The Sims 4 makes family planning easier with Science Babies

The Sims 4 is getting new content that will add detail to a Sims’ earliest life stages. The Sims 4: Growing Together is a hotly anticipated expansion that focuses on the baby and infant part of a Sim’s lifespan. Up until now, babies have been bundles that move from a parent’s arms to their bassinet. A free, new patch available to all players — in addition to the new Growing Together expansion — will flesh out the baby and infant phases of a Sim’s life, giving parents a little more choice as to how they raise their child. And one new addition from this free patch is a Science Baby, which opens up parenthood to many more Sims.

Electronic Arts revealed the Science Baby feature during a Growing Together preview, during which Polygon learned more about the expansion’s new milestone systems and the ways in which Sim babies behave. During the preview, Polygon also learned about an exciting feature in The Sims 4’s new update: If your Sim isn’t in a romantic relationship, you can still have a baby with the power of science. Science Babies are created at the hospital with the genetic material of your Sim and another host.

Again, a romantic relationship is not necessary in order to create a Science Baby; you simply need to be friends with the other host and ask them to contribute. Before this update, Sims would need to become pregnant via WooHoo and/or adjusting their Sim’s gender options to be able to impregnate or be impregnated by other Sims; Sims can also adopt through an agency. Science Babies are another option for those who want to customize their family or build bonds with a friend.

Infants arrive in The Sims 4 on March 14 in a free update available to all players — including Science Babies. Growing Together is set to be released on March 16, and it includes lifetime milestones, more complex Sim relationships, and lots of new items. The expansion aims to expand lifetime milestones for more than just children, as well as adding new complexity to relationship dynamics.

Correction (March 8): A previous version of this article stated that Science Babies would be a Growing Together-specific feature. Science Babies will be part of the March 14 free update. This article has been updated to reflect that information.