Infants are playable characters in The Sims 4 that require constant attention from their caretakers. They can be fussy and a handful. And yet, Simmers can’t get enough of them! How does one handle an infant in the game? Let’s find out all about that in this guide.
The Sims 4’s latest base game update was released on March 14, 2023, bringing new features and improvements. These include the highly anticipated infants, new CAS items, and various objects for your babies. The latest expansion pack called Growing Together is also now available. The DLC features milestones, infant quirks, and relationship preferences that deepen family dynamics.
Before the infant update, we only had newborn babies, tottering toddlers, and school-age children in the younger life stages. Newborn babies only had a few interactions with adult Sims and didn’t add much depth to the gameplay. Babies were almost considered objects.
They wouldn’t mind if you left them outside in the cold or placed them in your inventory. While they are still like that in the game, it’ll only take a few days to age them into infants.
How to Make Infant Sims
Creating babies in Create-A-Sims (CAS) is the best way to make one if you want to customize them from the ground up.
Infants can have one Trait that defines their character from the moment they’re born. Here are the different Traits you can choose for your infants in CAS:
Calm: Rarely acquires a sad moodlet but doesn’t like exploring the outside world alone.
Cautious: They do not take kindly to strangers and new experiences but are very affectionate towards their loved ones.
Intense: Gets cranky but finds immense joy playing with toys or other Sims.
Sensitive: Most Sensitive infants are picky eaters, prone to overstimulation, and often get diaper rashes. The good thing is they can get soothed by their caretakers easily.
Sunny: Highly friendly and loves interacting with other Sims but will feel lonely when they don’t get enough attention.
Wiggly: Always energetic and enjoys roaming around the house but is likelier to have trouble sleeping.
You can also have your Sims try for a baby, but you first need a Sim couple in a romantic relationship or are married before you can have them procreate. The quickest way to have babies is to adopt one from an agency until the Science Baby feature was added in the update.
A Science Baby is essentially the Sim term for Surrogate Pregnancy. Sims don’t need to be men and women or a romantic couple to make a Science Baby; they only need to be close friends.
You can also have the option of having a Science Baby as a single parent. However, science babies do not come for free. Players must pay 1,200 Simoleons after bringing up their phone and choosing either ‘Have Science Baby with…’ or ‘Have Science Baby as a Single Parent.’ And within seconds, Sims can get a Science Baby without having to go through the process of being pregnant.
Infant Quirks
In the Growing Together pack, infants develop different characteristics or personalities called Infant Quirks.
Infant Quirks add a sense of uniqueness to each baby, affecting their behaviors and interaction with their caregivers. Three quirks can manifest while infants grow up, impacting their development as they turn into toddlers. Here are all kinds of Infant Quirks available in the DLC:
Early Riser: Usually the first to wake up in their household.
Feeding Tinkler: Can’t help but empty their bladder while eating.
Free-Air-Tinkler: Has the habit of peeing while caretakers change their nappies.
Frequently Hiccups: Gets hiccups regularly.
Frequently Sneezes: Prone to sneezing, causing germs to spread faster in their home.
Gassy: Often fussy due to the infant having digestion problems.
Good Appetite: More likely to enjoy all kinds of baby or finger food.
Happy Spitter: Frequently spits when eating.
Hates Being Held: Often gets peeved when carried by their caretaker.
Hates Wakeup Time: Gets irritated and cries as soon as they wake up.
Little Babbler: Coos and babbles a lot.
Loves Sounds: Feels happy when they hear music or loud noises.
Loves Wakeup Time: Usually feels chipper after waking up.
Loves Being Held: Often feels sad when caretakers put them down.
Messy Eater: Frequently makes a mess when eating.
Picky Eater: Often feeling displeased when eating various foods.
Self-Soother: Puts fingers or toes in their mouth to relax when feeling sad.
Snuggly Sleeper: Often falls asleep when held by its caretaker and does not like being put in the crib or play mat.
Infant Milestones
One of Growing Together’s main features is Milestones. These are developments in a life stage that can be unlocked as Sims grows and experiences various things. Infant Milestones are classified into five types: Life, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Social, and Firsts.
