The Sims 4 Infants: Everything You Need to Know

by Fernando Diaz / Game Guides, General Guides / 01 Feb 2021

The Sims 4 has further enhanced its gameplay dynamics by adding the infant stage between newborns and toddlers. Infants can’t gain skills like older Sims can, but they can interact and play with many of the toys that toddlers and children use. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about infants in The Sims 4.

Infant Needs and Care

Caring for infants in The Sims 4 can be quite challenging, as their needs often fluctuate more quickly than those of Sims in other life stages. Infants have several needs: hunger, bladder, energy, fun, and attention.

Bladder: You’ll need to change your infant’s diapers regularly. If you have the Laundry Day Stuff Pack, you can opt for cloth diapers. However, this will result in more laundry. If you ignore the diaper for too long, the infant will get a sad moodlet due to diaper rash.

Hunger: Infants can be fed via bottle or breastfeeding. As they grow, they can start trying solids using a high chair. They can love, like, or dislike different foods, which will affect their moodlets. Ensure to keep their hunger high to avoid having your infant taken away for neglect.

Energy: Infants need regular sleep. You can put them in a crib, soothe them, or read a bedtime story to help them sleep. There’s a travel crib available for when you’re on the go. Once your infant ages up to a toddler, you can convert their crib into a toddler bed if your Sim has a Level 2 Handiness skill.

Fun and Attention: Infants can interact with toys, other Sims, and even pets if you have the Cats and Dogs Expansion Pack. They can also make a mess by playing in household objects. These activities help increase their fun and attention needs.

Tips and Interactions

When caring for infants, it’s essential to know where they can and cannot go. They can crawl up small platforms but need an adult’s help to navigate stairs. You can also use fences to create a playpen for infants.

There’s a “check infant” interaction available for adult Sims that allows them to see the infant’s needs and automatically start assisting based on those needs. This interaction can make caring for your infants easier.

Infant Traits and Attachment

As you care for your infants, their attachment levels will grow. These levels determine the trait they will receive upon aging up to a toddler. The three possible traits are top-notch infant, happy infant, and unhappy infant. These traits are based on how well the infant was cared for and whether they formed a healthy attachment as a baby.

In addition to these reward traits, there are six different traits that infants can temporarily have throughout their infant life stage: calm, cautious, intense, sensitive, sunny, and wiggly. These traits slightly influence the infant’s behavior and how their needs evolve.

Calm Infants: These tranquil babies are less prone to tantrums and crying, making them easy to entertain. However, they’re often hesitant to explore, preferring to peacefully daydream in one spot. They’ll need help from your Sim to explore and learn new skills like crawling.

Cautious Infants: Cautious infants value familiarity and are hesitant about new experiences, foods, or Sims. They need plenty of reassurance and hand-holding to reach their milestones. However, they form profound attachments with their loved ones and are less likely to take risks.

Intense Infants: These babies are a rollercoaster of emotions. They’re easily entertained, but challenging to calm down when upset. If you’re up for a challenge, an intense infant will keep your Sim on their toes, requiring extra time to soothe tantrums and frustrations.

Sensitive Infants: Sensitive babies require a delicate balance of care. They’re prone to diaper rashes and picky eating habits. However, once comforted, they’re quick to relax. Your Sim will need to provide just the right amount of attention to keep them content.

Sunny Infants: Always beaming with joy, sunny babies crave social interaction and playtime. They’re eager to learn to talk and make friends but require plenty of social stimulation to maintain their sunny demeanor. They’re perfect for big families where there’s always someone to interact with.

Wiggly Infants: Full of energy and playfulness, wiggly babies are always on the move. They’re excited to explore and likely to be the first to crawl. However, they’re easily distracted and may struggle to focus or fall asleep. You’ll need to baby-proof your Sim’s home to keep these adventurous infants safe.

Infant Milestones

The Growing Together Expansion Pack introduces a new mechanic to The Sims 4: milestones. These are unique achievements that Sims can work towards at all age stages, including the infant stage. The infant milestones focus on developing fine and gross motor skills, social interactions, and first experiences, such as the first bath.

Fine Motor Milestones

Fine Motor skills focus on the infant’s ability to control their hands and fingers. As your infant grows and explores their environment, they will unlock Fine Motor milestones in the following order:

Learned to Reach

Learned to Grab

Put Toe In Mouth

Learned To Wave

Learned To Clap

Learned Pincher Grasp

These milestones can be achieved by allowing the infant to play with toys or other objects. Initially, adult Sims must hand the toys to the infant, but eventually, the infant will be able to grab toys on their own.

Gross Motor Milestones

Gross Motor milestones revolve around larger movements. The order of milestones in this category is as follows:

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

To facilitate the unlocking of these milestones, adult Sims need to start “Tummy Time” activities with the infant. During these engagements, adults can guide the infant to “Practice Standing” and “Practice Crawling”. Eventually, infants will be able to initiate “Tummy Time” on their own.

Social Milestones

Infants unlock their Social milestones through interacting with and observing other Sims. The milestones in this category include:

First Smiled

Learned to Coo

Learned to Laugh

Learned to Babble

Learned to Blow Kiss

Learned Peek-A-Boo

Encourage your older Sims to interact with the infant frequently. This not only speeds up the milestone achievement process but also helps develop the infant into a more socially adept toddler.

Firsts Milestones

Unlike the other categories, the milestones in the Firsts category do not follow a chronological order. These milestones include:

First Bath

First Bubblebath

First Diaper Blowout

First Visitors

First Baby Food

First Finger Food

Peed on Caregiver

Slept Through The Night

Unlocking these milestones requires fulfilling the infant’s basic needs, identifying and acting on opportunities (like letting the infant sleep through the night), and attaining milestones from other categories. For instance, to achieve the First Finger Food milestone, the infant needs to have the Learned Pincher Grasp milestone.

Completing infant milestones improves the infant’s skills for the toddler stage and bestows special traits upon them. For example, if an infant achieves all their milestones, they unlock the Top-Notch Infant trait, which makes them more positive in their subsequent life stages.

Fernando Diaz

Fernando is doing what he always did, sharing his honest opinions about games whenever he can. The difference is now he is writing and not talking about it.
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