Hunt the nightmares north of the candy castle and the god of the game will now reward you with a unique ball type with the power to transform followers into your own pet monsters. What you get depends on the upgrade stage of the target. Be warned, they won't harm the player but monsters and babies (including variants) still have animosity to each other, so be wise about when to switch between groups.

Some unfortunate teddy bears wandered into the nightmare zone, encountered new monsters, and were horribly affected. Defeating these bears grants special rewards.

A magical storm has spawned twisters with the power to randomly transform your babies on contact. They may evolve into more powerful allies, or be deformed into hostile creatures.

If you'd rather not gamble, you may instead protect your babies with poop. The more layers you apply, the stronger they become.

Alternatively you can encourage your children's growth by feeding them licorice allsorts. 

For new players, there are now many more helpful hints to assist with the learning curve.

Also a few quality of life improvements such as reducing some enemies chase persistence, and starvation/dehydration drain life less rapidly, plus several other minor tweaks that I forgot to write down for patch notes.