I have no idea how some of you do it. Babies and toddlers in TS2 are living nightmares. They're the absolute cutest, but when it comes to caring for them: I can't.

My sim family consists of 10 people and a dog. 2 of these sims have come to my attention as pregnant. Great. I usually age them up from babies to toddlers, keep them as toddlers for a day and then turn them into children. However, I really want to give them the time of teaching them to walk, talk, go potty, etc. I currently have a big house for this family, but I'm building a much more larger one. I really want to take care of youngsters, but they just drain the needs of all my sims! I never have time for them and they always grow up badly because their own dropping needs are ruining their learning time (for walking and the like).

What are your tips on raising babies and toddlers in large households? How can I make it easier for myself?

It helps to have pet beds out instead of cribs so the toddlers can put themselves to bed instead of an adult having to come and put them in a crib, then take them out etc

And the aspiration reward milk helps a LOT when teaching your kids to walk/talk/potty etc.

I try to think of particular things I do to make taking care of them easier... but I honestly don't even know what it is I do! I think once you've become more experienced with dealing with them, it automatically gets easier. But since you usually age them up immediately, you don't really get that experience. So starting off with such a big family to get experienced with it may not be the best or easiest way either!

Assign one Sim to be the one that has to get out of bed in the middle of the night, so the other Sims in your household can maintain their regular sleeping cycle. Once their sleeping cycle is all over the place it immediately gets more difficult to keep their needs up, so if that's only one Sim it's definitely a lot easier to juggle.
Toddlers needs get fulfilled quickly but they also drain quickly. The first thing you worry about is their bladder, make sure you're always on time to bring them to the potty because otherwise you can't pottytrain them. After that, feed it and bring it to bed. The cribs give the toddlers an energy boost quickly so it shouldn't take long before the energy level is somewhat up. Now don't wait until the other needs are drained again to wake the toddler up - do it halfway! There's no need for it to be up completely. Then the toddler should be in a good enough mood to teach it skills.

Yes, you can.

First, slooooooow dooooooown. The pause button is your friend.
Second, forget all other goals; focus on the pregnant ladies/babies/toddlers. No promotions, no dates, nothing, not with this.
Third, Use everybody. Rotate through the adults and teens constantly. Start addressing needs at the halfway mark. Do group things when possible - group meals, games, watching TV together. When you've decided that A is going to address a toddler/baby need, pause and go round to everybody else to ensure that nobody else is trying to mob the kid at the same time.
Fourth. Leftovers. Lots and lots of leftovers.
Fifth. This is not the household to focus on toddler skills. Pottytraining and keeping them fed is good enough. Scatter skilling toys around; between that and the dog, they'll keep themselves entertained and probably in pretty good aspiration. Pottytraining is a lock if you pottytrain after every meal - they will age up with good aspirations if you just stay on top of that. Get some single guy alien pregnant - he can teach all the toddler skills.
Sixth. Changing table for baby. Saves so much time! Remember it's broken and you'll have to direct people to use it.
Seventh. In extremis, the kid can use the dog's bowl and bed. Don't sweat the small stuff.
Eighth. Inventory. Put unnecessary bottles into inventory. If the toddler is hungry when everyone else on the lot is throwing motive fits, pull out the bottle and set it next to the toddler. He'll feed himself.
Ninth. Relax. I bet you're treating it as a chore with goals YOU MUST MEET! Screw that. It's a game. Have fun. Some disasters - really funny!
Tenth: Don't try to do it all at once. Give yourself a break and play the single guy next door in the middle. Maybe he can date the maiden aunt and get her to platinum so she'll be better able to cope when you get back.

If you play with cc there is a handy mod on the sites of a baby mat and baby blanket with allows toddlers to put themselves to sleep, they just crawl over when tired. There is also a mini fridge hack that only produces bottles. Super handy to put in nurseries so Sims don't spend so much time walking to and from fridge to feed them.

