Reborn dolls...I just think they're sad...

[SDFgirl]

DH and I went out to eat the other night. There was a lady sitting outside the restaurant with her baby. She had a car seat/carrier and was giving the baby a bottle. I walked past her and did a double take - the "baby" was a doll. Weird.

I had seen people like this on TV but never in real life. It was kinda, um...strange. If people want to collect dolls, that's one thing - but to take them out with real baby gear and feed them a bottle as if they were real...

Having had 3 real babies, I'm thrilled when I can get away for the night and NOT bring the car seat/stroller/bottle/bibs/diapers/stroller!

 

[Arielle22]

I find that very sad. They must realize that people are staring and thinking they are odd.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

I didn't know that there was a name for this until I saw it in another thread. I find it odd.

We had a yard sale several years ago and sold a couple of life size Barbies to an older woman. We thought they were for her grandchildren but a few weeks later my mother saw her driving around town with the dolls in car seats in her car. She saw her after that with them in the cart at the store. I thought the lady was nuts, but thought of that makes her happy so what. She's not hurting anyone.

It is still rather odd to me though.

 

[Stitchfans]

The woman is obviously disturbed. That is so sad. My first guess is she must have lost a child recently and or is very lonely. She is using the doll as a substitute for love and companionship. Like I said, so very sad.

 

[SandrA9810]

I have heard of them being used for mentally disabled people. It's one way for them to show and express love to something else. In their case, they don't get the option to have kids of their own.

In that same episode, there were older women who did it too, like grandparent age. Either they had a strong rift between their kids to not see any grandkids or they chose not to have kids at all, is just my guess, and these women are trying to create something that wasn't there to begin with.

 

[happygirl]

That is beyond sad, but if it makes that person happy so be it.

 

[Turn the Page]

I have seen stories in the news about women who leave their reborns in the car while they are running errands or whatever. Because they are so realistic looking and are in actual car seats police officers think they are real babies and have been known to break windows to get the baby out for fear it would die of heat exhaustion or whatever.

I personally think the dolls themselves are a little creepy, especially the ones that are made to look like they are sleeping. They are just too realistic looking and I think, more often than not, end up looking like dead babies and they just give me the willies.

But yes, if a grown woman, who is capable of driving her own car, has one complete with a car seat, stroller, and god knows what else, it is very, very sad.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't find it sad. If it fills a void in someone's life to give them a happy life, then it makes me happy.

Now is it odd, for sure, but so are a billion other things.

 

[dyna]

I wish some parents would try the doll thing before having their own real live baby maybe then they'd realize I'm really not cut out to be a parent.

 

[Turn the Page]

I don't find it sad. If it fills a void in someone's life to give them a happy life, then it makes me happy.

Now is it odd, for sure, but so are a billion other things.

I don't know about anyone else but when I say it's sad I mean the void the person is filling with the doll is sad. If you have a void so big that you need to fill it with caring for a doll I think that is really sad and I feel bad for that person.

I wish some parents would try the doll thing before having their own real live baby maybe then they'd realize I'm really not cut out to be a parent.

Eh, it's a nice thought but I doubt it. I mean let's face it, caring for a doll is a lot more rainbows and flowers than caring for an actual baby. People may get a doll as a "trail run" of sorts only to discover that it's really fun and easy. Then get the real baby and think "oh hell, this is not at all what I thought it would be."

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't know about anyone else but when I say it's sad I mean the void the person is filling with the doll is sad. If you have a void so big that you need to fill it with caring for a doll I think that is really sad and I feel bad for that person.

I know what you mean.

But see I don't feel bad for the person. Instead I feel happy that they found a way to fill that void.

I focus more on the "solutions of life" and less on the "issues of life".

Does that make sense?

 

[Turn the Page]

I know what you mean.

But see I don't feel bad for the person. Instead I feel happy that they found a way to fill that void.

I focus more on the "solutions of life" and less on the "issues of life".

Does that make sense?

It does but I can't see how caring for a doll would in any way fill the void to the extent that interacting with a close friend or other living creature would.

But maybe that is just because I don't have any experience with something like that.

 

[SDFgirl]

Eh, it's a nice thought but I doubt it. I mean let's face it, caring for a doll is a lot more rainbows and flowers than caring for an actual baby. People may get a doll as a "trail run" of sorts only to discover that it's really fun and easy. Then get the real baby and think "oh hell, this is not at all what I thought it would be."

I agree. A baby who doesn't poop, cry, drool, or pull my earrings off sounds really easy!

OTOH, a doll won't light up when he sees your face, learn new things and show off with pride, or melt into your shoulder when he's sleepy.

And yes I do think it is sad. Some people will say "it's not hurting anybody!" but I do think it's hurting the person that has the doll. Becoming attached to a fake baby and treating it as a real, live person only delves them deeper into a state of mental illness, if you ask me. I can't imagine it's easy to form healthy relationships with real people, or get effective treatment for mental illness, when they are so deeply immersed in a fantasy world.

 

[Chelley00]

I have heard of them being used for mentally disabled people. It's one way for them to show and express love to something else. .

I've seen them used in nursing homes. When you have people with dementia they can get suck back when they had little ones and the dolls can "let them" live out that time instead of them being hysterical looking for their baby.

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

My son's GF's mom collects those things, and they look positively creepy to me. I've given my son the "talk", I'm scared to death the woman is craving a grand baby.

 

[Turn the Page]

The tween aged daughter of my former boss had a couple of them. They weren't the ridiculously expensive models that cost upwards of $500 or into the thousands like some of them do so they weren't quite as realistic looking but I even thought the $100 model was creepy as all get out.

 

[Scrappy_Tink]

And people think Im weird for putting clothes on my Yorkie...I mean, she's a dog, but she does get cold.

 

[Planogirl]

I can't see how these dolls can ever completely fill the void that must be there. Even if disturbed, they are bound to understand on some level that it just isn't the same.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

This is just about as crazy as the teddy bear lady at the Grand Floridian.

 

[ebtbmom]

If someone does it as an interest or hobby I don't see a problem with it. But if they are truly attached to it on an emotional level, maybe they need some help or something.

I mean, some people find my obsession with Disney a little "odd", but I just feel sad for them that they can't feel the magic.

A coworker of mine is friends with a woman on FB that recently created a nursery in her home and had a birth announcement on FB about their "new addition". She posted pictures of the "baby" and my coworker thought that the baby had died and they were post-mortem shots, but it was a Newborn doll!