Revision as of 18:10, 10 July 2009

A pregnant Sim

Pregnancy

So your Sim has got a bun in the oven- she's got back pains and that good feeling that comes with being preggers. Unfortunately, some Sim mothers are less than brilliant during the time that they are expecting. This guide should help you to 'assist' your Sims during the four days of pregnancy that is inevitable for people who Try For Babies.

Getting Pregnant

In order to get a sim pregnant, you will need one female sim (young adult or adult) and one male sim (young adult, adult, or elder). Same-sex pregnancy, male pregnancy, and teen pregnancy are not part of the game without hacks. Alien pregnancy is also not part of TS3.

Your sims will need to have a high existing relationship to each other to start with, and you'll need to get your sims in the mood. Unlike in Sims 2, you can't just put two sims with a high relationship on a bed and have them go at it - you've got to get them ready first. Start with lower level romantic interactions - flirts, cuddles, and kisses. You'll know they're ready when the socialization box at the top left of the screen says "(Name) finds (name) extremely irresistable!"

At that point, you can have both sims relax on the same double bed (if they weren't already) and, with one sim selected, click on the other and choose "Try for Baby." Alternately, you can choose it with them both still standing and they'll go and relax on the bed and have at it.

You must choose "Try for Baby" for there to be any chance of getting pregnant in the base game. There is no chance of getting pregnant from woohoo alone without hacks!

Listen carefully as the sims finish up under the covers. If the encounter has resulted in a pregnancy, you will hear a soft tinkling lullabye melody. If you don't hear the melody, you can try again.

During Pregnancy

After your sim is pregnant, you'll notice a number of changes...

Length/Duration

• Pregnancy Duration: 3 days (72 hours)
• Pregnancy needs (quicker bladder decay, fatigue, etc.): 8 hours
• "Nauseous" moodlet: Starts after 8 hours, but may continue later
• "Pregnant" moodlet: 24 hours
• Look fully pregnant: 36 hours
• Waddling animation: 40 hours
• Contractions begin: 70 hours

Days Off

The pregnant mother will get 4 days off from work. Her spouse gets 2 days off after the baby is born.

Moodlets

After 8 hours, all pregnant sims will experience the "Nauseous" moodlet which will say it's from "Unknown Causes." This can cause your sim to vomit and may interrupt other actions so your sim can dash to the toilet to be sick. This can continue throughout the pregnancy but all sims will get it at 8 hours.

After 24 hours, the sim will get a "Pregnant" moodlet with a +20 mood bonus for the duration of the pregnancy.

Pregnant sims can get a "Backache" moodlet which gives -20 mood and lasts for 4 hours, or until the sim gets a massage. You can get a massage at the Day Spa, or have another sim give the massage. The spa gives a long-lasting positive moodlet, so may be a better choice.

When going into labor, your sim will get the "Baby Is Coming! " moodlet. It has no mood effect, but lasts until the sim gives birth.

Social Interactions

Once a sim knows she's pregnant, she has a variety of new social interactions. These include the ability to announce her pregnancy as well as ask other sims to rub her belly. Other sims can also talk to her belly or congratulate her on the pregnancy.

Pregnancy Books

Your sim may get a want to read pregnancy books, or to have the baby's father read pregnancy books. This can boost her mood and improve your chances of getting good traits for the baby (or even getting to choose yourself).

• For a list of the pregnancy books and more on books in general, see: Game Help:Books

Birth

Your sim is in labor - what to do?!

Home Birth & Hospital Birth

After contractions begin, you can choose to send your pregnant sim to give birth at the hospital, or she can stay home. Hospital birth is suggested if your sim's needs are already low, since needs are better regulated in the hospital. You also won't have to worry about the father's needs too, if he goes with her.

Multiple Births

Sims in The Sims 3 can have single births, twins, or triplets.

Buying the fertility treatment lifetime happiness reward goes a long way toward encouraging multiple births (and the chance is greater if both parents have the fertility treatment instead of just one).

You can also influence the chance of twins or triplets by listening to the kids' station on the radio and/or watching the kids' channel on TV. There is no special boost to doing them both at the same time, but if you watch/listen a lot (maximum of 2.5 hours total), then you can increase your chance of twins and triplets up to 50% for twins and up to 10% for triplets (from the default of 5% and 1%).

Baby Gender

Gender of babies is normally 50%/50%, purely random. You cannot outright choose the gender of babies born to your sims. However, you can influence it by having your sims eat certain foods.

Eating apples increases the chance of boys. Eating watermelon increases the chance of girls. This works not just for pure ingredients but also for items that include apple or watermelon ingredients (such as apple pancakes).

The chance of a particular gender is increased by 5% for each watermelon/apple item eaten, to a maximum of 15%. Thus, the maximum chance of having a particular gender is 65% if you eat 3 of a particular item.

Sims high in the medical profession can predict the gender of a baby - however, they can be incorrect as baby gender is not determined until birth.

Traits

Every sim baby is born with two traits. If your sim has had a good mood through the pregnancy, you will get better traits than if she was in a bad mood - and if she was in a great mood, you will get to choose the traits. Reading pregnancy books (or having the father read them) boosts your sim's mood during the pregnancy, and are a good way of ensuring good traits/getting to pick.

After Birth Moodlets

Depending on what baby or babies your sim gives birth to, the female sim (and the father) can get one of the following moodlets:

• It's a Girl!
• It's a Boy!
• It's Twins!
• It's Triplets!

All after-birth moodlets are worth a +80 mood boost and last 24 hours.