Newborn sessions and cake smash sessions make for adorable photos and are a great way to capture your child at different stages in their life. But what about the year in between? Babies grow so quickly and change so much in just a year. Your one-year-old will look so different from your newborn, you may feel like you missed out on capturing the months of their growth in between.
A sitter session is the perfect way to capture your child after their newborn photos but before their first birthday. Simply put, a sitter session is a photo session for babies who can sit up on their own. These sessions usually take place around six to nine months and are a fun way for parents to see how much their little one has changed in such a short time.
Unlike a newborn, a six-month-old will begin to show off their personality. Babies at this age are playful, curious and quick to smile! Photos from a sitter session often capture fun expressions that parents absolutely love. Plus, while your little one is able to sit up at this stage, they’re usually not yet able to crawl quickly away, allowing your photographer to capture some fun images of their sweet face!
Sitter sessions are shorter than newborn sessions because they require less careful posing and prop and accessory setup. Your baby is also likely to be less fearful around strangers, making it easy to get them to smile. But be ready to get involved! Unlike a newborn session, you won’t be able to sit down and relax during a sitter session. It often takes parent involvement to get their little one to look at the camera and smile, but it’s super fun to watch the faces babies make during these sessions!
How do I know if my baby is ready for a sitter session?
If you want to schedule a sitter session but aren’t sure if your little one is ready just yet, ask yourself the following questions about your child:
- Have they mastered rolling and crawling?
- Do they love bouncing and kicking their legs?
- Are they rocking or swaying?
If your answer is yes, then your baby is likely about to start sitting on their own! Maybe they have even already tried to sit up. If that’s the case, it’s time to book your session.
While you’re definitely aware how much your baby has grown and changed, sitter sessions offer you photos of your little one at a new stage of their life. It can be so fun for both parents and photographer to compare the photos from a sitter session to newborn photos and see how much your baby has started to grow into a little person!
There are plenty of milestones to capture in your baby’s first year, but a sitter session is the perfect halfway point between the birth of your newborn and their first birthday. Plus, the photos from your sitter session are fun to share with friends and family, whether online, in holiday cards or through gorgeous, high-quality products, like albums and wall art.
Like any stage in your baby’s first year, the sitter stage will pass quickly as the move on to crawling and even walking. That’s why it’s so important to capture this new development: you’ll be amazed at how quickly your baby grows up and how easy it is to forget how small they used to be.
