You've spent weeks planning, you've booked the photographer, you've thought about what to wear — and then the morning of the shoot your baby decides to cluster feed from 3am onwards and screams when you put them down. It feels like everything is about to go wrong.

I want to let you off the hook right now. None of that is within your control, none of it is your fault, and none of it will ruin the photographs.

What Actually Happens When a Baby Won't Settle

When I arrive at your home — whether that's in Balham, Brixton, Clapham, Tooting, or anywhere else in South London — the very first thing I do is read the room. If your baby is unsettled, I don't push on regardless. We slow down. We take our time. We let things breathe.

Here's what that looks like in practice.

We feed first. Always, even if you just fed your baby before I arrived. There is no photograph worth taking while a hungry baby is crying. If your baby needs a feed when I arrive, we feed. If they need another feed halfway through, we feed again. A full baby is a happy baby, and a happy baby is a cooperative baby — or at least a baby who is much more likely to drift off into that lovely, deep newborn sleep that makes for such beautiful photographs.

We use warmth and movement. Newborns are soothed by the same conditions they had in the womb — warmth, gentle movement, white noise, and the feeling of being held close. I work with these rather than against them. I carry a white noise app on my phone (the real kind — not music, but that deep, rushing sound that cuts through everything). I'll often suggest you hold your baby while I make the space a little warmer than feels comfortable to you. These tiny environmental shifts make an enormous difference.

We take our time. A newborn session at your home is never a race. I don't have another booking to rush off to. I don't have a studio that needs resetting. It's just us, your family, and as much time as we need. If we spend the first half-hour simply settling your baby and having a cup of tea, that's fine. If we need to pause for twenty minutes while you soothe a fussy patch, that's absolutely fine. The session length is flexible because newborns require flexibility.

We change tack. If one approach isn't working, we try another. If your baby doesn't want to be in a particular position, we find a different one. If they won't settle on the beanbag, I'll photograph them in your arms instead — and some of my most treasured images come from exactly those moments: a tiny baby curled against a parent's chest, utterly at peace.

The Photographs I Get From Unsettled Babies

Here is something I want to share with you, because I think it might genuinely surprise you.

Some of the most beautiful photographs I have ever taken have been of babies who were having a difficult morning.

A baby who is alert and wakeful is a baby whose eyes are open — and newborn eyes, gazing up at the world with that particular expression of ancient, wondering calm, are extraordinary to photograph. A baby who has just cried and been soothed is a baby being held and comforted by their parent, and those moments of comfort and closeness produce images that are raw and real and deeply moving. A baby who falls asleep mid-session after a difficult start is a baby in a particularly deep, peaceful sleep — because they've worn themselves out.

What I'm trying to say is: there is no version of your baby that doesn't make for good photographs. There is no 'right' baby to bring to a session.

How to Give Your Session the Best Possible Start

While a fussy baby is never a disaster, there are a few things that genuinely help — not because they guarantee a perfect session, but because they set things up in the calmest possible way.

Book within the first two weeks. Newborns are at their sleepiest in the first ten to fourteen days of life. This is the golden window, and it's why I always encourage parents to contact me during pregnancy so we can have a date ready to go as soon as baby arrives. Families across Balham, Tooting, Clapham, Wandsworth, and the rest of South West London who book early find the session naturally more relaxed — not because the baby is 'better,' but because they're simply in a sleepier phase.

Keep the morning low-key. On the day of the shoot, try to protect the hours before I arrive. Avoid busy outings, visitors, or anything that might overstimulate your baby. A calm morning usually translates to a calmer session.

Feed just before I arrive. A recently fed baby is much more likely to be settled and ready to sleep. I usually suggest aiming for a feed around thirty to forty-five minutes before my arrival — enough time for digestion to happen and for that lovely post-feed drowsiness to kick in.

