BY PAM MARSDEN
HAVING A BABY
Adopting a Baby, Toddler, or Child
In The Sims 4, babies can be produced using Try For Baby or using the computer to adopt. (Choose Household, then Adopt). Adoption costs $1,000 and the player gets to choose between a baby, toddler, and a child. You also get to pick the one you wish to adopt. The computer will show pictures and names of the available babies, toddlers, and children. Click on the one you want. My Sim chose a baby named Savannah. She immediately walked out of the house and disappeared at the street. About an hour later, you'll get a notice that your Sim is bringing home a new family member. You'll also be given the option to change the name of the baby you pick. Your Sim returns with some confetti and the baby is magically in the bassinet. Adopting a toddler or child works the same way.
GETTING PREGNANT
To have a baby naturally, a Sim who is able to be pregnant (male or female via CAS options) will have to find a suitable partner/spouse and go through all of the necessary friendly and romantic interactions in order to successfully Try For Baby. My Sim had the Romantic trait and her Aspiration was Soul Mate, which meant that she eagerly sought the Sim who would be the father to her baby. I found that Try For Baby came up sooner than in Sims 3, so less time was needed for the couple to interact romantically. The parents were married and had maxed their friendship and romantic bars, and Try for Baby often came up as a first option without having to do any romancing before hand. Sims can also have a male appearance and have the ability to become pregnant, or be female in appearance and able to make others pregnant - see transgender section below for how to do this.
There are no longer pregnancy chimes at the time your Sims Try for Baby. Instead, the mother can do a pregnancy test by clicking on the toilet afterward. The cost is $15 and results are immediate. Either it will say she's eating for two or to try again. She will immediately start to show a little after getting a positive pregnancy test. Otherwise, if you do not do a pregnancy test, the game will inform you after a day that the mother is pregnant. Luckily, the mother will wear her same clothes throughout the pregnancy. There's no spinning into ugly maternity clothes!
CAS Options - Make Sim Transgender
During Create-a-Sim, you can select '...' beneath the gender settings to make your Sim however you desire. Sims can have masculine voice and feminine appearance, and you may also select whether that Sim is capable of becoming pregnant regardless of gender. You must pick one or the other - Sims who can become pregnant can't get others pregnant. You may also choose neither, indicating that Sim can woohoo without any baby being born.
Male Pregnancy (via Alien Abduction)
If you have a male Sim in the household who is from Young Adult to Elder in age and have installed the Get to Work Expansion, Alien Abduction can result in your Sim getting pregnant. You can make this happen by joining the Scientist Career, and working your way up until you can build the satellite. You can use the satellite on your home lot to contact aliens. This makes them more likely to visit, and thus abduct your Sim. Conversely, you can use the satellite to stop alien abductions to prevent your male from getting pregnant.
Influence the Baby's Gender
A patch made it so that we can influence the gender of babies, so we can make the chance large that a baby girl or boy is born:
- To have a baby boy: Eat carrots and listen to alternative music on the radio.
- To have a baby girl: Eat strawberries and listen to pop music on the radio.
Doing both of these things during your pregnancy will increase your odds of having a boy or girl.
Influencing the Pregnancy - Twins and Triplets
The pregnancy will typically produce a single baby. To increase the chances of twins or triplets, use the Fertile Reward. It's available from the Rewards Store for the price of 3,000 Satisfaction points. You can also cheat to have twins or triplets, see below.
With the Spa Day Game Pack, Sims can get a Fertility Massage at the Spa or from a Sim who is practiced in the Wellness skill. You must own a massage table to get one at home, but this is reported to increase the rate of twins and triplets as well.
Being Pregnant in Sims 4
A pregnancy lasts approximately three Sim days, no matter which lifespan setting the player is using. The mother will have morning sickness and make trips to the bathroom to vomit. It's pretty gross, so beware before you zoom in for a close up! The toilet will need to be cleaned afterward. During her pregnancy, the mother will have backaches that may or may not be helped by a massage from her partner. I didn't notice my Sim getting any whims for a massage. The mother will be able to Share Big News and Invite to Feel Baby. Hover over her pregnancy moodlet to see how far the pregnancy has progressed: first, second, or third trimester. By the third trimester, the mother is HUGE! She's also quite uncomfortable and ready for the baby to come.