First of all, you want the "Toddlers Sleep Through the Night" mod on this page here: http://www.simlogical.com/sl/Sims2P...2_Childcare.htm It also works for babies. The cribs are ridiculously energizing, which is why, unmodded, you have toddlers waking up in the middle of the night, which is just ridiculous and unrealistic.

Once you have that mod in place, you want to put toddlers, especially, on a schedule, just like you want to do with real toddlers. It works best if you don't use nannies and, instead, have a playable caretaker available at all times. (It doesn't always have to be the same one, depending on your family's composition.) Me, my toddlers free will all the time. I am not overly concerned with teaching them skills, although they all get potty-trained incidentally. I also do not use Smart Milk, as aspiration rewards are not allowed in my game at all. So, this is the schedule I use:

1) With the mod in place, a toddler who's tired enough to sleep and who is put to bed after 8PM will sleep all the way through to 6AM, just like adults. So, when they wake up, I have the caretaker address any motive needs -- plop them on the potty, feed them if they're hungry, whatever. Do it all in one go so that everything's taken care of at once and all the motives will degrade together instead of always having to address something at various times of the day. It's also a good time to fill those wants that toddlers roll to be played with and snuggled and stuff like that, to get their aspiration score up. After the toddler is taken care of, I have the caretaker address his/her own needs while the toddler does whatever he/she wants. Once the caretaker is taken care of of, you could also use the time to teach toddler skills, if you're inclined to do so.

2) Toddlers will need to nap anywhere between 11AM and 2PM, depending on whether or not they've earned and you've used various lifetime benefit points (If you have Freetime). At that time, I have the caretaker plop them on the potty and then put them to bed. They will sleep until mid/late afternoon, depending on when you put them to bed. This is a good time to work on your caretaker's motives, if needed. If the caretaker happens to be pregnant, it's a good time for them to nap, too (in a good, energizing bed; couch naps are useless for preggos), to re-energize.

3) When the ankle-biter wakes up, repeat the morning routine, addressing any motive issues. If they have no issues, mine free will and go play with their toys, but, again, you could teach skills if you wanted.

4) They'll be tired enough to put to bed around 9PM or so. I usually bathe them, if needed, in the evenings just before bed, then plop them on the potty, then put them to bed.

Repeat for the next four days. It's really very easy, once you've got them on a schedule. When I'm playing my age-modded hood, where toddlerhood lasts 12 days and it's not unusual to have 4 toddlers at a time, it works well even with just one (frazzled) caretaker. If I've got more than 2 toddlers, though, I'll generally have two caretakers, just so they have time to pee and shove leftovers down their throat.

I love babies and toddlers. I use a double aging mod so toddlerhood lasts 8 days. As much as I love toddlers, even having done the toddler mani challenge numerous times in normal play I make things easy on myself. I don't use a sleep mod as my toddlers simply get themselves up and play.

1. Get yourself a few toddler downloads to make playing them a lot more fun. In a vanilla game toddlers have only cribs to sleep in, which given toddlers short sleep habits is a very bad situation for relaxed play. So download either a sleep mat or a toddler bed. (or a sleep mod like some others here do) I DO NOT recommend you use a pet bed. Reason being pet beds do not give enough energy and you will find you have to wake the toddler up to go potty or to eat and they will be constantly asleep or tired. The next thing you can use although i don't always is either a never ending sippy cup or bottle. I love the sippy cups on Moonlight Dragon. originally they were uploaded here but due to the recolours not working properly the creator took them down. TheRaven fixed them and they are available on her site. I would not say these are necessary, so long as your toddlers can get themselves to and from bed will do.

2. When you are expecting a baby get the parents to take a date or two so that they are good and platinum with plenty of aspiration points. As soon as your baby becomes a toddler check to see if the parents have any training wants. Buy a container of smart milk and a thinking cap.