Dress your baby in a loose, easy-to-remove outfit. One of the reasons newborns fuss during photography sessions is temperature — they get cold quickly when you're changing their clothing. If they're in a simple vest that comes off easily, rather than a complicated outfit with fiddly buttons, the transition is smoother and less likely to wake or distress them. If you are planning for some posed shots, I recommend that you have baby already in a nappy and wrapped in a blanket to keep them warm for when I arrive.

Trust the process. I know this sounds like the kind of thing people say when they can't think of anything more practical. But genuinely — the single biggest thing that helps a session go smoothly is a parent who isn't anxious. Your baby can read you completely. If you're relaxed, they feel it. And the easiest way to be relaxed is to know that whatever happens, it's going to be fine. Because it is.

Why Home Sessions Work So Well for Unsettled Babies

There's a reason I photograph newborns at home rather than in a studio — and this is a big part of it.

Your home is already your baby's environment. The smells are familiar. The sounds are familiar. Your baby has spent every moment of their outside-world life in this space, and it settles them in a way that no studio ever could. When a baby is having a difficult morning and you take them to an unfamiliar location, you add an extra layer of disruption on top of an already unsettled state. When I come to you, in Balham or Clapham or Tooting or Streatham or wherever your home is, we keep the disruption to an absolute minimum.

There's also the practical dimension. At home, everything you need is immediately to hand — nappies, spare clothes, your preferred swaddle blanket, your baby's comforter, the exact way you like to feed. There's no bag to pack and forget. There's no car journey during which a finally-sleeping baby wakes up again. It's just home. And home, for a newborn, is everything.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if my baby cries the entire time?

It hasn't happened yet in over a decade of newborn photography — but even if it did, we would have photographs of a baby being held and loved and comforted by their parents, which is a beautiful thing to document. What I can tell you with absolute confidence is that babies don't cry continuously without a break. There is always a moment of calm, always a moment of sleep, always a moment that becomes a photograph.

What if my baby is going through a growth spurt or a difficult phase?

Please tell me when you get in touch, and we'll work around it. Growth spurts usually last a few days and are predictable in their timing. If you're in the thick of one, we may decide to push the session by a day or two. I'm always flexible around what your baby needs.

What if my baby won't sleep at all?

That's honestly fine. Some of my most striking newborn photographs feature wide-awake babies — those searching, curious eyes are extraordinary to capture. Not every newborn session needs to be full of sleeping, swaddled poses. Some of the most cherished images are the alert ones.

Do I need to do anything to prepare?

A comfortable space with good natural light (which most South London homes have plenty of, especially in the morning), a warm room, and a recently fed baby is all you need. I bring everything else.

Where are you based and how far do you travel?

I'm based in Balham, right in the heart of South West London, and I travel across the city for home newborn sessions. I cover Clapham, Tooting, Wandsworth, Streatham, Brixton, Herne Hill, Dulwich, Wimbledon, Battersea, Earlsfield, Putney, and the surrounding areas as standard. If you're not sure whether I travel to your postcode, just get in touch and I'll let you know.

A Final Word

New parenthood is a time of extraordinary, overwhelming love — and also of genuine, legitimate worry about approximately everything. I know that. I've sat in hundreds of living rooms across South London with hundreds of brand-new parents, and the concern about the baby not settling is almost universal.

But here is what I also know, after all those sessions: newborns are resilient, parents are resourceful, and the photographs always come. Not despite the feeds and the fussy patches and the unpredictability, but woven right through them.

Your baby doesn't need to perform. They don't need to be on their best behaviour. They just need to be themselves — which, in those first extraordinary days, is quite enough.

If you'd like to book a home newborn session in Balham, South West London, or anywhere across South London, I'd love to hear from you. Get in touch via the contact page and we'll start making a plan.

Juliet is a specialist newborn, baby, and family photographer based in Balham, South West London, serving families across Clapham, Tooting, Streatham, Wandsworth, Brixton, Herne Hill, Dulwich, Wimbledon, Battersea, Earlsfield, Putney, and the surrounding areas.