Realistic dolls with unreal price tags

When I first read about groups of people who get together online to exchange stories, videos and pictures of baby dolls that cost $20,000 or more, I was like, “That’s nuts.” I wanted to learn more about it, and now that I do, I understand this viral trend.

These aren’t your run-of-the-mill dolls cranked out in some Chinese factory. These are hyper-realistic infant dolls. Usually made of vinyl or silicon and weighted appropriately, they’re hand painted with details like freckles, specific expressions and even birthmarks. Creating an upscale so-called “Reborn” doll is painstaking and, frankly, quite impressive. 

It’s easy to see one and think, “Whoa, that’s eerie.” But a growing community of people say “adopting” these dolls have changed their lives for the better.

Cuddle therapy

Doll therapy has been around for a long time to treat patients who have dementia or Alzheimer’s. Though a bit controversial, the treatment seems to have the support of many mental health professionals.

Psychoanalyst Bethany Marshall told Today.com that many collectors use the dolls to deal with grief, miscarriages or another kind of loss. “For some women, ‘mothering’ dolls allows them control over variables in the relationship versus responding to the needs of an actual baby and fostering their development and growth.”

These “Reborn moms” find each other online, creating communities that swap sleep schedules, diaper changing tips and other typical “new mom” topics. 

Many of them own more than one Reborn doll. Lisa Robertson has seven. She started collecting them after her parents died to deal with the pain of being unable to have children. 

Robertson knows her dolls aren’t real babies — but that’s the point. “They don’t grow up, leave you or die,” she told Today.

The price of parenthood

Though you can purchase a Reborn doll for under $100, most cost a few thousand at least. The most expensive we could find went for over $22,000.

Why do they cost so much? Time. The extreme attention to detail means that these dolls require months of manual labor from the artist. Sculpting expressions and fingernails from silicone or vinyl. Hand painting skin texture. “Rooting” each strand of real human hair into the scalp. 

The materials add up, too — especially when the doll includes battery-operated “breathing” machines or a baby-like scent (often created by blending baby powder and laundry detergent).

A $6,500 doll on eBay has a detachable umbilical cord and a realistic “drink and wet” function. For $1,500, you can buy a doll off Etsy that is kinda realistic and also “haunted by an active spirit.” I’m not sure what that means, but I wouldn’t want it in my house.

I know this isn’t a topic I usually talk about in these newsletters. I thought it was interesting that tech has allowed the creation of these dolls along with the ability for people to get together to share. These dolls can really help heal people’s hearts, and that’s something special.