Life Milestones show how Sims were brought into the world or to their households. Fine Motor Milestones are actions involving their hands, like reaching for toys. These are basic skills that infants can learn by constantly doing Tummy Time with their caretakers.
Gross Motor Milestones pertain to activities that incorporate their whole body, like crawling or dancing. They can be unlocked by doing Tummy Time and interacting with their surroundings.
Anything that has to do with infants communicating with older Sims, such as cooing or laughing, is Social Milestone. Your infant’s experiences, like their First Visitors or First Baby Food, will be recorded in Firsts.
Infant Milestones are unavailable in the base game, so raising infants is much different if you have the Growing Together pack. Base game infants have it easy because they can already do many activities from the get-go.
Below are all the Milestones your infants can try to unlock before they age up in the Growing Together pack:
Life Milestones
- Born
- Born at The Hospital
- Adopted
Fine Motor Milestones
- Learned to Reach
- Learned to Grab
- Put Toe in Mouth
- Learned To Wave
- Learned To Clap
- Learned Pincer Grasp
Gross Milestones
- Lifted Head
- Rolled Over To Back
- Rolled Over To Tummy
- Learned To Creep
- Learned To Sit Up
- Pulled To Stand
- Learned To Dance
- Learned To Crawl
Social Milestones
- First Smile
- Learned To Coo
- Learned To Laugh
- Learned To Babble
- Learned To Blow Kiss
- Learned Peek-A-Boo
First Milestones
- First Visitors
- First Bath
- First Bubble Bath
- First Baby Food
- Slept Through the Night
- First Finger Food
- First Diaper Blowout
- Peed on Caregiver
Taking Care of Infants
There’s no denying that caring for infants takes a lot of work. Infants have needs like everybody else, including hunger, hygiene, and attention. Players must pay attention to their infant’s motives and respond to them accordingly to ensure their needs are met. And here’s how you do it:
Bladder
Just like toddlers, infants will relieve themselves when their bladder is full. All infants wear disposable diapers that get filled with waste over time. And any adult Sim can help the little ones change their nappies after they do the dirty deed.
When adult Sims change an infant’s diapers in the base game version, they leave them plopped on the floor. If you don’t want to clean up their mess constantly, you can always buy Diaper Changing stations, but only if you have the Growing Together expansion pack.
Cloth Diapers are also available in the game. These are the perfect infant underpants for your eco-friendly gameplay, but you need the Laundry Day Stuff DLC installed to get them.
Hunger
Infants can now be breastfed. But that depends on whether your Sim can produce milk. You can turn your Sim’s ability to lactate on or off in CAS. Of course, you may also choose to bottle-feed as an alternative feeding preference if the mother is away.
High chairs are also necessary for your infants’ development. After learning to sit up, you can put your infant in a high chair and feed them with solids. Infants have different reactions to the baby food you serve them. Some food may leave them satisfied, while some they may find disgusting.
Babies with the Picky Eater quirk often encounter solids they dislike. Let them explore different baby foods until you find out what food they love and hate. Infants can even graduate from mushy baby food to finger food once they unlock the Finger Food milestone.
Energy
Cribs are necessary if you have an infant or two in your home. Watch out, as infants get extremely fussy when their energy is low. Since infants’ tiny bodies are still acclimatizing to the conditions outside their mother’s wombs, they get tired easily.
Parents who are not that busy can give them a nap by cradling them until they fall asleep. If you leave them too long, babies can sometimes fall asleep on the Play Mat. And those with the Snuggly Sleeper quirk prefer sleeping in a Back Carrier. Sadly, Back Carriers and Play Mats are only available in the latest Sims 4 expansion pack.
Babies can sometimes have trouble falling asleep. To help them ease into a deep slumber, parents can comfort them, read them a bedtime story, or soothe them to sleep.
You can also upgrade your infant’s crib by adding an electronic mobile on top of it. A mobile crib can help lull your baby to sleep faster, even if they are not feeling exhausted.
Fun
Infants often feel the need to get entertained, too. In Growing Together, the Fun Needs bar is initially locked in until they learn how to Sit Up.
Similar to toddlers, babies can play with colorful toys within their reach to keep themselves entertained. Not only does their fun meter go up, but they can also reach infant milestones if they constantly play with their toys.
