a big +1 on the heater. also a white noise/heartbeat sound machine too. if you're the parent and don't already have one, they're not expensive and are doubly useful for night/naps. IMO doing the newborn sleeping shots on your own kid is a lot easier since you can just wait for a time when the baby's in the right mood. just have all your props/lighting ready. if you're all setup, it literally takes 5 mins to get a shot when baby's in the right mood (food coma). and if he/she starts to fuss, you don't have to fight it since you know you'll have plenty of good opportunities later on. I did all of my own kid's shots. it wasn't too bad as long as i had some ideas and deadlines planed out in advance. it's easy to get so tired and carried away with the everyday baby stuff that you end up putting off doing the formal shots.
now shooting someone else's kid on a set schedule/date is a whole other thing. be ready for a frommrstomommy type experiences. soiling outfits/props, crying, feeding (which is hard enough real early on), etc can really burn through some time. I've heard days 3-10 are a pretty good window. mother's real milk has dropped by then, and your safely dodging the first growth spurt and onset of baby acne. doing this type of thing efficiently and well really takes some experience (not just skill!). i took a newborn photo class from a well known baby photographer in my area. i'm generally decent at figuring out how to approach new things, but this was definitely one of those experiences where i was left feeling thoroughly outclassed. the little tips and nuances she shared were all things you just wouldn't have thought about without having experienced it first. and everything is so situation dependent, you almost need to just develop a feel for it. Lucky i've only had to shoot a few babies, and it was all casual with no tight schedules or heavy demand to produce.
Good luck!