Preparing the Nursery
In Sims 4, the only baby item is the bassinet. You may purchase one prior to the birth, or one will be provided by Social Services when the baby is born if you don't own one. The bassinet doesn't take up much space and can easily be kept in the mother's bedroom if you don't want to bother with making a separate nursery. Consider building up a bedroom for your baby before it ages up to Toddler. You'll need a high chair, toddler bed, and potty chair.
Giving Birth
When the time arrives, the mother will go into labor. It will last about three hours and the mother can do anything she wants during this time. She can eat, have conversations, go to the bathroom, even sleep. She'll have a +40 Uncomfortable moodlet during this time, however, which is too large to really overcome by normal means. If you like, you can avoid long labor by simply clicking the option to deliver at hospital from the Bassinet. The father in my game would sometimes have pre-parental panic and run through the house. He had the Hates Children trait, so that was a possible cause, but other fathers may experience this as well. Nobody else in the house (teens and children) had any reaction.
CARING FOR THE BABY
Baby's Needs
The baby cannot be the active Sim and the player cannot see his/her needs. You have to judge the situation from visual and audio clues. but they have a hidden hunger, fun and hygiene need that must be met. The baby will sleep automatically when well cared for. You can develop the relationship by using the limited socials that are available, while also satisfying the baby's needs for entertainment and socialization. A green cloud means a dirty diaper and crying means the baby needs to be fed and/or you should played with the baby. My Sims were fairly attentive to the baby without being told, but this might not always be the case. All interactions are found by clicking on the bassinet and the baby never leaves that immediate area.
When feeding, the mother has the option to bottle feed or breast feed. Everyone else can only bottle feed. Males pregnant with an alien baby can breast feed, however. The other interactions besides changing the dirty diaper are: Bounce, Coo At, Make Silly Face, Rock, Talk, Shoosh, Show Off To, and Age Up. Children will be able to Coo At and Talk to the baby. To use the Show Off To interaction, make sure the bassinet is not up against a wall. The person looking at the baby will stand at the head of the bassinet.
Leaving the House and Neglecting the Baby
Sims can all leave the house when there's a baby, no problem. The baby automatically gets sent to Day Care while the parents and others are away at work, or just out exploring to collect items. If a baby is neglected for a period of time, the baby will be taken away to safety. The baby will simply disappear in a green flash of light. This didn't seem to negatively impact the mother's ability to have more babies later.
Aging Up to Toddler
A baby can be aged up to Toddler at any time after the birth by clicking on the bassinet. However, if you wish to wait until the normal aging time, you may wait it out by caring for them until this happens automatically. The only real benefit to letting the baby age on its own is to increase the relationship between the baby and other Sims in the house, while also giving you time to prepare to care for a toddler properly by giving them their own bedroom. All of the interactions your Sims can make with the baby will increase the relationship bar. When the time comes, the baby will age straight to a toddler who can roam the house and needs to learn skills. The duration of the baby life stage will vary depending on which lifespan you're playing. On the short lifespan, it's about 1 1/2 days to age up to toddler. On normal lifespan, it's about 3 days. My baby seemed to be bugged on the long lifespan because he was getting close to two weeks and still hadn't aged up. We'll update this later with more definitive information on babies on long lifespan.
Speed up Pregnancy Cheat
You cannot directly use a cheat to get pregnant, but you can cheat to get it over with faster. This works only when a Sim is pregnant, otherwise it makes them go through the labor without producing a baby. Type testingcheats on, followed by Sims.add_buff buff_pregnancy_inlabor. This works when males are pregnant with alien babies, as well.
Try for Baby Cheat (By Raising Romantic Relationship Levels)
If you want to cheat to make your Sim have a high romance standing with another in order to try for baby, type modifyrelationship yoursimfirst yoursimlast targetsimfirst targetsimlast 99 romance_main - for example, modifyrelationship alex wilkis christy mooney 99 romance_main will make them have a near-max romance bar, which is capable of trying for baby with or without building friendship first. Use a few romance socials successfully, then hit try for baby and you're good!
Reference : carls-sims-4-guide
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