My Fake Baby

As I was flipping through the channels last night (Yes, my hubby passed me the remote for a few minutes!), I noticed My Fake Baby on the guide. I turned to it for a few minutes, because I thought it must have been about the ladies who buy reborn dolls. We saw a 20/20 special on this a while back, and I was both fascinated and creeped out. If you haven't heard about it, people have started (Actually, it's been going on for almost 20 years now - weird that 1990 is almost TWENTY years ago...) making these babies that look incredibly realistic. If you're interested, and you have anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars to spend, you can special order your own reborn baby.

Not surprisingly, it is mostly women that purchase these babies. Some people collect them, just like you (well, not you, hopefully!) would collect regular dolls, but some people just have one baby. Some who have lost a child or a grandchild have a reborn doll made as a replica of their lost one. For some people who are grieving, they say it is therapeutic, but when does this cross the line? Some of the women on the 20/20 special would buy one and then take them everywhere they went. They said they did this because of all the attention they received when they had a baby with them. And that just seems weird. The reborn babies are also said to have helped Alzheimer's patients and others. So, on one hand, I am completely and absolutely creeped out by this whole thing. On the other hand, I get it. If this is what helps someone grieve the loss of a child, then so be it. And if it's helping elderly patients with terrible diseases such as Alzheimer's, then that's pretty cool. But I still find it strange that people will tote these around, treating them like real babies, just to gain attention from others. So what do you think - creepy or helpful?? I guess there are weirder things that people do... maybe!