Three, two, one… the water breaks.
The girl holding the baby can’t hide her nerves. In front of her, a bag simulating an amniotic sac opens to reveal a tiny newborn girl. But this isn’t a real birth: it’s a reborn baby, a hyperrealistic doll designed to look like a newborn.
The scene was shared by Candy Children Co., a reborn baby store in Medellín, Colombia, which presents these dolls through an experience that recreates their birth.
In the video, the little girl receives her new baby doll, hugs her and wraps her in a little blanket, visibly excited.
Reborn babies first appeared in the United States in the early 1990s, but today their realism has come to “surpass reality”, with experiences that recreate motherhood, featuring bags that simulate the amniotic sac, umbilical cords and accessories typical of a newborn.
According to information from the manufacturer that made the video, some pieces are handcrafted with more than 30 layers of paint to reproduce skin tone, medical-grade platinum silicone, and a weight designed to mimic that of a real baby. Models range from 29 to 53 centimeters, some weighing up to 3.6 kilos, and there are limited editions signed by their artists.
Prices range from around 800 to around 2,400 dollars, and there are extras such as a bottle that wets the diaper.
For some, it’s an exciting experience that turns receiving a doll into a special memory, but for others, the level of realism is unsettling, especially when children are the ones most exposed to this kind of experience.
Would you give one as a gift?