Notes on the stuck Smart Milk 'bug':

1. Your sims toddlers don't have to be 'glowing' when they transition to child. All my sims go through a LOT of smart milk as toddlers, but there's no conclusive evidence that they need much at all to reap the rewards of this glitch - one or two bottles might do the trick.

2. Something inconclusive but probable, as ALL of my twins that have transitioned to children have suffered this strange fate: only one twin can age with the smart milk effect, the other will not. Every time. Call it a case of smart twin/dumb twin, and don't let it bother you too much.

Base game tips:

1. Hate that your kids come home after school with their fun in the red? If you have more than one kid getting off the bus at the same time, ensure they're friends, and have them play two or three games of red hands. Their fun meter will shoot up, and they'll be ready to do their homework in no time. One more game of red hands after their homework is done will boost their fun again, so no more sitting for hours in front of the TV.

2. That glitch with the nanny where she will continue to bring your toddler bottle after bottle even when your toddler has drunk the first bottle that she brought him? Not a glitch, actually. It's just that the nanny REALLY wants to hand the toddler the bottle herself. So ensure the area is completely clear around the toddler when she heads towards him with the bottle, and for the love of Bella, make sure your toddler isn't preoccupied with anything else. The nanny will hand the toddler the bottle, and voila, she'll leave him alone for the next two seconds, at least. If the nanny has to drop the bottle, she'll take that as a sign of unacceptable failure, and go back for another bottle. And another. And another. She'll do that all day, if she has to.

3. Your controllable sims, however, can be a bit smarter about the whole thing. When they bring their toddler a bottle to drink, just click the action off. The sim will drop the bottle, you can direct the toddler to drink it, and you don't need to go through the whole 'There's a two centimetre high bunny rabbit in front of my kid, I can't POSSIBLY hand him this bottle' dance.

4. The bunny head is a GREAT friends builder. Have your sim toddler click on an adult household guest (or a member of the household if they need to work on their relationship) and select 'Play with' (or it might be 'Join', I can't remember exactly.) As long as the toddler has space next to them, the adult will sit down next to the sim and join in. Charasmatic toddlers can make friends very quickly this way - just watch those 5+ relationship scores add up.

5. Toddlers can earn body points through the culinary career reward. They will autonomously eat the spilled chocolate if close by, and then go through a very strange animation which will result in body points. Has to be seen to be believed.

Expansion specific tips:

1. The coding in Free Time, for some reason, greatly increases the chance of twins. The top aspiration benefit for Family sims is actually increased chance of twins, but even without that, twins will occur much more frequently with Free Time. If you don't have Free Time, but want more twins, you need OFB and a sim capable of making cheesecakes. You only need to eat cheesecake once, at any point during the pregnancy (from the time the baby is concieved, to the time the baby pops out.)

2. More Free Time: Sim toddlers can earn up to four aspiration points on their lifetime meter through those parent-led interactions: potty training, learning to walk, learning to talk, and learning a nursery rhyme. This gives these previously unnecessary skills a bit more credibility. Sim parents should also get an aspiration point for the first time they teach each of these only, but that seems to be a bit more glitchy.

3. Speaking of the nursery rhyme: have your sim teach the toddler this BEFORE you start the toddler on the bunny head. They'll receive at least one charisma point for it, and more outgoing toddlers will likely receive two.

3. Hate slow skill-building? If you have Seasons, aim to have your sims go through the full Fall/Autumn season when they are children, preferably with the Smart Milk effect still on them. Get one of the sim adults in the house onto the Education career track, and have them bring home the bookshelf reward. With effective gameplay, you can expect your children to max out all skills by the time they hit teen.

This is really helpful!!!

While you really should have a nursery downstairs close to the kitchen (as mentioned here) where the fridge is easily accessible, it can help if you put a crib in or near the kitchen as well. I'm not sure how well it'll work for everyone else, but if there is a crib in their view, my mothers do not leave their babies on the floor with the bottle to go make dinner.

What I do is put a fridge up in the nursery.

Children behind on their homework? Have your teenager do it for them! Teenagers can also help children with their homework, and their only consequence for having low grades is that they cannot hold jobs. Unlike children, your teens won't be taken away by the social worker.