favorite baby dolls?

I want to get the kids nice baby dolls for Christmas (both of them really love taking care of dolls and stuffed animals!). But there are so many just creepy-looking ones out there! Ideally, I want something nice, NON-creepy, preferably with clothes they can practice dressing/undressing with. I don't want anything with batteries. Any ideas/favorites?

(Why is it always so hard to fine "just a simple _____"? :crazy: )

 

The best baby dolls I've ever found are the super cheap ones that Target and Walmart both sell. I think the brand is "Little Mommy". They have many different versions - some have batteries and sit up, or make noises, but the great ones are just the simple $12 baby doll that comes with a hat and a blanket. They're easy to dress, not too creepy, and my kids love them. They're small, though, so a lot of baby clothes don't fit right.

My second favorite are the Corolle dolls, but they cost about $60 each. They're bigger, probably 12 or 15 inches, so preemie clothes fit them. My least favorite baby dolls are the American Girl Bitty Babies. They're super heavy, they have a weird string closure at the neck, and their hair rubs off when dragged across the floor.

Ok - I just reread your post. If you want nice dolls, Corolle is the way to go. They're made very well, hold up nicely, most come with a pacifier (my girls favorite part), and baby doll clothes fit them well.

 

When Aaron was 2 or 3, we got him a cabbage patch newborn doll. I love this doll. It is just a simple doll with a rubber head and soft body. It is also a boy doll. It was $10 at walmart. Simon gets lots of love from all 3 kids now and I wish I could find 2 more just like him.

 

We have the fisher price "little mommy" twins. The girls got them for christmas when they were 1 1/2 and they still love to play with "baby michael" (he's wearing blue) and "baby kate." I got them onesies and clothes in target last christmas, and they fit into the knit preemie hats the girls got in the NICU. Ana especially likes to dress them up. I was thinking about getting them a cradle and highchair for this christmas.

ETA: Oops, looks like they are Mattel brand.

 

Both of my kids love the Little Mommy twins. Sophia really likes her cabbage patch doll too.

 

We got some hand-me-down Corolle dolls. They're very typical baby dolls with firm (not super-hard) plastic heads and limbs, and soft bodies. They've held up through 4 kids so far, so I guess they're well made!

I don't think any baby dolls are really easy to dress (though it doesn't help that we have a motley assortment of hand-me-down clothes meant for different sized dolls).

The only thing I don't like about the Corolle dolls is the vanilla scent. Why anyone thought it was necessary to give a baby doll a scent is beyond me. But fortunately it's mostly worn off by the time we get the dolls.

 

A fellow twin mom makes them. Dielle designs has an etsy store. I think they are just adorable. I do not know what you are looking to spend but these dolls are adorable!
Dielle Designs Etsy Store

 

I second the Little Mommy and Corolle dolls. I like how the Corolle ones close their eyes when you lie them down. We have both kinds and they love them both, although they spend more time undressing them and spreading clothes all over than anything... I don't think the Little Mommy baby dolls have clothes... the Corolle ones do, not cheap though (look up Corolle Mon Premier on amazon).

 

When do kids show interest in dolls? Neither of mine have ever shown any interest. :80:

 

Mine basically came out of the womb interested in dolls. My aunt gave them their first baby dolls (those "Little Mommy" ones) when they were about 15 months old and they started carrying them around. And they've been in love with taking care of their dolls ever since. I don't think I was particularly nurturing as a child, so it sort of cracks me up.

 

Something to consider is if you think your kids will want to bath the dolls or not. If you think they might (or want to give them the option) then obviously you will need to get hard-body dolls. I'm mentioning it because my kids who play with dolls love to wash them, in the summer I'll put a tub of water and bubbles outside and they can spend ages occupied in giving their babies a bath.
Also I find that they like dolls with close-able eyes more because they can make them go to 'sleep'.

I think it just depends on the kids. My older girls were happy to play with baby dolls (although I don't think it was ever a favourite activity) and Eleanor and Ethan love baby dolls, they have about 6 and play with them a lot, but Naomi and Luke never had any interest in them. Naomi was given one doll when she was about two (a really nice one) and she hated it, she used to say "No NO!" if she saw it and if you didn't put it away she got really angry. I think her Mum kept it in the cupboard, along with the toy pushchair, for a couple of years in case she grew into liking it but she never did. If neither of yours have shown an interest by now they probably aren't going to.

 

My son couldn't care less, my daughter started around 2 I think?

 

Bex, Ana loves her dolls. She mostly like to dress them and accessorize them (fancy bows, jewlery, paper crowns!). Meara is not as into them. She'll play dolls sometimes but she is more interested in making them tumble down the couch, jump off the bookshelf, or be thrown off the place set (you get the idea). Its funny though because Meara is definitely my gentler child, and Ana likes to wrestle with the boys. But put a doll in Ana's hand and all of a sudden she is nuturing.

 

My girls have too many a bunch of dolls, all different kinds. This one is by far their favorite, and TRU has different doll clothes that will fit this one.

 

all 3 of mine started to show interest at 18 months.

 

I was so disappointed when I bought the twin cabbage patch babies for their first birthday and neither of them ever played with them. They ended up in a bin with the megablocks and other human dolls. But give them a stuffed animal and it's a completely different story.

 

That's why I wait until they're really ready for something to give it now... or it just sits and sits and by the time they could be into it, they've forgotten about it.

I got DD a cabbage patch kid (the 20th edition ones) 3 years ago and only giving it to her this year.

 

My 18 month old daughter loved her newborn cabbage patch doll. The look in her eyes when she got it was priceless!

 

One of my twin girls developed an interest in dolls around 15 or 16 months old. So I bought both my girls the $12 newborn Fisher-Price dolls from Target. They're perfect, except for their fake "baby lotion" smell. My one girl totes those dolls everywhere. She dresses them, changes their diapers, talks to them, pushes them in strollers/shopping carts, etc. Definitely her favorite toy. My other girl has no interest in dolls whatsoever. She likes monsters, especially Bumble the Abominable Snowman from the Rudolph movie, and trolls, especially the grumpy old troll who lives under the bridge in Dora the Explorer. Go figure.