The Newborn Stage Goes Faster Than You Think
There’s a moment that as a parent I didn’t expect.
One day, your baby is all curled up into your chest. Their fingers still wrap around yours. Their movements are small, sleepy, and entirely dependent on you.
And then — before you know it — that phase is gone.
I remember looking back and realizing I couldn’t remember the last time my son slept on my chest. I remember the first time, but not the last. Most parents don’t realize when stages end until they think back to the last time something happened.
The days feel long. The weeks disappear.
When you’re expecting a baby, you’ll hear:
“The days are long, but the years are short.”
It sounds like a hallmark cliché until you’re living it.
In the early days, everything feels consuming:
Feedings blur into each other
Sleep comes in fragments
Your world narrows to this tiny human
But then you look back — even just a few months later — and you see just how much has already changed.
Their face.
Their expressions.
The way they fit in your arms.
Those first weeks are a chapter that close faster than you expect.
“I wish I remembered more of it”
This is one of the most common things parents say later.
Not because they didn’t love the time — but because they were in it.
When you’re exhausted, emotional, and adjusting, you don’t always think to document the moments:
The way your baby rests on your chest
The size of their hands compared to yours
The calm moments between feedings
Those details are easy to forget — and impossible to recreate later.
This is why newborn photos matter (even if it doesn’t feel urgent now)
Newborn photography isn’t about capturing perfection.
It’s about preserving moments:
Scale
Stillness
Connection
Photos taken in the first few weeks don’t just show what your baby looked like — they remind you how small, how new, and how deeply connected everything felt at the beginning.
That’s something no phone snapshot can fully capture. I didn’t have professional photos taken of my first son, I did take some myself, but, I wasn’t a great newborn photographer then, just tried to re-create what I saw on Instagram. I learned my lesson for my second son.
If you’re in Montgomery County and expecting
Many parents wait to think about newborn photos until after their baby arrives.
By then, time has already started moving faster. Sleep depravation in a real thing! At some point you’ll forget what day it is.
If newborn photography is something you’re considering, learning about the process early gives you options — without pressure or urgency. Generally the best time to do photos is in the first two weeks, while your little one is still sleepy.
You can read more about calm, guided newborn photography sessions in Montgomery County here:
👉 Newborn Portraits in Clarksburg, Maryland
One day, this will feel far away
Right now, the newborn stage may feel overwhelming.
Later, it will feel impossibly short.
However you choose to remember it, know this:
You won’t regret honoring this moment.
You might regret assuming it would last longer. My son is now 11 and look back and often think, where the heck did all that time go?