Sadly, EA tanked the best part of the game when they screwed up the whole pre-child stages. But that's what they do, they take something that is working fine and screw it up...need more proof: Wedding Stories. Now, my sims don't do weddings - if they start single, meet someone, build a relationship - they elope because weddings suck now. And if I want my sim families to have kids, I build them into the household in CAS because everything about having babies, caring for them, teaching the to walk, talk, play, etc. has been ruined. Even if you 'force age-up,' the curse of EA lingers and your teen has hiccups for the rest of their life.
Everything that was good about growing a family in The SIms 4 has been trashed.