3. Get onto potty training right away. The child has a bottle of smart milk and the parent wears the thinking cap. The parent puts the toddler on the potty and pats his/her head. At that point cancel the parents to potty train line up and the parent will be free to do something else, like grab a second toddler to potty train on a second potty. This is very handy with twins on a similar time schedule. You do not cancel the toddlers to be potty trained action or they will get off the potty, only the adults action. The toddler will sit and use the potty by themselves so long as the parent patted his head. Other skills can be taught as you like, although I do tend to teach all skills quickly over 1 or 2 days. Using the smart milk with the thinking cap increases the speed the skill is taught. Two or three goes and the toddler should be trained.

3. Make sure the toddler has plenty of things to do and the parent has everything close at hand. You don't want to have to take the child downstairs just to feed them. Either bring the toddler and everything downstairs or put a second fridge upstairs.


4. Give a bowl of pet food in a pinch. Eating pet food decreases a toddlers hygiene so again not something I would recommend. Giving your toddler a bath raises social and hygiene though so it's a good thing to do if your toddlers social is a bit low.

5. use the toddler table for two or more toddlers to raise their social bar. Do remember toddlers can be slow to leave the table so give them longer. if you instruct a parent to do something with a toddler who is currently at the table and leave to check other sims it may drop out of the parents queue due to how long it takes the toddler to move away from the table.

6. If you use a combo of sleep mat, sippy cup and the toddler is potty trained, they pretty much look after themselves apart from a bath and a cuddle.

I'd say maybe reconsider the large house. While large house means more room for Sims, it also means more travelling distance. And the Sims is not like the real world, you actually have to consider it. More space to walk, more space for Sims to get distracted, and more space for SIms to get lost.

Find your middle ground, where there is enough room that they don't block each others way all the time but they aren't completely scattered either.

It's hard to break down your process and explain it to someone, because you tune into your own style with time and things are automatic. It won't kill a baby to have a dirty diaper for a bit, so if mum/dad/whomever has to finish eating her food or use the bathroom then let it wait.

Another tip, which I use when I can't be bothered doing the guessing game, is to make the baby selectable so that you can actually see the needs. Maybe not as realistic, but then again, the game is about having fun so if that makes it more fun, go for it. Just enter boolprop testingcheatsenabled true, then shift click the baby and pick make selectable. Now, the baby is going to vanish from the sim panel. Don't panic! That's normal. Repeat the procedure, shift click baby and pick make selectable. It'll reappear, and this time you can actually click the baby and see the needs panel. Turn boolprop off, if you don't want it on, and have fun

Whenever I play the game, I pause quite frequently. The larger the household, the more frequent pauses are. This is so I can keep track of all my Sims, instead of focusing on one Sim and then realizing the rest skipped work because they were wetting their pants and complaining to me about how uncomfortable they were.

Call me a cheater, but when it comes to babies and toddlers I use cheats frequently. Not "maxMotives" (since it makes it a tad bit too easy), but I have "testingcheatsenabled" in my userstartup.cheat file, so I can simply drag the motives of the parents up. I never bother with nannies since they are completely useless. For babies, the mother should've received some days off from work to care for the newborn. Later, I need a mod like the Sim Manipulator to give them more vacation days, so they can skip work, not get in trouble, and still get paid so they can buy food. Much of a baby's life is spent closely monitoring it, to make sure it's in good health and in a good mood. If anyone in the household has learned the Parenting skill from FreeTime, that's great - otherwise I use the "Motive Report" feature on the Batbox to check a baby's motives.

Once they grow up into the toddler stage, this is where I need to invest more of my mind energy into caring for the young ones. For the first time in their lives they can make autonomous decisions, and for the first time I can control them myself without the use of cheats. If the toddler isn't being fed, sleeping, or being potty trained, they're learning how to walk and talk. I value this very greatly in all my toddler's lives (except for storytelling purposes), so toddlers knowing how to walk, talk, and use the potty is valuable for me, for them, and for their aspiration meters. Spare time is spent playing, most often with other household members. This is an opportunity for them to build a strong relationship with their own household members. Since their motives often drop very quickly and soon they're crying and crying until mother passes out, I can drag their motives back up with testingcheatsenabled. And, since toddlers perform a lot of rather annoying autonomous actions, constantly pausing the game to get a "status update" and to cancel their desire to play with the xylophone when they only have six hours left to becoming a child and still haven't learned how to walk yet is invaluable!

