This doll is fun to play with, and my daughter had some interest with using the potty after playing with this doll, however it is too much work on the parent. You have to mix the babies food, then you have the dishes that comes with the doll to wash, or the food will stain the bowl and spoon. You have to keep on feeding the doll its bottle till the "pee" is clear that runs out of the doll, or the food will harden inside the doll, and may break the doll down to where it doesn't funtion properly anymore. The accessories such as the babies food, and diapers are sold seperate, which gets pricey like having a real baby! I guess that is why it is called baby alive! Also, when the doll makes a "stinky" you have to wipe her down with a wet cloth or the baby food that comes out from her bottom will leave a stain on her butt, or legs if it drips down. Feeding the doll is a mess too, so you have to constantly wash the dolls bib. Overall the doll is educational, and it does help a child want to go potty, but I suggest to parents to buy a potty training doll without the mess, especially if you have other things you could be doing with your precious time then to wash a dolls bowl and spoon, and bib, and feed its bottle for like 20 minutes till its insides are cleaned out from the doll food!
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My 4.5 year old daughter requested a "doll that poops" for Christmas, so I got her this doll. I thought she would be thrilled with the doll, as she's fascinated with all things to do with poops and pee. She loves, loves, LOVES this doll!!! She plays with it *all* day and has so much fun doing so. Her two male cousins (age 5 and 3) are also very taken with the doll (especially the older one).
Not wanting to deal with potential doll 'accidents' during a hectic family holiday, I didn't even show my daughter that the doll doll can eat 'real' food and water, and she has a wonderful time feeding the doll with the empty spoon (the doll moves her mouth to chew and makes appropriate noises) and the empty bottle. When the doll needs to excrete, she says she needs to go to the potty, so my daughter removes the diaper, places her on the potty, and the doll makes the sound of 'tinkle' landing in the potty. If she's not taken to the potty soon enough, she reports her accident and requests to be cleaned up. My daughter loves to clean her up (despite the lack of a real mess), by giving her a wipe with one of wipe cloths that comes with the doll and giving her a clean diaper. Buy a pack of premie or newborn diapers to have a reasonable supply of diapers. You can keep re-using them until the tabs wear out, when using my pretend food and drink strategy.)
My daughter is thoroughly enjoying having a doll that pees and poops for her, but she (and I) don't have the hassle of dealing with real dolly messes. I think we'll stick with this method for a long time. Another alternative to add more realism without the full mess is to just use water in the bottle and food bowl (call it 'soup' in the bowl). Then you'd have a doll that actually expels something, but less mess in a worst case scenario. Plus you don't have to spend any extra time flushing out the doll's insides to clean out any bits of 'food' left behind.)
My daughter needed help with getting diaper back on for a fair number of the initial diaper changes, especially when re-using a clean diaper those tabs can be tricky when they catch on the wrong part of the diaper. I expect a younger child (say age 3) would need even more help.
The interactive things the doll does like asking for a hug, or asking you to sing with her are quite sweet, and really make my daughter happy. The doll has a large 'vocabulary' of phrases and varies what she says quite a bit, so the doll seems more alive, rather than a robot running through a fixed script. I think this doll has real staying power. I've talked with a fair number of adults who adored the original version of the doll (during the 70s) in their childhood.)
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This doll is kind of awful. My daughter got one as a gift and she was THRILLED. I hate this thing. I think it's important to realize it REALLY requires as much care and upkeep and cleaning and so on that you may start considering never having another of your own. This doll is VERY time consuming for the parent. The replacements are expensive. My daughter REALLY liked just pretending with the diapers, but they will NOT restick, so buy preemie generic store replacements with a velcro tab. That's my best advice.
For me personally, I'm THROUGH buying diapers, lol! My daughter tired of it quickly, I never bought more food, though I did diapers, because the cleaning is SUCH a pain. I put it in my attic for another time so maybe one day she'll be interested again. She was 5 when she got it. Your child may love it, but you will loathe it.
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I also bought this to help potty train my son. The book "How to Potty Train in Less Than a Day" suggested a wetting doll. I thought the idea was ridiculous at first. I didn't know anyone else who used a doll. Well...I trained my son in two days while it took everyone else I knew weeks or months. I owe a lot to this little doll. He also enjoys playing with her now, although this doesn't make daddy too happy! She is just too much fun...
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I bought this doll for my 3 year old grandaughter, beleiving all the time that the feeding, potty training, diaperchange, etc. is just a formality that she'll be able practice and enjoy by herself too.
Never tought that if she doesn't feed the doll correctly, the doll food may stain some surface , or if she forgets to make the doll drink, the food gets stuck inside the doll , or for that matter, the diapers or even the food is not reusable.
For God's sake.... this is a doll!! and the child is just 3 years old!
Why didn't you let us know that we have to keep buying the food and diapers as if the doll was a real baby???
Why are not these things resuable????
Beleive me... this doll is only fun for a 3 or 4 year old if the mom takes care of the doll and the mom rather wants an educational toy that the child can experiment with by herself too.
For me, it was a big disappointment!
