Beautiful newborn portraits don't just happen. They take a lot of time and patience. Safety of our newborn babies during our sessions is extremely important and assistance is required in a lot of these poses.
This newborn pose was done with moms assistance. She simply supported her babies head from falling off to the side using a very light tough with her fingers toward the back of the head. This allows me to easily edit her hand in post production. We always have mom sit right out of frame but close enough to be of assistance incase her baby startles in the pose.
Number one for newborn portraits is safety. Babies are so very fragile and I would never compromise the safety of a newborn for the "perfect shot".