I know, it's a bit of a headache even with cheats, but I feel very satisfied when they grow up into a child and can finally take care of themselves to a degree (even if I cheated like a n00b). Because who said it was easy to raise a child?

I've never found them difficult to take care of. I used to love having triplets and quadruplets toddling around, when I played legacy-style.

Nowadays I use some cheating, because I don't play much legacy-style any more. Without cheats, you can get by with a bottomless bottle in the room. If the toddlers are annoying, sit them down with one of the skill toys (the basegame ones). They gain skills plus they don't run around causing havoc. For social, have a child or teen play with them (they'll talk together). If you don't plan on potty-train them, wait until they've wet their diaper before taking a bath. Less flying around that way. The aspiration rewards are neat, too (bottles for toddlers, and the hat thingy for adults/teens). Just make sure they've got platinum levels. You can use pet pillows for beds if there are lots of toddlers. If you have FT, you can stick toddlers and kids to the play table (building blocks), and they'll gain skills along with social. The nursery rhyme is also nice for social, and also gives kids something to do.

Stick all toddlers and babies in one room, and make sure it's on the same level as the kitchen and the bathroom, so you don't get sims running around with babies all the time, and so that toddlers don't start wailing at the top of the stairs. If you have AL, use the baby toys, They keep the baby happy, and let them sleep. Have one session with playing/talking to wach baby just after they're born, and again if they needs start going yellow and it's not something else. That'l keep them in the greens for a while.

With a few hacks I don't find toddlers/babies troublesome at all. I don't like 'cheating' with motives. I suppose hacks can be seen as cheating, but to me they're logic that Maxis should have had.

I use Rebecah's mod that lets toddlers and puppies/kittens climb stairs, to stop the whinging at the top crap. Because since when can toddlers not crawl up stairs? I use Atavera's toddler blanket to let toddlers put themselves to sleep when they're tired (I've never found the baby one useful as you still have to put the baby on it and you might as well just put them in the crib). It also lets them get up and start doing things while the parents sleep; no screaming in the crib. Pescado's nobabyharrassment stops sims from doing stupid stuff like trying to constantly feed the baby when it's tired.

The Danglemonster is useful for babies because it gives them something to do and they can sleep in it, so you can leave them in it all day. Sims will use the changing table autonomously if the toddler asks them for a diaper change and I've found that toddlers will, because they don't like being dirty. In fact, ironically toddlers keep clean better when they miss potty trainings, because the changing table puts them back to full hygiene and they never need a bath. Pet food is useful when you missed feeding them, but I find that feeding is the one thing sims don't forget to do anyway. I have had some hungry dogs and cats, because the toddler has eaten all their food. XD

I use rebecah's toddler bed that lets them get in and out by themselves and makes them sleep in until 6am: http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=312770 (Atavera's toddler mat kept getting stuck in use in my game for some odd reason, so I switched to the toddler bed). I do use maxmotives if I want the parent to teach the toddler to walk/talk, and always keep an eye on the bladder to potty train the toddler. I also use several mods TwoJeffs No Baby/Toddler Swarming to stop all Sims from trying to feed the baby at exactly the same time, play with toilets fix so toddlers only play in the toilet if they are in aspiration failure (mine are never in failure so they never play in the toilet), and potty fixes (all mods are here: http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=10.0 ). I also use the No Follow version of BoilingOils Less Toddler annoyance: http://www.leefish.nl/mybb/thread-3335.html

I always try to put the baby's room as close as possible to the kitchen so parents don't have to walk a long way to and from to feed the baby, or get a bottle for the toddler. I also try to not have more than 6 Sims in a house (I personally don't like playing large families, I know others do.)

