To have kids in Stardew Valley, you need to be married to a villager or another player, own the second farmhouse upgrade with its nursery, keep your spouse at 10 hearts or more, and have been married for at least seven days. Once all of that is true, your spouse may ask at bedtime whether you want a baby, and saying yes brings one 14 days later.
This guide covers version 1.6.15 on PC and the matching 1.6.15.1 patch on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch. Below we cover every requirement, how the baby question works, adoption, how children grow, the two-child limit, and how to change your mind.
What You Need Before Your Spouse Will Ask
There is no item to buy and no button to press. The game checks four conditions, and if any one fails, the question never comes:
- You are married. Any of the 12 marriage candidates counts, and so does another player in co-op. If you have not tied the knot yet, our guide to getting married in Stardew Valley walks through it. Krobus does not count: per the community wiki, you cannot have or adopt children with him as a roommate.
- You own the second farmhouse upgrade. Robin builds it at the Carpenter’s Shop over three days. According to the official 1.6 changelog, it now costs 65,000g and 100 Hardwood, up from 50,000g but down from 150 Hardwood. It adds a nursery with a crib and two child beds.
- Your spouse is at 10 hearts or more. Not 14, just 10. Friendship with a spouse decays every day you skip talking to them, so a busy week can quietly drop you under the line.
- You have been married at least seven days. Per the community wiki, the question cannot come in the first week.
One more trap: the house renovation menu includes a free “Remove Crib” option. If you have used it, no child can arrive until you put the crib back.
Hardwood is the usual bottleneck for the upgrade. Per the community wiki, Large Stumps drop it when chopped with a Copper Axe or better, and six of them respawn daily in the Secret Woods off Cindersap Forest, behind a large log that needs a Steel Axe.
How the Baby Question Works
After you go to bed, your spouse has roughly a 1 in 20 chance each night of asking whether you want a child, per the community wiki. You can answer yes or “not now”. If you decline, the same small chance simply repeats every night you still meet the requirements, so there is no penalty for waiting.
Say yes and the arrival is set for 14 days later. Opposite-gender couples have a biological child. Same-gender couples adopt through the same question, and while you wait, your spouse mentions that the adoption paperwork has been filed; the baby is dropped off overnight. Either way, you get to name the child when it arrives.
Nothing in the game forces the question sooner. If it is taking a while, the only thing you can do is keep your spouse above 10 hearts by talking to them daily and giving a gift now and then.
In co-op, two players married to each other can have children too. Per the community wiki, the host is asked first, then the farmhand, and the baby comes only if both say yes.
How Children Grow
Children go through four stages, with durations from the community wiki:
| Stage | Length | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | 14 days | Sleeps in the crib all day |
| Stage 2 | 14 days | Stands in the crib and can be tossed in the air |
| Stage 3 | 28 days | Crawls around the house during the day |
| Stage 4 (toddler) | Permanent | Runs around, sleeps in a child bed, joins festivals |
The toddler stage is final; children never grow older than that. From stage 2 on, you can interact with your child once a day to raise their friendship, but you cannot give them gifts. Version 1.6 added a small touch here: ConcernedApe’s changelog notes that a baby toss now has a chance to “crit”, sending the baby extra high.
Toddlers follow your spouse to most festivals, and you can put hats on them. Per the community wiki, they skip the festivals where time keeps passing, such as the Desert Festival, the Trout Derby, SquidFest and the Night Market.
Having a Second Child
You can have two children in total. The first child’s gender is random, and the second is always the opposite, per the community wiki.
The second baby can only be requested once your first child reaches the toddler stage, because that is when they move out of the crib and into a child bed. After that, the same rules apply again: the nursery, 10 hearts and the nightly 1 in 20 roll.
Changing Your Mind
If you do not want more children, use the free Remove Crib renovation and your spouse will stop asking.
Late in the game, the Dark Shrine of Selfishness in the Witch’s Hut can turn your children into doves in exchange for a Prismatic Shard, removing them permanently. It opens after the Goblin Problem quest. Per the community wiki, doing so lets your spouse ask about children again, as long as the crib is still there.
Divorce leaves any children at the farmhouse, and a new spouse treats them as their own. A pregnancy or adoption that is still pending is cancelled by a divorce.
The kids in the base game never grow past toddlers, which is why many PC players reach for mods; our best Stardew Valley mods list covers the frameworks those mods rely on. If family life is your favorite part of life sims, we also cover trying for a baby in Paralives and having a baby in inZOI. Everything else for this game is on our Stardew Valley hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does your spouse ask for kids in Stardew Valley? At bedtime, randomly, with roughly a 1 in 20 chance each night once you have the nursery, 10 hearts with your spouse and at least seven days of marriage. There is no set day.
Can you have kids with another player? Yes. If two players are married in co-op, the game asks both of them overnight, and a child arrives only if both agree.
Can you adopt a child? Yes. Same-gender couples adopt automatically through the same bedtime question, and the adopted baby arrives 14 days after you say yes.
Do kids grow up in Stardew Valley? Only as far as the toddler stage. They reach it 56 days after arriving, two full in-game seasons, and stay there for good.
Can you have more than two children? Not at the same time. Two is the limit, although turning children into doves at the Dark Shrine of Selfishness reopens the question if the crib remains.