Reborn baby dolls - seriously creepy.

[purdyamos]

I have never seen or heard of these, but I caught a trailer for a programme about these next week so I had to look them up.

 

Some pictures of dolls on the galleries here.

 

This appears to be a growing fad, and if the trailer was anything to go on there are some freakily deluded 'mothers' who have got the bug really bad. They push them around in prams and genuinely pretend to be mums. It seemed really sad. Reborn baby dolls are extremely lifelike, but just end up looking horribly lifeless to my eyes. Years ago I was involved in a filming shoot in the mortuary of the Children's Hospital, and we were shown the photo album. These dolls look just like the cot death babies in the photos.

 

I know there was a thread about child dolls who hid their faces, but this is a whole different level of disturbingness.

 

Would you ever have one? Why? Does anyone know more about this Reborn cult? Is the play-acting restricted to a handful of unhappy women or is it all part of Reborn culture?

 

I put this in general and not entertainment because I was interested in the dolls as a phenomenon themselves rather than the programme which isn't on for another week.

[Miss_S_83]

I am a member on a forum for mums, and a while back another user posted a similar thread, I think. I am sure it was these dolls that were the subject matter, or something very similar- maybe about dolls looking like small babies.

I think some of them can look cute-ish, but mostly they look creepy and just wrong.

I do know, though, that someone posted to say her friend (I think) had lost a baby to stillbirth and found great comfort in one such doll. It depends how you think of them, what you have them for, I suppose. I would never have one, and the OH hates porcelain dolls of any sort- they creep him out!

[Halibut]

I do know, though, that someone posted to say her friend (I think) had lost a baby to stillbirth and found great comfort in one such doll.

 

I can't quite vocalise why, but I find that rather disturbing.

[Miss_S_83]

I can't quite vocalise why, but I find that rather disturbing.

 

Me too, I just didn't comment on the thread on that site as obviously having never been through that I felt it wasn't my place to say anything. But I know what you mean.

[Birth-Peace]

They are incredibly lifelike and I think that some of them are gorgeous but as a pregnant woman I am rather broody

 

I can't imagine who would own one but I think that they should be admired for their beauty.

[medusa]

There is something rather creepy about them isn't there? I can't help thinking that anyone who sees themselves as a 'mother' because they have one of these is deluding themselves or in denial (and I'm speaking as someone whose only chance of motherhood ended in miscarriage here).

[Halibut]

I can't imagine who would own one but I think that they should be admired for their beauty.

 

I'm not sure I can agree; if they were real babies I could admire their beauty, but these are, well, what? I don't think they're art....

[Twiglet]

I can't quite vocalise why, but I find that rather disturbing.

 

I know that in times gone by, mothers who had suffered a stillbirth and subsequent post natal depression were often sent to lunatic asylums, and many took comfort in and could be seen wandering around with dolls. These dolls are a little too close to the 'realistic' line though.

[Halibut]

I think the one on the home page is exquisitely weird / creepy....if you saw a real baby with a head of hair like that, you'd run a mile.

[mort]

I find it very disturbing, quite one of the creepiest things i've seen in ages, along with the tiny toddlers one that somebody posted about a few months back.