The mat gets stuck sometimes for me too, so the toddler whines about not being able to get on it even though it hasn't moved since the last time they used it. Also, adults will not step over a sleeping toddler. But I like the stuff the mat does too much to get rid of it.

I am stealing that potty fixes one. Take that, maids who ignore full potties!

If it really gets out of hand, just use the maxmotives cheat Get a nanny and leave her to take care of the babies while she is there - even if it is just for one or two shifts (she will stay for 8 hours and I normally get one when I want the parents to get some sleep). If the baby's avatar is in green, he is fine - leave him be. Make sure your toddlers have enough toys and let the children and the family play peek-a-boo with them Keeps everyone happy.

Hmm - I don't find babies or toddlers particularly difficult. One thing I do think helps is - is it a Pescado mod? - the one that stops all and sundry on lot running to the baby all the time: to feed it, play with it or put it to sleep. Without everyone constantly harassing the baby, it's easy to concentrate on what needs to be done. I have to work at it to not develop toddler skills if I want to grow a hooligan.

Oh that's it, now I've reminded myself. The mod is nobabyharassment.

I don't use anti-mobbing hacks, because they also prevent visitors from interacting with the baby, and I love it when they do. That's character stuff! Visitors are particularly good for toddlers. Not only Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Romance and Uncle Pleasure; but that guy you brought home from work can be influenced to fix the exploding sink and the toddler can ask for attention and make his very first friend.

Hacks I do use are breastfeeding, the one that lets toddlers get out of cribs on their own, and the one that fixes the tendency to switch twins between cribs.

As you see, O Empress, there are nine and sixty ways of getting through the baby days, and every single one of them is right! I can't keep schedules for my grown sims, much less my toddlers, but my toddlers are happy, and so are Icad's, and it's all good. It's like anything else - you're not good at it because you haven't been doing it. The more you do it, the more you experiment, the better you understand what does and doesn't work for you, the easier and more fun it'll get.

Just do it.

Shift + Ctrl + C, type in boolprop testingcheatsenabled true, hit enter. Shift + click on the mailbox, click on Household...Make All Happy.

Or, if you don't want to be a pussy like me and cheat, follow what everyone else has to say. :P

I don't find babies that difficult - I often just leave them to sleep/cry about pooping. Toddlers can be a nightmare sometimes though. One or two doesn't bother me, but Ginger Newson had quads and I refused to use any form of cheats, so her and Waylon Melon had their work cut out - he almost died of sickness on one of the days. I swear I was so stressed beyond belief. But I focused on the simple things, such as making sure the kids were fed and could walk/talk (I really couldn't be bothered with potty training). As long as they have some toys to play with, and a doggy bed to sleep on (though that really messes with their hygiene) they're fine.

I think part of the problem is your large house. I find that I can comfortably play 4, maybe 5, Sims at a time. I *can* play larger houses, but I find it a bit overwhelming (and less fun) to try and keep track of everyone's wants, needs, hobbies, relationships, etc. It's just more work monitoring that many Sims and maybe not the best house to learn how to take care of babies and toddlers on.

Babies are really easy most of the time. When their icon turns yellow because their diaper needs to be changed, I have an older Sim go in and change the baby's diaper, then they go give the baby a bottle, and then they cuddle the baby twice before putting it back in bed (cudding is sometimes skipped if another baby or toddler needs attending to, the older Sim has a low need, the Sim needs to go to work, etc.). Playful Sims will often start crying randomly on the third day, and so I have a Sim go in and play with the baby twice. I normally skip the playing - unless a Sim has a want to play with baby - because babies have a tendency to spit up and then the Sim needs to go take a shower, lol. The rest of the time I leave the baby in the crib.