Attention
Your little virtual bundle of joy constantly needs to be showered with affection. Babies can’t survive without the adults’ supervision, after all. Leaving them alone crying for too long can give them a sad moodlet.
Caretakers can give their youngsters attention by communicating with them. Once they learn to reach for objects near them, infants can interact with dolls to fill their social needs and build their interpersonal skills.
Hygiene
As mentioned above, your infant’s hygiene can quickly decrease after they go potty. They eventually turn into dingy babies, regardless of constant diaper changing. Purchase a bathtub and bathe the little stinkers to remedy this problem. Note that your infant can also unlock a milestone after they experience their first bath.
Some Additional Tips
If things get too hectic and when there’s so much work to do, you can use a very useful interaction for Sim parents called Check Infant. This allows caretakers to identify and find which of their motives requires to be filled so they can tend to their needs immediately.
Infants can get tired and hungry quickly and are a bit more high-maintenance than toddlers and children. On the other hand, neglecting your infant can make them more demanding, fussy, and harder to care for. But if you continue to be there for your infants whenever they need you, they become calmer and happier.
Additionally, there are additional traits infants can acquire when they age up, depending on how they are raised throughout this critical stage in their lives.
If caretakers can build attachments with infants and take care of them well, there’s a high chance for them to acquire the Top Notch Infant trait once they become toddlers. These Sims get relationship bonuses and a positive moodlet every time they communicate with others.
Those with the Happy Infant trait sometimes get positive moodlets when socializing with other Sims. Sims with the Unhappy Infant trait will have difficulty trusting others because they were neglected when they were little. As a result, they receive no relationship bonuses when interacting with other Sims.
Family Dynamics
Another Growing Together feature is the Household Relationships setting, wherein you can customize your Sims’ family dynamics. Players can now finally modify how Sims will treat the members of their household.
For instance, children can have Close and loving relationships with their parents or have a Strict dynamic with them. You can also make it seem like your Sims have family estrangement issues by making them Distant from one another.
To edit your Sim’s household relationships, enter CAS mode, click on the Plumbob in the upper-left corner of the screen, and look for the square box below the Walk Style setting.
Infants and Parents
If a Sim grows up in a warm, caring, and supportive home, they will become well-rounded individuals with countless positive traits in their adult years. Like in real life, parents play a vital role in the upbringing of their little ones.
Players who have the Parenthood game pack may notice that responsible caretakers can level up their Parenting skills when tending to infants, not only toddlers and children. Sims with high Parenting skills can unlock many actions, including Super Efficient Baby Care and Full Parent Mode, which are convenient skills for raising a juvenile.
Infants and Toddlers
Toddlers can’t care for infants but have several cute interactions that might melt your heart.
Most infants get easily attached to the people around them, and they can gain Adoring Sentiments with their siblings if they bond regularly. They can sing to their younger brothers or sisters, make silly faces, and talk to them about various topics. Toddlers can also entertain infants when their Fun Needs are low.
Infants and Pets
There are several ways infants can interact with house pets. Babies can call for their cat or dog if you click the whistle button on the pet icon. They can also crawl toward their pets if they’re out of reach.
One of the ways infants can make friends with their furry companions is to pet them. Watch as your dog or cat happily reacts when infants play with them.
Another adorable interaction between infants and pets is that they can sleep next to each other on the floor. Infants can watch, pet, and smile at farm animals if players own the Cottage Living expansion pack.
Supernatural Infants
Some occult-type infants have special interactions that differ based on their species.
Alien Infants are the only occult Sims that can change into their alternate form regardless of age. Their alien form can be modified in CAS, and they can disguise themselves as humans at any time in Live Mode.
Despite not having a complete set of vampire fangs yet, Vampire Infants can nibble the fingers of their caretakers. And those who get bitten can get an uncomfortable feeling from discovering that they are cradling an infant with sharper teeth than normal.
Werewolf Infants can not only cry, but they can also let out an adorable small howl when sad or frustrated.
And that is all you need to know about caring for infants in The Sims 4! You might also want to check out this guide to learn how to manage fear and wants in the game.
Credits:
Simple Family Home by simlicy
Big Family House by dzialo1979
FIRST INFANT HOUSE!!!!!!! by lilsimsie
