Being pregnant with my second kiddo, I have decided to hire a professional photographer to do newborn pictures of the new addition, as well as the rest of our family with him. While having a new little one can already be expensive, I was wondering if the cost is worth it… so I took to Facebook to see what other parents thought of their worth and experiences!
After an hour, I have had 18 responses and 17 of them are YES! The one comment that read no, thought you could try to do them yourself for free. Here is my experience: I did not do newborn professional pictures with my first son who is now 2, and I regret it immensely. I did try to snap a few myself, and I do have about a gazillion photos of him on my iPhone, but none of them compare to what a professional could do…plus, I am not in any pictures with him!
I miss his tiny little features. I was so overwhelmed being a fresh, first time mom that his newborn phase is a complete blur to me. It was beautiful but it was scary, and for some reason I have blocked out all the sweet memories that were overshadowed by the health issues we ran into, and the nursing not going so well. I KNOW there was more to that time than these negative things, and wish all three of us would have pictures together by a professional to remember the good and sweet times.

Since then, we have had family pictures done twice, and had a 1st Birthday professional session for our baby. I look at them all the time, and they are displayed all over our home. I have come to realize, these professional photos are SO worth the cost. If you moms are like me, most of the time that you get in a photo with your kids, you are in sweats with no makeup and food in your hair (which is beautiful, and SHOULD be photographed), but you’ll appreciate the pictures where you get ready and look great, too.
I know that this opinion is biased (somewhat, because 17/18 other people agree with me!), and you may be a super talented mom who can take professional quality pictures with yourself in them by using a timer or even a selfie stick, but I hope my regret encourages you to splurge just a bit and schedule that newborn session… you can thank me later.
When you said you wished you had pictures of your family to remember the good times, it hit hard. My wife and I are having a baby soon. So we’ll have a photographer come and take pictures of us so we never forget.
Congratulations to you and your wife! You won’t regret the beautiful images. We get yearly photos done now and have a “family wall” in our home with all our photos. I LOVE seeing them every day!