Toddlers are a bit more work but are still manageable and fun. I don't like "cheating" hacks, but I do have some of the basic, realistic mods people mentioned (like the ones where toddlers can crawl out of their cribs, toddlers can use a potty that hasn't been emptied, maids will empty the potty, children can get toddlers a bottle, etc.). One of the tricks I use to keep toddlers happy is that when a toddler wakes up, the mom or dad will fill a bunch of the toddler's wants. Usually they wake up wanting to be snuggled, played with, talked to, tickled, etc. If the mom or dad does two or three of those things (that the toddler is specifically wanting) it really brings up the toddler's aspiration level. (If the toddler wants to played with AND tickled, I have the Sim toss the toddler in the air before tickling him, so I can fulfill both wants separately.) Also, after the toddler gets up - assuming there is an older Sim in gold or platinum aspiration - I'll feed the toddler smart milk. Then, if the toddler needs to learn to walk, talk or use the potty, I'll have another Sim teach the toddler while he's glowing. The rest of the time, I have toddler's play with the bunny because it's fun and because it builds charisma points (logic and creativity are fun to build anytime but charisma is mostly a boring skill to learn for older Sims). My goal is usually to have toddlers gain 8 charisma points before they age up to children, so if they go to college they can earn a charisma scholarship.

Admittedly I cheat a lot when I have multiple toddlers and a single parent. But if I have a couple, I pretty much do as everybody else suggested but without the mods. And of course, as I have said many times before, if you have OFB you can always use snapdragons in the kids' oom which will keep their motives in the green except for their energy. With infants, this allows them to be left in the crib all day and the parents can baasically forget they are there. With toddlers, it allows them to be taught to walk and talk and, if you have the proper expansion, the Nursery Rhyme while their motives are kept up by the snapdragons. Then when they are tired just put them in their cribs.

The only downside to that is their bladder need doesn't go down so potty training is impossible. In this case, just move them out of the room for a while, or remove the snapdragons for awhile until their bladder motive goes down enough to potty train them.

What is it that you're finding hard? I don't find it difficult and I'm always a bit baffled when people say they do. I mean what are you doing?! :/ I don't use snapdragons or maxmotives, either.

Babies - feed every few hours (or let them autonomously feed/breastfeed), change nappy when they emit stink waves. Leave them in the crib, danglemaster or bouncinator most of the rest of the time. Parents often roll wants to cuddle or play, so do this when they roll wants or just have nothing else to do/when parents need fun - because it's cute!

Toddlers - even easier, because you can see their motives. I don't worry about teaching them the skills particularly but usually it's fairly easy to make sure that happens, especially when there is only one baby/toddler on a lot. I like to motivate myself to teach them skills, so I have the hack which allows them to climb stairs once they've learned to walk, and I don't allow myself to look at their wants or needs panel until they've learned to talk. But even without this, they now have thought bubbles which tells you what they want (although has anyone else noticed that the energy desperation thought bubble shows a red bottle?) So feed regularly/when hungry (I don't usually use the highchair, just bottles, highchair is a pita), put to bed when whiny/tired, change nappy when they stink. They usually don't need baths but after being potty trained sometimes they do. If they need social then they get cuddles or playing or teaching something. But TBH they don't tend to run low on social because again, like with babies, the parents/teen siblings often roll wants to interact with them, and I think toddlers and babies are so cute that I'm always getting my sims to interact with them too. I always have toddler friendly toys lying around, so they rarely get bored.

