Basics & Origins

 Reborn Doll Basics & Origins

 

1. Are Reborn dolls in any way harmful? I would not think so. As I have stated earlier on this page, they can actually be tools for therapy, for healing. Due to their realism, they can help people cope with quite a few different things, which include but are not limited to Dementia, anxiety and grief. They are also an art form, and art itself is very therapeutic for the artist!
2. Do women enjoy this hobby as a way of coping with the loss of a child? Yes, some do. I will not sugar coat it. But the real truth is that most people in the hobby just enjoy it for the art form that it is and it is also not just women who are in the hobby- some men also enjoy these dolls and I think that's pretty cool, as when I was a little girl, I always wanted a guy friend who would play dolls with me but could never find a guy who was willing to do so. 
3. What is a Reborn Doll? I think the videos at the top of this page do a good job of explaining and showing the answer to this question but I will also try to answer it in my own words here. A Reborn Doll is, by definition, a doll whose parts have been painted or repainted, rooted or rerooted with hair, realistically weighted and assembled by an individual doll artist. The "textbook" definition is 'a doll that has been repainted or rerooted and weighted to resemble a realistic, living infant as closely as possible by an individual artist' but that definition leaves most of today's "Reborn" dolls out of its meaning, as most modern Reborn Dolls are assembled by artists from premade blank doll kits intended specifically for the purpose of creating a realistic baby doll.
4. How did the hobby begin? The exact date is extremely speculative, with most sources online saying that the movement toward more realistic dolls began in the early 1990's but it is possible that the hobby started sooner than that. After all, doll makers, doll artists, have existed now for hundreds of years. This person mentions the well-known doll artist, Lee Middleton having first had her idea to create more realistic dolls in 1978 and that Berengeur or BERJUSA, a doll making company known for their more realistic sculpts, has been marketing their dolls since the 1940's. Honestly, it is difficult to pinpoint when or how this hobby was started. But I can personally say this: I did see a rise in realistic baby dolls when I was a little girl in the 1990's. In fact, I had a few of them! Bitty Baby by American Girl and the Anne Geddes Ladybug were my childhood go-tos!
5. Are Reborn dolls ever used for anything other than collecting or therapy? Yes, actually. Many Reborn dolls are purchased from artists, to be used as clothing models for people that create and sell their own lines of baby clothing and Reborn dolls are also often used in TV and film in place of real babies, because working with real babies in film can be a difficult task. There are also unfortunately, apparently some possible terrible uses as well but the community does not claim such people. We sometimes hear stories of artists being asked if their dolls have certain features for undesirable reasons and it is incredibly offensive to us as a whole.
6.  Do you have any personal recommendations of Reborn Doll related channels to watch or follow? Heck yes, I do! Tori's Reborn Babies is a favorite of mine for her soft-spoken tones, as well as how she continuously breaks the 'hobby stereotype' of being a childless woman due to the fact that she is, in fact, NOT a childless woman and yet still enjoys doll collecting. I also always love her reviews of the baby stuff she finds in stores when she takes her Reborn dolls out shopping with her. My second recommendation is nlovewithreborns2011 because watching her do the artwork and explain the process is mesmerizing to me. ShellBellsChannel is actually a favorite of mine partly because of her interest in the Reborn doll hobby but mostly because I just enjoy watching how intelligent and inventive she can get. KitsToCradlesNursery does a really good job with shopping haul reviews and anecdotes. RebornsOfJess does fantastic rebuttals and explanations for hobby outsiders. MelissaValentinesCozyNursery is great for making us deep think about a range of awesome and interesting topics while we cuddle our dolls. TheCountryCottage is my final recommendation, based just on how sweet and open-minded she is. CountryCottage and nlove both helped me see a broader picture during the 2024 fiasco regarding stolen sculpts and consumer spending limits. RIP also to LisasLittlesLoves80s, her channel was one of my favorites to tune into when the hobby took my attention and I do not know what happened to her channel.
7. Who typically collects Reborn dolls? A fair portion of the hobby is comprised of people younger than 15 years of age but most people in the hobby seem to be in the age range of around 20 to 60 years old. Generally speaking, those who collect Reborn dolls do it because they think babies are adorable or because they enjoy baby fashion or both. A small subset of people in the hobby collect these dolls for therapeutic reasons as well.
8. Is this a hobby only for child-free people? Of course not. Many people in the hobby actually have real children of their own. This hobby is for people who enjoy dolls, people who like babies, people who enjoy baby fashion, people dealing with memory loss, people facing anxiety or depression and people carrying a loss in their hearts. In short, actually, it could be said this hobby is for just about anyone.
9. Do the dolls cry, grow, eat, sleep, poo or pee?  No, of course not. They are dolls! Not living children. Some silicone dolls do feature drink & wet systems that make them appear to "drink" milk and then wet their diapers, but that's not common to find within this hobby, as silicone dolls are very expensive. You might also sometimes come across dolls that can sort of "cry" but these are typically either dolls with some kind of built-in artificial intelligence machine with censors, for example, the RealCare baby dolls or they may be hooked up to an app via a bluetooth speaker, such as ShellBells' BabysitMe.
10. More Q's soon to come!