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Infant facial features are typically perceived as ‘cute’, provoking caretaking behaviours. Previous research has examined the impact of adult sex hormones and events such as ovulation and menopause on baby cuteness perceptions, working on the basis that cuteness perception is most relevant to individuals during their reproductive lifespan. However, this overlooks the fact that globally, individuals of all ages, including children, provide notable proportions of infant care. Accordingly, we tested 65 children and 330 adults using a forced-choice paradigm to assess preferences for cute newborn and infant faces, and (as a control task) for femininity in women’s faces. Children and adults successfully identified the newborns that had been manipulated to appear cuter, although children’s performance was poorer than adults’ performance, and did not exceed chance in relation to the infant stimulus set. Children also chose the feminised over masculinised women’s faces as more attractive, although again their performance was poorer than adults’. Girls performed better than boys when assessing the newborn and woman stimuli, and women performed better than men when assessing the infant stimuli. There was no evidence that cuteness judgements differed depending upon exposure to infants (children with siblings aged 0 - 2; adults with a baby caregiving role), or depending upon being just younger or older than the average age of menopause. Children as well as grandparents provide notable portions of infant caretaking globally, and the functional explanations given of reactions to cuteness by adults of reproductive age, that it directs appropriate caregiving behaviour, could also apply to this extended age group of potential caregivers.