If you are short on sim time, because of work/illness/pregnancy/other, you can safely ignore energy, they'll pass out on the floor eventually and they don't have a comfort motive. Give them access to one toddler toy, a toybox or even just a toilet, puddle, flowers, leaves, they will find their own fun. Ignore hygiene until they need a nappy change, unless they're potty trained (if you're at this kind of survival level, it's best to skip potty training to save having to bath them). The only two you need to worry about are social (but anybody can fill this, including pets, children and other toddlers) and hunger. I don't buy pet bowls unless I have pets in the household, but there's a cereal bowl cloned from this at TSR which looks a bit nicer for toddlers to eat from, and a sippy cup on MTS which acts as an infinite bottle, so I do use those when I'm really struggling, but I don't usually need to. I do sometimes use the pet beds as a sleep mat, but they're more annoying than letting them fall asleep on the floor because they can't wake up from those themselves. But you do avoid the parent standing over the baby "worrying" (I always think that's odd - if you're so worried, pick them up and put them in bed!)

Other tips - if you're struggling with multiple toddlers/babies, you can hire two nannies at once. Have one to track schedule and one just for now. I've done that before just to let the parent(s) get some sleep. Where there is more than one adult/teen, they sleep in shifts and live religiously off leftovers. If you're REALLY REALLY struggling and have money to throw at the situation, you can hire two nannies, a butler and a maid all at once and buy a buffet table for the adults so they don't have to wait for food.

Edit: Which is the not-crib-swapping hack? I seem to have deleted the mod that I had in to moderate the baby swarming but that part is driving me crazy. Is it TJ's nobabytoddlerswarming? I like it when visitors interact with the baby too

I don't use anti swarm hacks or any cheats except as I mentioned those two types of modded objects, the sleep mat and sometimes the never ending sippy cup. I do not find toddlers difficult. Time consuming yes, you do need to be focused on them, but make all happy or max motives sounds extreamly boring. The kid is already putting itself to sleep, keeping himself occupied with his toys and potty trained after a day, whats to cheat?

It was already a bit too long thread for me to read all. Tried to scan each post if it was mentioned.
Could not see it that quickly, so here's my tip:
If you have the lotdebugger (batbox), you could use 'make me ... smart'. Then they learn the toddler skills much faster. Can come in handy.

I notice that your big complaint is needs. Which EPs do you have? Does everyone have their needs perks from Freetime? Has everyone studied physiology and happiness? Next, put careers on hold--skip skilling and friend-making for the time being. You can use the floor fence pieces--unique separators or something like that--to separate cribs if you need to put them in the same room as other sims.
Then, just like real kids, schedule them. Usually, with a baby, I feed at birth, then wait until they have a dirty diaper, change, play with, feed, cuddle, then put back in the crib or baby toy and wait until the next dirty diaper. When they age up to toddler, see what their needs are. Mine usually end up having bottle, potty training, then crib, so when they wake up they're all green and good to go be trained or play with toys. If they wake up at a time when no one is available, say, two am, then whichever sim old enough to do the job who can afford to sleep in gets them up and they go play by themselves until time for others to get up. Some toddlers, after being taught to walk, will let themselves out. Likewise, schedule the older sims. Get up, let the toddler out (and remember to direct the toddler to the toy so he doesn't climb in the toilet) take a shower, eat, then attend to the toddler. Check morning and evening to see if the toddler has points to put in the needs perks. A child sim can teach the nursery rhyme if they have a good enough relationship with the toddler.
Use dream dating the parents to up all their needs if they're dragging--this has several benefits: it can take place on a community lot while the toddlers needs are not decaying because they are stuck at home, and it gets the parents into a good aspiration where they can use the aspiration rewards. If you use aspiration rewards, get the smartmilk for the toddlers and the energizer for your older sims. Since you are using a big house, have a nursery suite with the fridge/smart milk, potty, and tub all right there so the older sims aren't hauling the toddlers downstairs to the fridge, across the house to the potty, and back upstairs to the cribs.
Child sims can be quite self-sufficient: make sure you have the toy oven for them and have them already taught to study.

What do you mean they can't wake up from pet beds themselves? I've never had a problem with them waking up and getting out again.

Apart from the pet beds and pet food pets are really useful for keeping a toddler's social motive up. And the cuddle/half strangle the cat is so cute and the cat never minds. And the giggling when a dog licks them (probably really unhygienic, but meh XD).