The Sims 4 Guides

The Sims 4 Infant Care Guide

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TS4 infant care guide

Learn how to keep your new bundle of joy happy and healthy!

Infants are finally here and they’re the best free addition to The Sims 4 since the arrival of toddlers back in 2017. Of course, infants are not nearly as self-sufficient as toddlers and require more of your Sims’ undivided attention and care. Don’t worry, we’re going to walk you through every step in The Sims 4 infant care process! Learn how to satisfy their basic needs and maintain high attachment in our complete infant guide!

This guide covers base game infant care only. Stay tuned for our companion guide covering infant care with Growing Together content!

The Sims 4 Infant Care Guide

Welcoming an Infant

To care for an infant, you first need to add one to the household! There are a few different ways you can do this. You can create an infant alongside their family in CAS if you are creating a new household for the first time.

Sims 4 infant care

If you want to add an infant to an existing household, you can do this via pregnancy, adoption, or by having a science baby. Infants can be adopted directly through the phone or computer but if you have an infant via pregnancy or science baby, your new baby will start out as a newborn. Newborns are the bassinet babies we were already used to but they’ve had some improvement tweaks. Age your newborn up to get an infant!

Sims 4 Infant Care: Attachment

It might seem odd to discuss something abstract like infant attachment before covering basic needs but it’s important to understand how attachment works, first. How you tend to your infant’s basic needs will form their attachment level. Attachment determines whether your infant grows up to see the world as a good place or not.

Cuddling

Infants are trying to gauge whether this new world they’re a part of is a safe place. Infants who have their needs tended to immediately will feel safe and secure. They’ll learn that the world is good and that they can trust people to help when they need it. However, infants who are neglected will learn the world is not a safe place for them and that other Sims can’t be trusted.

As you can see, everything you do or don’t do with your infants affects their attachment. From feeding to bedtime to playtime and everything in between, your infant is constantly learning from you. Tend to their needs promptly and you’ll teach them to trust others when they grow up. Let them cry for long periods of time and you’ll teach them not to trust people when they get older.

Keep an Eye on Moodlets!

You’ll be able to gauge how your infant’s attachment is developing from their moodlets. If they frequently have positive moodlets from being well cared for, they are likely to grow up with good attachment. If you often see sad moodlets from them feeling neglected, you should pay more attention to your infant if you don’t want them to grow up with bad attachment.

Sims 4 infant care

Assuming you’ve been doing a good job at building attachment with your infant, they won’t get sad as quickly when a caregiver doesn’t immediately tend to their needs. They trust from past experiences that someone will come to help them.

Infants will age into toddlers with one of three reward traits:

  • Top Notch Infant: These infants were extremely well cared for. They have a very positive outlook on the world and trust other Sims very easily thanks to that early childhood bond with their caregivers.
  • Happy Infant: These infants formed a good attachment with their caregivers. They see the world as a good place and find it easier to trust other Sims.
  • Unhappy Infant: These infants were neglected and as a result of this neglect, they see the world as a cruel, unforgiving place. They don’t trust that other Sims have good intentions and are highly skeptical of others.

Sims 4 Infant Care: Basic Needs

Now that you understand how attachment works, you’re ready to start building it by caring for your infants’ needs! Infants have all the same basic needs that older Sims do but they need a grown up’s help to do just about everything.

Sleep

Soothing to sleep

As any parent in the real world knows, getting an infant to go to sleep isn’t as easy as just putting them in a crib and walking away. Even if your infant is exhausted, they may have trouble falling asleep without extra assistance. Your infant’s traits also play a part in this. Calm infants will fall asleep quickly but Wiggly infants will need to be coddled until they fall asleep.

When your infant is sleepy and needs a rest, put them in their crib. While the infant is in the crib, new options will appear on them. Your Sim can tell them a bedtime story and soothe them to sleep. If your infant isn’t falling asleep on their own, spend some time doing these interactions with them to help them drift off to dreamland. If you’ve upgraded your infant’s crib to have a mobile, you can make things easier on yourself by playing a lullaby on the mobile. The mobile’s music will lull any infant right to sleep.

