Module 7: Newborn Complications
This module introduces realistic newborn health complications that are directly influenced by the actions pregnant Sims take during their pregnancy. Whether your newborn is born healthy or faces challenges depends entirely on how responsibly the pregnant Sim behaved throughout their pregnancy. This module works in conjunction with the pregnancy risk modules to create meaningful consequences for player choices.
⚠️ Requirements: At least ONE of Modules 1-6 must be installed for this module to function.
Low Birth Weight
A newborn will be considered to have low birth weight if their weight is below 5lb at birth. When this occurs, the newborn will be hungrier than a normal baby and will require more frequent feedings in order to get the baby to a healthy weight of 7.5lb.
Care & Treatment
Monitoring Weight Gain:
Parents can monitor the newborn’s weight gain regularly by taking them to get their weight checked at the pediatrician, which can be triggered via the ‘Baby Care’ menu.
Breastfeeding Considerations
Breastfeeding will provide extra nutritional benefits to increase the newborn’s weight, but requires extra responsibility from the lactating parent to ensure they continue to not eat or drink harmful substances that can possibly pass to the infant within their breastmilk.
The lactating parent may also experience latching issues during some breastfeeding sessions, which may result in the baby rejecting the breastfeeding and forcing the Sim to bottle feed instead.
Special Formula: If Pandasama’s Childbirth Mod is installed, special formula provides nutritional benefits to increase birth weight of newborn.
Long-Term Consequences
If the baby doesn’t reach the goal weight in time and/or ages up to infant age without low birth weight resolved, then the baby will receive the ‘Growth Stunted’ trait which will result in the baby receive life-long issues with gaining weight.
Parental Confrontation
When the child gets to a certain age, they can confront their birth parent about their pregnancy behavior, or the birth parent can conversely admit their mistake.
Colicky Baby
Babies born with colic will cry excessively and be difficult to soothe, creating a challenging experience for new parents. These babies will require extra attention and comfort, which unfortunately may have an adverse effect on new parents’ sleep.
Soothing Techniques: Parents can try the following tactics to help with the newborn:
- Soothing baby
- Burping after a feeding session
- Skin-to-skin contact
Simethicone Drops:
- Simethicone drops are an over-the-counter medication that helps relieve gas and discomfort in colicky babies.
- Parents can also order simethicone drops via the computer, then add it to the baby’s bottle and feed it to the baby, which will support significantly in reducing symptoms.
⚠️ Warning
Failure to treat the newborn’s colic can result in the baby being taken away due to neglect.
Acute Illnesses
When a newborn is born, the parent might receive an urgent notification that they will need to take their baby to the pediatrician for an emergency review.
If this occurs, parents will have 24 hours to take the newborn to the pediatrician. Otherwise, the newborn might get taken away or die (if SIDS option is enabled).
Possible Diagnoses
Once the initial review is completed, parents will either receive one of the following diagnoses OR be given the all-clear that the baby is healthy:
- Respiratory Distress
- Irregular Heartbeat
- Neonatal Sepsis
- Congenital Toxoplasmosis (only if triggered by Module 3)
Ongoing Care
Parents will be required to take the newborn for a checkup on a daily basis to improve the baby’s health until the illness is cured.
After every checkup, you will receive a notification that will provide an update as to the progress of the newborns health.
Important: Missed appointments will have a negative effect on the baby’s health, along with the lack of care that the baby receives.
Note: This feature expands across baby and infant ages in the game.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDs) - OPTIONAL
This feature can be triggered based on:
- Pregnant Sim’s actions during pregnancy – Poor pregnancy health management can result in a higher chance of SIDS risk after birth
- Parent’s inability to treat other newborn complications – Primarily acute illnesses and congenital toxoplasmosis
When It Occurs
Upon the baby’s or infant’s death, an urn will be created for which the parents can keep and mourn.
Note: This feature can be completely disabled in the action menu settings for players who prefer not to engage with this content. (see below)
If SIDS is DISABLED: The baby will be taken away by social services due to neglect if parents fail to properly care for and treat the newborn’s complications.
Developmental delay - OPTIONAL
⚠️ Requires Adeepindigo’s Divergent Sims Mod
This feature has been added as a separate package that can be deleted if this mod is not installed.
How It Works
Like the other features, this will be caused by a Sim’s actions during the course of their pregnancy.
If a baby is born with developmental delay, it will not be immediately evident at birth but will become apparent as they progress to infant and toddler stages.
Parental Confrontation
When the child gets to a certain age, they can confront their birth parent about their pregnancy behavior, or the birth parent can conversely admit their mistake.
Parental Interactions & Reactions
When a newborn is born with complications, new interactions become available between parents.
If the other parent witnessed risky behaviors during pregnancy or suspects that preventable choices led to the baby’s complications, they can confront the pregnant Sim.
Interactions are also available so parents can also support each other through the difficulty of caring for a compromised newborn
Module Specific Installation & Requirements
Base Game Compatible: YES
At least ONE module from Modules 1-6 (determines pregnancy risk factors)
Optional (Additional Features):
- EA Growing Together pack (for enhanced family dynamics and relationship systems)
- adeepindigo’s divergent sims (for developmental delay possibility)