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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think reborn dolls are disturbing?

165 replies

Hazel2323 · 18/05/2023 14:04

I've just ended up down a rabbit hole on Facebook of people into reborn dolls. What the hell. Ive heard of them before but never knew just how many people are into them and the extent the obsession goes to. Dressing them, doing newborn photo shoots. They are the creepiest thing I've seen in a long time and I just can't understand why anyone would have one. Some say it's a hobby. Some have it after baby loss. Either way it's bizarre and not healthy.
I also don't like that these people are buying baby clothes to dress a doll in and toys/blankets/cots/bottles etc that real families could actually use. It seems terribly wasteful.

OP posts:
Newsenmum · 20/08/2024 21:41

My grandma with dementia has it and she loves it because it’s her baby. Please be kind.

I agree it feels strange as they look so real and I guess I worry about creeps having them. I can understand it though especially if you love babies.

Newsenmum · 20/08/2024 21:44

KimberleyClark · 19/05/2023 16:07

Meant to add you can get reborn toddlers which look even creepier to me.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/556348821/custom-order-reborn-toddler-doll-baby

I agree! I think the newborns look sweet and I can imagine be lovely to hold like a real baby. I suppose it makes me think of being a child again and I feel uneasy about a grown woman acting like a child. But I also can remember how lovely it was to have a doll and absolutely understand for dementia sufferers like my gran. It’s very sad in her case as she thinks it’s real though.

Comedycook · 20/08/2024 21:49

My grandma with dementia has it and she loves it because it’s her baby

Bless her...hope it gives her some comfort

Andante67 · 20/08/2024 21:49

Kanaloa · 18/05/2023 14:35

Do try to find it if you can! Wish I could remember the name of it or the channel. It was just so bonkers. I was trying to imagine how I’d react if MIL took a baby photo of one of our kids and had a special doll made of it. I’d think she’d gone nuts!

But yeah, I think it’s relatively harmless really. Not my cup of tea but then I bet I do things that other people think is a bit odd. And people dressing up their dolls and doing whatever with them definitely aren’t wasting more time than I do scrolling mumsnet or watching crap telly! If they didn’t waste their time watching Riverdale like me then I don’t think I can judge them wasting it playing with a doll. And at least their babies (unlike mine) can be shoved back in the cupboard when they can’t be arsed dressing them.

It was Channel 4

Andante67 · 20/08/2024 21:55

I don't think it's weird, just sad... A woman's desire to have a child can be one of the most intensely crippling impulses there is. I can completely understand why someone who has lost babies or can't have children longs to have something to fill their arms, even if they know it's just escapism and not the real thing. In an ideal world, all such people would have therapy and no longer feel any need for such a comfort. But we don't live in an ideal world, and what's wrong with a temporary or partial solution?

Newsenmum · 20/08/2024 22:00

Comedycook · 20/08/2024 21:49

My grandma with dementia has it and she loves it because it’s her baby

Bless her...hope it gives her some comfort

It really does and the saddest thing is I think she thinks it’s my mum. She loves babies so I’m so glad she has it.

RebornmommaRaven · 01/10/2024 09:13

Hazel2323 · 18/05/2023 14:04

I've just ended up down a rabbit hole on Facebook of people into reborn dolls. What the hell. Ive heard of them before but never knew just how many people are into them and the extent the obsession goes to. Dressing them, doing newborn photo shoots. They are the creepiest thing I've seen in a long time and I just can't understand why anyone would have one. Some say it's a hobby. Some have it after baby loss. Either way it's bizarre and not healthy.
I also don't like that these people are buying baby clothes to dress a doll in and toys/blankets/cots/bottles etc that real families could actually use. It seems terribly wasteful.

Okay so I don't know if I can change your mind at all but I can give you more insight.

Reborn dolls arent regular dolls. They are hand crafted art pieces. The artists paint them by hand. They are not even close to comparable with kids dolls that only cost what $50 or less (I think when they first came out luvabella was like $50.) reborns can cost anywhere from $200 to $6k or more for high quality work.

Reborns aren't only for people that lost babies. They are becoming therapy tools for those with anxiety, depression,PTSD or even with the elderly who have Alzheimer's or dementia. I myself have two reborn dolls and I have clothes,a few blankets,a DOLL carseat and playpen, that can't be used for a real baby, a sealed baby bottle that would have to be cut for a real baby to use,a baby brush and comb set,and 3 small stuffed animals for pictures with my dolls.

My adopted mom and the rest of her family support me in my reborn doll mom-ing because I have mental health issues and they help me. Sometimes I have flashbacks and I hold my weighted baby Violet and she grounds me bringing me back to the here and now. Could I just use a weighted blanket? No because those feel suffocating to me. Everyone is different.

I'm trying to get the courage to take my babies out with me places but I'm nervous to because of people like you. I'm not hurting you or any actual baby by having less than 30 outfits, all of them bought for the purpose of being worn by my reborns, or having a sealed bottle specifically for reborns. Also I use lotion and tap water to make "fake formula bottles* in a lot of areas in the US we can't even drink our tap water with out boiling it first. And I'm not using baby lotion for the bottle I'm using just any lotion. This is what a lot of people actually do.. Also a lot of the reborn moms with actual baby furniture..it's stuff that the ADA says is not safe for actual babies anymore. Many reborn moms post on fb asking if anyone has an expired/old car seat or stroller. One that would have no other purpose anymore. As for those that have a real baby crib, some of them actually had the cribs made by family members for their reborns. So they didn't go to Walmart or any store that sells cribs and buy one from there..or they go to yard sales..but if they are at a yard sale and they see a lady who looks like they might be pregnant or they are carrying a baby and looking at a crib..they leave that crib there for that actual mom. We are not greedy. And if we do get tired of the clothes we currently have we trade with other reborn moms, or go through our current collection and decide which outfits we are totally bored and done with, donate those to goodwill, and from that same goodwill,find a few things that we like more than what we donated. So I promise we really aren't taking from real moms.

maddiemookins16mum · 06/10/2024 07:36

Some of them are just awful and have this blue tinge to them. Then there are the ones who have a cord clamp attached!

I have seen very few who look anything like a real baby.

LoveTheRainAndSun · 06/10/2024 07:50

They are just dolls. Yes, I know some people play with them, dress them up, take them out, use them for sad reasons. Up to them. I love how realistic they are. They can be an art form too. I love dolls and have a doll collection. One of them is a reborn. I keep it in the cabinet with the others but with the blanket over it's face. I know they freak some people out, and I don't want anyone to get a fright. I used to have it in a bassinet as an ornament but that got annoying to dust.

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 07/10/2024 12:52

Apparently there’s new ones now which cry and bruise.

Just when you thought they couldn’t get creepier…

TheKeatingFive · 07/10/2024 13:04

Bruise? That's a bit sinister.

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 07/10/2024 15:35

They’re all sinister.

Nothing will convince me otherwise.

Chaiilatte · 07/10/2024 15:37

I do yes, although I don't judge anyone who has one. I think they are going through something mentally challenging and it's their coping mechanism.

RegainingTheWill2023 · 07/10/2024 15:38

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 07/10/2024 15:35

They’re all sinister.

Nothing will convince me otherwise.

How sad to have such a closed mind and be so unable to see an object from another person's perspective.

comingintomyown · 07/10/2024 15:41

Greensleeves · 18/05/2023 14:25

It's not about what you would want, though, is it? It's about people who actually have suffered baby loss or infertility, and what they want. I find it fascinating that you think you are in a position to judge them, diagnose them and be so rude about their choices.

Exactly, get off your high horse OP

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