Is It Healthy To Have Reborn Dolls?
Kristal says placing an order can make customers emotional.
“Some have cried or sent me photos of their stillborn babies to model their dolls after,” she says. “Many have contacted me years later to say, ‘This doll really helped me through my grief.’”
Dvora Entin, a licensed clinical social worker, says people with pregnancy loss often desire a physical representation of what’s missing.
“Especially if there are no photos, hand or footprints or locks of hair,” she tells TODAY.com. “How does one put their hands on something to connect to their story?”
“Some women create an altar-like experience that represents their baby with framed photos and keepsake boxes,” she says.
Not all reborn doll owners are grieving a loss; some collect for fun.
Jess Ellis of London, who owns 11 dolls, started collecting at the start of the pandemic. “I worked from home and it was really lonely,” Ellis, 27, tells TODAY.com. “I wanted something to take care of.”
She and her fiancé, Avery, considered getting a dog; however, reading about reborn dolls online evoked Ellis’ nostalgia for a childhood doll named Annabelle.
Ellis purchased her first reborn doll.
“I’d spend ages posing it, changing its clothes and doing photo shoots,” she says. “I’ve had full-blown conversations with my toddler doll, who has really expressive eyes. It’s nice to talk ‘at’ someone.”
“When I’m upset, the dolls can be very comforting,” she says.
But Ellis doesn’t interact with her dolls every day, and can’t relate to the term reborn “mom.” Rather, she explained on her TikTok channel “Reborns of Jess,” she prefers “collector.”
Ellis and Avery don’t have children. “While I would love to be a mother, it’s a huge responsibility and we aren’t even sure it's possible,” she says, adding that she has polycystic ovarian syndrome, which can contribute to infertility.
During lockdown, Ellis was anxious about leaving home, so her fiancé bought a stroller for the dolls. Their first outing backfired.
“I was standing in front of a store waiting for Avery,” she recalls. “The employees congratulated him on becoming a dad and one came outside to say, ‘‘So this is why we haven’t seen you in so long!'"
“I froze and didn’t know what to say,” she recalls. “Avery told them it was a doll. I was so embarrassed that I never went back.”
Ellis compares doll collecting to another hobby: playing video games. “Why is it socially acceptable for me to role-play an assassin in a video game but it’s not to role-play being a mom?” she says. “Why target people who are literally hurting no one?"
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