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Is this really normal

(178 Posts)
BlueBelle Thu 21-Mar-19 22:33:22

I know each to his own etc etc but today I came across two women probably in their 40 s who had very expensive prams with all the very fancy accessories I said ‘ohh that looks like a tiny one tucked down there’ and as she pulled the covers back she explained it was a ‘reborn’ as was her friends ‘baby’ She was not mentally ill but was rocking the pram as she talked to me and told me her husband stayed with the pram when she had to go in busy shops she also told me there were about fifty women in our town with these ‘babies’ (seemed like a club) the dolls cost around £350 + I really thought I was in a parcelled universe

Is this the latest craze to take over from dressed up silly named dogs

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 18:48:12

She is very sweet, Gonegirl - and the knitted dress is the same pattern! (different colour though)

If I peeked into a pram and saw that, MissA, I would beat a hasty retreat down the road!

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 18:50:11

M0nica the thing about these 'babies' is that they do not become 7 year olds who know everything nor do they become obstreperous teenagers.
They stay sweet and compliant.

Strange. These women, unless they have problems, have just not grown up.

rizlett Sat 23-Mar-19 19:09:11

M0nica makes me want to throw up.

What ignorance.

M0nica Sat 23-Mar-19 20:51:44

What am I ignorant of?

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 21:02:52

Say what you like, protest as you will rizlett, but this behaviour is not normal for an adult woman, unless she has problems, in which case I can feel the utmost sympathy.

M0nica Sat 23-Mar-19 21:23:55

Thank you Jalima. I would actually much rather have both the 7 year olds who know everything nor do they become obstreperous teenagers. rather than play babies with a plastic doll.

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 21:34:03

I may still chat to Tiny Tears in the privacy of her bedroom M0nica (well, 'DGD who knows everything because she is 7's bedroom) but I would not take Tiny Tears or her sisters out in a pram and pretend that she is a real baby.

I do feel sorry for anyone who has the need to do this, though.

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 21:37:49

The conversation is more along the lines of 'Has DGD been shoving you in a hamper again, never mind, I'll get you out, dress you and tuck you up again'.

Do I need help?

BlueBelle Sat 23-Mar-19 21:50:45

Whooah Rizlett that’s a nasty post

Most of these ladies and those that marry their dogs off in lavish parties wearing veils and dressers and spending hundreds on cakes and food are just showing off trying to be seen to be smart, in the trend, and spending enormous sums of money to boot, they want to be the centre of attraction They are not living in the real world . They are not to be admired in my opinion
There’s so much good people can do it’s selfish wasteful and darned right daft

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 21:59:30

Despite the poverty in the world today, there are many people with too much money to waste on self-indulgence Bluebelle.

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 22:01:22

M0nica makes me want to throw up.
What ignorance.

rizlett if you are saying that these women have a mental health problem then perhaps this behaviour will help them.

Otherwise, it is bizarre, to say the least.

NfkDumpling Sat 23-Mar-19 22:02:06

GrannyLaine, I had a look at your link. They don't look like dolls or models, they look like dead babies. It rather freaked me out and I shouldn't have looked at this time of night. I fear I'll have bad dreams tonight!

Gonegirl Sat 23-Mar-19 22:13:33

Oooohhh!!! I think those dolls in GrannyLaine's link look lovely. I want one!

Shoot me now!

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 23:31:55

I am coming, but bringing some baby clothes that I found in the attic Gonegirl.
Leave the door on the latch and put the kettle on.

Jalima1108 Sat 23-Mar-19 23:36:36

One of them is 'pre-owned' sad

Gonegirl Sun 24-Mar-19 09:38:42

Oh my gosh! Who sells their baby(doll)?!

I can't find my old baby clothes Jalima. Think I must have chucked the bag out when DH was moaning about clutter in the roof. hmm

Franbern Sun 24-Mar-19 10:31:20

On a lighter note, this does bring back memories for me of a weekend (nearly twenty years ago),when I was attending a course at a National Sports Training Centre.
This was to train qualified senior British Gymnastics Pre-School tutors in the (then) new qualification to become tutors (tutors train coaches), in 'Fun for Baby'. This is a course which is for Parents and Babies from approx.8 weeks old to one year.
It has proved of great benefit and is used by Health Visitors, physiotherapists and other medical people for parents and their babies.
Senior Tutors were invited to this course, and told to bring a life-size baby doll with them. Using these dolls we trained to work with parents and babies - but we decided (for that weekend) to treat these dolls as real-life babies. So, they accompanied us all of the time, in the refectory, etc. Do remember how perplexed many other athletes were as about a dozen middle/elderly ladies moved around the Centre, nursing these dolls. One doll, i remember, cried - loudly - whenever the dummy was removed from its mouth - most disconcerting.
Great fun for one weekend and we did all go on the pass our examinations and become highly qualified tutors and examiners in this area. Coaches running such classes would often use a doll, but, of course, all the parents attending had real babies.
Must say, that this was the first time since my own childhood that I had cuddled a doll!!!

Jalima1108 Sun 24-Mar-19 10:38:01

Franbern your story reminded me of a news item about a scheme where teenagers were given these types of baby dolls which they had to carry round with them; this was supposed to put them off the idea of having unprotected sex.

Gonegirl Sun 24-Mar-19 12:31:56

Anyone read "Flour Babies" by Anne Fine?

Gonegirl Sun 24-Mar-19 12:33:46

Flour Babies

Bathsheba Sun 24-Mar-19 12:46:15

I have to agree with those who think this is not normal behaviour. Sorry, but it really is not. If these women have some sort of mental health issues then they have my sympathy. But if not, then this is just plain weird, and I really do not understand anyone who thinks otherwise confused

I played with dolls when I was a child. "When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a (wo)man, I put aside childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11

Abigailmckd Sun 24-Mar-19 13:39:24

Mamacaz
I treat my Tom cats as family that unfortunately I didn't have.never heard of reborn dolls ! Maybe a chicken in the pram !

vintanner Sun 24-Mar-19 15:14:26

It has been going on for years, you can buy them on eBay.

People buy ordinary dolls, remove the 'paint' and repaint to make them look like newborns.

A few years ago, it was on the TV about a woman who had one custom made to look like her grandson !!!

Personally, I think it is strange to have one of these dolls but I think it is downright weird to take them out, in prams, and treat them like real babies.

There's nowt stranger than folk.

GabriellaG54 Mon 25-Mar-19 17:47:35

I don't like my GGC's dolls or bears just stuffed away as if they're of no consequence and I have, when my AC and GC were children, tidied their dolls prams and dressed them before putting them under the covers. Usually on their side in a comfy position.
When he was about 4 years old, one of my sons used to take his youngest sister out in a dolls pram when we went shopping.
She was so quiet, people thought she was a doll...until she blinked.
I certainly wouldn't buy a 'reborn' or want to push a pram but I do have a teddy, a floppy dog and a doll like the sticker we used to get in marmalade.
They are all put comfortably in a basket on a shelf in my bedroom and rearranged now and again.
We all have our 'quirks' and it's not really up to others to rubbish them unless it really is beyond the pale but then, I doubt anyone would post anything really controversial.

sodapop Mon 25-Mar-19 21:02:35

Now let me think, who on GN would ever post something controversial erm. .....?.