This is completely crazy and sick if you ask me.
Ashleigh Kirby, is a 36-year-old mother from Britain, and spends more time and money on baby dolls than with her own daughter, 12-year-old Becky.
Ashleigh bought the baby doll six months after splitting up from her partner – I don’t know, but this baby doll situation can be a clue to why they split.
Not only does the baby doll sleep in a cot in Ashleigh’s bedroom, she spends approximately $400 (£250) on clothes for the ‘Reborn’ she bought online, AND keeps his clothes in a specially-bought wardrobe.
Soon Finlay, the boy baby doll, will be joined by a sister, Summer, which Ashleigh is planning to buy.
She added:
‘I always thought something was missing in my life and, when I saw the babies, immediately I knew what it was.
‘The dolls are a substitute for me. I am very maternal. I bought Finlay six months ago for £250 from a lady I found online.
‘Half of my bedroom is taken up by his cot and I also have a pram, a car seat and a wardrobe of clothes.
‘He wears a nappy which I change – although not as regularly as you would a real baby.
‘I’d have liked to have met another man and had a brood of kids, but life didn’t work out like that.
‘I considered adoption, but I’m too lazy to go through the process. Real children are hard work – you worry all the time. With Finlay, it’s cuddle time all the time.’
‘Reborn’ dolls are made to be incredibly lifelike, and apparently there was a documentary done on them, which Ashleigh saw and prompted her to buy one.
According to the Daily Mail, here is how they come:
The dolls take four weeks to make and arrive in plastic kits of a head and four limbs – like Airfix models. The body is weighted with glass beads or steel shots to make it feel as life-like as possible. Each hair is meticulously added individually to the baby’s head and eyelids, which can take 40 hours to complete.
The dolls are then painted with veins and then layer upon layer of paint to build up the skin tones to give it a realistic look before being placed in a kiln to set. Each ‘reborn’ has fingernails, milk spots, flaky skin and downy baby hair, and can weigh up to 9lbs.
Ashleigh added:
‘Sometimes I just play along with it. Looking at Finlay for the first time, there was a stronger bond than I had with Becky.
‘There was an immediate rush of love. With Becky, I was so tired after the birth I didn’t feel as close to her.’
And Becky thinks her mom’s obsession is ‘weird’, obviously hiding it from her peers.
She said:
‘I find it creepy – I don’t really understand it. I don’t think mum prefers Finlay, but she can’t give me all the attention like she used to.’
Meanwhile, Ashleigh is excited for her second doll Summer. She said:
‘I can’t wait to have a baby girl in the flat. I wanted a slightly older baby as Finlay is very much new born.
‘Summer will have long blond hair, I have seen pictures and she looks gorgeous.
‘As she is a girl I am sure she will be spoilt with lots of new clothes.’
The ‘Reborn’ dolls are made by artist Yvonne Walters, 56, who makes the dolls in Newquay, Cornwall. She said:
‘Some people find having the dolls therapeutic while others send pictures of babies that mean something to them. I can generally make one that’s similar.
‘I’ve been approached by women who have lost babies and want a doll to remember them by.’
I personally find that creepy.
She added: ‘I don’t understand it myself but if people take solace in them then that’s OK as far as I’m concerned. The aim for me is to make them come alive.’
