These adorable images prove that even newborn babies are getting in the Christmas spirit – posing in presents, Santa hats and festive baskets.
Award-winning photographer Karen Wiltshire, 46,from Poole, Dorset, captures heart-melting pictures of sleepy babies as young as a few days old.
And at this time of year she gets lots of requests for festive photoshoots so new parents can create cute Christmas cards and presents for family and friends.
To get the best images, she makes sure the babies have eaten before they arrive then soothes them to sleep by swaying them.
Once they are asleep, she can position the tiny tots as she wants them on a comfy blanket inside a gift box or wearing a cosy knitted Santa hat.
She provides all the festive props needed, although parents can bring along any items with a personal significance.
Karen photographs about three or four newborn babies a week and each shoot takes four hours.
The mother-of-two started child photography when her son was born 10 years ago and she was fascinated by his facial expressions.
But she started photographing newborns three years ago when she discovered she had a talent for soothing very young babies.
She has now photographed more than 500 newborns.
Karen said: ‘I get requests to do Christmas shoots. When people have a newborn fairly close to Christmas they like to do a themed shoot for Christmas cards and presents.
‘Photo cards make a nice personal alternative to the usual festive greetings and framed photos can be treasured for years to come.
‘People are amazed by newborn photography, everybody loves them. Parents love to watch the process and see how easily the baby is moved when it’s asleep.
‘At this point there’s not a lot they can do that I haven’t seen before. Some people think I just plonk them down but it takes me hours to get them to sleep and in the right position.
‘The younger the baby, the quicker you can get them to sleep. It tends to be under 14 days for the newborn photography. Past that they are more aware of their surroundings and take longer to go to sleep.
‘I will photograph sleepy babies up to ten weeks though. It can be really tricky to get them to sleep but sometimes mums haven’t had the time to think about photography in the first few weeks.
‘There’s quite a few people doing newborn photography now but you have to have the right training, because the babies are so fragile.’
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