Though they’re no longer confined to their crib prisons since their base game overhaul, you may still want to age up an infant in The Sims 4 if you’re ready for their next life stage. Whether you want to give them a glorious birthday party or just want to get the job done with cheats so they’ll stop digging in your dresser and leaving trash everywhere, there are a few ways to age them up into… toddlers who are pretty much just as messy.

Thankfully, with a little help from their parents or other older Sims, infants are just one candle-topped cake (or cheat) away from their birthday. Here’s everything you’ll need to know about aging up infants in The Sims 4, including how to do it manually, how to let it happen naturally, and how to cheat your way to the next stage of Sim life.

How to age up an infant in The Sims 4

Just like with other Sims, the best way to age up an infant is with a good old birthday cake, even if it isn’t actually their birthday yet. You can bake a cake by using an oven and then clicking on a cake to add birthday candles for 10 Simoleons. However, since infants are so tiny and adorable, they can’t blow out candles on their own! Instead, you’ll need one of your older Sims to interact with the cake, click “Help Blow Out Candles…” and then select your infant Sim. Or, while playing as your infant, you can click on the cake and click “Candles Help…” to select a grown Sim of your choice.

If you have “Auto Age” turned on in your gameplay options menu, you can also just sit back and wait for your infant Sims to age up on their own, which happens after their birthday ends. They’ll be understandably devastated about their birthday being forgotten if you skip the cake though. But, if you’re trying to really save your Simoleons or be the worst parent possible, well, it’s an option. You can check the in-game calendar to find out when a Sim’s birthday is, but depending on the lifespan length you’ve selected in the gameplay options menu, here’s how long it’ll take your infant Sim to age up:

• Short: 4 days
• Normal: 6 days
• Long: 21 days

When you age your Sim up, you’ll have to pick a new toddler trait to replace their infant trait. Depending on the way they were raised, they might also end up with a reward trait that affects their outlook on life. I’m a big fan of aiming for the “Top Notch Infant” trait, which makes the terrible toddler years a bit less problematic to deal with, but other levels of parental attentiveness might end you up with just”Happy Infant” or even the dreaded “Unhappy Infant.”

Alternatively, you can age up your infant Sim through cheats, although it’s arguably less fun and adorable. You can do this via Create-A-Sim, but you’ll need to use a few Sims 4 cheats. First, open the cheats console and type “testingcheats true” and then “cas.fulleditmode.” From there, open up Create-A-Sim and head to the plumbob identity menu in the top left corner to edit your Sim’s age and pick their toddler traits.