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Faux babies

(99 Posts)
rosesarered Wed 08-Jul-15 16:36:54

I saw a TV programme a little while ago about the sort of dolls you can buy that you sort of 'pretend' are real babies.Some women have several of these, and some women just have the one, which is taken out in a pram for walks and treated like a real baby. the women all seemed to have different reasons for wanting them, some quite sad, some of the women were just odd.The dolls were very lifelike.What do you think of this practice ? there are more sold in the U.S. Than here.

chloe1984 Thu 09-Jul-15 08:36:58

I still have my 'rosebud' doll she was the first doll I had that had 'real' rooted in hair . She is kept in the attic , unfortunately she appears to have contracted a very bad case of jaundice as her skin has turned a very bright yellow , never really loved her as much as the dollies I used to own where you could dislocated their arms and legs then reattach them through the thick elastic that ran through their bodies. You could also detach their wigs and poke their eyes to the back of their heads. grin

NfkDumpling Thu 09-Jul-15 08:08:09

I still have my 'Rosebud' doll. Her name is Ruth, but she's confined to the attic as her skin is cracking. Perhaps she's not the real McCoy.

I find those real baby dolls positively scary. They look like dead babies.

pinkprincess Thu 09-Jul-15 01:12:24

When I was very little my grandma bought me a life size hard plastic doll which had been used as a display model in a baby clothes shop.
It was already called Doris and I loved it.I used to dress it in my sister's outgrown baby clothes.I can clearly remember one Sunday my mother let me dress it in the family heirloom christening robe.We then all went for a walk, me proudly carrying Doris in the long flowing robe.I must have got tired holding it as she was quite heavy so my father took her off me and dangled her over his shoulder with her body hanging down his back and holding her in front by the long robe.I can clearly remember my mother telling him to carry the doll properly because people were glaring at him as they thought she was a real baby, so he had to carry her back home cradled in his arms.
As for those fake babies they give me the creeps.I was a nurse and they remind me of dead babies.

Eloethan Thu 09-Jul-15 00:30:52

I saw a programme like that some years ago and one of the women who had several of these creepily lifelike babies actually had children of her own!

harrigran Wed 08-Jul-15 23:47:53

I had an identical doll jingl, my mother used to knit lovely clothes for her. Quite upset because I can't remember her name now.
I had a German, china faced doll that was the size of a small child. The doll was given to me by an aunt who had played with it as a child, the doll had on a beautiful dress which was probably one of my aunt's from about 1917. My father threw the doll in the bin when I was about 12 which was a great shame. When I was 21 my aunt asked if she could have her doll back as I was too old for it. I felt sorry that my father had thrown it away as it appears it was valuable.

rosesarered Wed 08-Jul-15 20:47:23

I know somebody who didn't have children that calls her dogs fur kids .I don't like it. I accept they are very precious to her, I like pets myself, but don't like the term fur kids.

rosesarered Wed 08-Jul-15 20:45:14

I just had a look at the dolls online, some are worth more than others, some surprisingly little value considering the age, there must be a lot of them out there.

rosesarered Wed 08-Jul-15 20:43:14

Ash tree, keep them for granddaughters or sell them?They may be worth quite a bit.

rosesarered Wed 08-Jul-15 20:41:45

Rosebud........ Citizen Kane!

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 08-Jul-15 20:13:03

she is just like this one

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 08-Jul-15 20:10:03

Shoot! I've just had a look for that and she's a Pedigree! blush

It was my little twins who were Rosebuds.

AshTree Wed 08-Jul-15 20:07:45

jingl my friend had a Rosebud doll when I was little. It had 'Rosebud' embossed on the back of her neck and I thought it was her name. I would look on the backs of all my dollies' necks to see if they had their names printed there and was bewildered that they didn't.

AshTree Wed 08-Jul-15 20:02:58

roses my DD had one of those baby dolls, with a white cloth body and vinyl head, lower arms and lower legs. We still have it here, dressed in one of the Mothercare babygros that DD wore as a baby! We also kept her walking talking doll, with long auburn hair, which is dressed in a little summer dress that DD used to wear! And we have her Tiny Tears doll too, dressed in an outfit that I made for her when DD was about 5 smile

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 08-Jul-15 20:01:45

hmm You can buy clothes to fit them on ebay! wink

I chose a different name for each of my dollies - every Christmas morning until I was 13! grin

(that last one you could ^dye her hair^)

Juliette Wed 08-Jul-15 19:45:35

jingl Carol's twin, Susan Elizabeth is sitting in my wardrobe. Not so well dressed as Carol, she's only wearing her knickers, all that remains of her once extensive wardrobe. All my dolls were name Susan Elizabeth which is what I should have been called really but mum and dad had other ideas and landed me with a most unsatisfactory alternative. smile

Ana Wed 08-Jul-15 19:19:48

Blimey, some of those do look seriously creepy! shock

But the ordinary ones were lovely.

suzied Wed 08-Jul-15 19:19:09

Does anyone remember Sasha Dolls from the 1970s.. They had really nice faces and hair and you could,get boy and girl ones , they had lovely outfits. I wish I had kept my DDs . They fetch a fortune on eBay .

apricot Wed 08-Jul-15 19:18:29

I loved my dolls when I was a little girl and couldn't wait to have babies. I was blessed with children and grandchildren and know that, if I hadn't had children to love, I'd have needed a substitute.
That's what pets are for. A warm cat or dog to care for is surely more natural than a pretend baby.

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 08-Jul-15 19:16:50

I bought several of those "Victorian" looking dolls a few years back. Sent 'em all to Oxfam now. No character.

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 08-Jul-15 19:15:36

oh look. The appears to have been more than of her in the world. Who'd have thought it

rosesarered Wed 08-Jul-15 19:12:55

I just wonder if doll collecting in general, isn't the same principle as those wanting a faux baby?
I have never been a doll person /child . I liked my teddy bear.

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 08-Jul-15 19:12:08

The lady next door gave me the procelain one. It just had porcelain head, lower arms and feet. Soft body. Wish I still had that doll. She would have been very old by now.

jinglbellsfrocks Wed 08-Jul-15 19:10:42

No. My mum gave my porcelain doll away to my cousin in Holland. sad

Carol is made of a hard plastic. She was very modern at the time. She is very beautiful. (well, I think so. Even if she now has no eyelashes and her eyes won't close anymore)

Grandson, age 13, says she is seriously scary. confused

rosesarered Wed 08-Jul-15 19:10:27

I know this isn't about faux babies, but what do you think about collecting dolls in general?

Ana Wed 08-Jul-15 19:07:59

Oh, not porcelain then. Mine had been my mother's - she called her Margaret Rose after the princess.