Sims 4 infant care

Infants don’t just need sleep when they’re tired, though! They need regular naps throughout the day. You’ll know your infant needs a nap when they have a sad moodlet informing you that they’ve been awake for too long. Click on the infant and select Give a Nap to let your infant take a little snooze in their caregiver’s arms.

Feeding

Feeding

Of course, it’s important to feed your infant. That should go without saying. The quickest and easiest way to feed an infant is by bottle feeding or breastfeeding them. Click on your infant and set your feeding preference. The feeding preference applies to all Sims in the house; if you set the feeding preference to breastfeeding, all Sims who can produce milk will always choose to breastfeed the infant. Make sure any Sim you don’t want to breastfeed cannot produce milk in their CAS settings.

Sims 4 infant care

Breastfeeding or bottle feeding will quickly solve your infant’s hunger but you miss out on an opportunity for bonding and exploration with your infant. Your infant will have a more enriching feeding experience if you try new foods with them in a high chair. Click on a high chair to try new foods with your infant!

Baby food menu

You’ll see a menu displaying a number of mashed baby foods to choose from. The menu keeps track of which foods your infant has tried and whether or not they liked those foods. Needless to say, once you’ve tried all the foods with your infant, it’s best to stick to the foods they like. Trying new foods together is a great way for your infant to explore new tastes and textures while bonding with their caregiver.

Depending on your infant’s traits, they may be more or less receptive to new foods. Cautious infants might need to try a new food several times before they decide if they like it, for example.

Hygiene

Of course, infants are messy. They soil their diapers, they smear food all over their faces, they drool all over themselves. They’re kind of… well, gross. You can help make them less gross by changing their diapers and giving them baths often.

Sims 4 infant care

If you’re looking for changing tables for your infant, don’t bother. Changing tables are not part of the infant base game update. They are exclusive to the Growing Together expansion pack, which was an odd choice. You would think changing tables would be an essential infant care item worth putting in The Sims 4 base game, but oh well. That doesn’t mean you can’t change your infant’s diaper, however. Just click your infant and under Infant Care, you’ll see the option to change their diaper. No changing table required.

But diaper changes alone aren’t enough to keep your infants clean. They require regular baths. Thankfully, it’s not too different from bathing a toddler. The only real difference is that the infant sits in a little baby bath seat in the tub during baths. Caregivers can give infants regular baths or bubble baths just like toddlers. The animation is very cute and a good bonding opportunity between caregiver and infant.

Play

Additionally, infants need plenty of play time! Fun is also one of their motives that needs to be maintained. Infants can play with any of the toy box toys that toddlers and children can play with. They can also interact with the toddler blocks. Also, there are a few new infant sensory toys available in Build/Buy.

Playing with toys

Set an infant on the ground and let them crawl around and explore with their toys. You can give yourself peace of mind by using the new baby fence to contain them inside a play area. The fence is located with all the other fencing and works exactly like a regular fence but you can click on the gate to apply baby proofing to it. In fact, you can apply baby proofing to any fence gate now.

Beware! Baby proofing is infant-proof but not always toddler-proof! A determined toddler can try to break out of their play prison!

Love

Sometimes, infants will just be angry or sad for no reason. They’re infants. They don’t understand how emotions work, yet. It’s not uncommon for an infant to wake up from a nap feeling angry just because! In cases like this, all they really need is love.

Sims 4 infant care

Caregivers can bounce an infant, cuddle them, and comfort them at any time. These interactions are helpful for soothing an infant who is fussing for no good reason. If you’ve met all your infant’s basic needs but they are still screaming or crying, these interactions calm them faster. Infants who are comforted or cuddled during one of these random bouts of grumpiness build a strong attachment with their caregiver, so don’t ignore them when they’re pitching a fit for no reason!


Looking for more information about the March 14th, 2023 update? Check out all the additions and changes right here!

About the author

SnarkyWitch

A cranky old lady who prefers the company of cats and Sims over people. Occasionally peeks out from her lair long enough to chuck Sims articles at innocent bystanders.

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