Thanks for letting us try her out. DD 4.5years and DS 3.5years were fascinated by her and it was a chance to discuss babies as they are due a sibling soon.
- Overall, what were your thoughts on the Luvabella doll? What did you think of her reactions and expressions?
DD loved her before we even got the batteries in! It took a while to calm DD down so she could realise that the doll was talking to her and interactive!
I thought the movements and expressions were really clever – the head movements stopped her looking too robotic. It is nice that you can position her arms even whilst they are moving without damaging her. I didn’t like the look of the painted on hair and felt she was quite heavy to carry around for smaller children.
The variety of responses was great – the doll didn’t feel too noisy or repetitive. I didn't find it annoying like most noise-making toys that we own!
- How did your child interact with their Luvabella doll and her accessories? What was their favourite thing about Luvabella?
DD loved lying her down and getting her to sleep – she really enjoyed holding a ‘sleeping baby’ and telling us all to be quiet as the baby was sleeping. DD also loved the tickling and burping responses.
DS loved feeding her – bottle and spoon feeding were both popular.
- Did your child display any nurturing behaviours whilst playing with their doll? If so, what were they?
There were plenty of arguments between DD and DS over who got to play with her! They set themselves up as Mummy and Daddy and did a lot of role play with her – organising who was going to feed her/dress her/get her to sleep. It was very cute to watch. They got out all the baby equipment and set themselves up to care for her.
DD is very keen on babies/dolls so we used Luvabella to discuss our new baby and how she would respond etc. It was good to show DD that when Luvabella fussed/cried, she needed attention and meant that we discussed responses and feelings.
- Would you recommend Luvabella to a friend or family member? If so, why? If not, why not?
Overall, I think it is a very clever toy. (It reminded me a lot of the ‘Babytalk’ talking doll I had as a child and absolutely loved!). The ‘learning’ aspect and developing vocabulary was great – although maybe lost on DD who is 4.5 years. The interactive toys were great. We used YouTube to demonstrate to DD how to play with the doll as she was happy to carry it around like a standard doll. DD was reluctant for me to play with Luvabella so it has been a bit difficult to show her all the functions!!!! I can imagine it would be a dream toy for a slightly older child.
Only reservations were that a mechanism has gone wrong in her already ☹ which has upset DD (her neck movement is catching) and above her eye some of the latex has peeled off. So the durability concerns me especially as it is a very expensive toy.
I would still recommend her to friends if they asked as I haven’t seen anything so complex in a doll before and thought she was amazing. Thank you for letting us trial her!