Has anyone used a baby doll to encourage toddler socializing?

[FrizzleBrain]

My son is 15 months old and he is a smiley, happy boy who plays with me daily and can play independently (he walks, but ain't talking yet). He can be quite gentle with his toys

When he's around other kids he tends to only interact with maybe one other child they are similar ages, but he tends to wander off and play by himself.

I take him to playgroups and we go to other places where kids are around like parks and our local swimming pool. If he wants to leave early then we do.

I read it was normal for some children to want to play by themselves before confidently playing with others. One thing said about getting him a baby doll as that can help with socializing.

I was wondering if anyone else used a baby doll to help with socializing and if it works and also what would be the best baby doll.

He’s really young. You don’t need a baby doll, you just need to wait until he’s old enough to start socialising, which is usually around 2 years old.

Typical that little ones 'play alongside' one another rather than 'with' one another, but they will learn to move to the next stage by adults modelling things for them..... turn taking .... doing things like a 'picnic' with their pretend food and saying 'one for James, one for teddy, one for panda, one for Mummy' and so forth. You don't need to buy a doll especially for it, you can use any 'character' you have.

There’s nothing you can do to speed the passage of time in human development. He’s simply not old enough yet.