Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program
I have included a short video of this doll so you can hear her cute laugh and see her move. I did spare you the diaper change.
She comes in a very child attracting box that takes and adult about 5 min, to get everything cut loose. She is very durable. You press her bracelet on her arm and she laughs and has baby talk and moves her legs. You feed her pears that come in two packs and you get two diapers. You feed her slightly reclined and it is a bit messy just like a real baby. Between bites you give her water to keep the food moving through her. When you are done you have a FULL diaper. After you clean her up you have to take her to the sink and run a few bottles of water through her to clean her out which will require an adult if the child is 3-5yrs old. You have to be careful not to get the voice box wet on her belly, she is not a bath time baby.
She has molded hair so it is not going to fall out or be pulled out. Her cheerful laugh made me smile and I am sure it will all little girls (or boys, nothing wrong with that). If you plan on feeding more than twice there are food and diaper packs available but I think that will get a bit expensive. You can only feed the doll food to her no real food. I used a paper towel diaper the first time to save the 2 real ones for the kids.
She comes with a dress on and diaper, spare diaper, bowl, spoon, bottle,2 packs of pear food and instructions for her care. Batteries are included.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Baby Alive has come a long way from when it was introduced in the 70s. Some of the changes are okay, others are frankly disappointing to this adult. But when it comes to kids (my 7 year old and, yes, even my 10 year old) they didn't care a whit about history and were happy with the doll as is. So from Dad--3 stars. The girls--5 stars. Overall, this nets a 4.
The doll comes in very attractive packaging, but as with most toys these days it was a bit of a bear to get open. Armed with a pair of sharp scissors, however, I made short shrift of the outer tape and was able to remove the plastic. A sharp edge on the plastic gave me a nasty--albeit superficial--gash on my left thumb. Not terrible, but a warning to parents that although the doll is safety tested, the packaging is not. I would have been happier with the less attractive, Amazon frustration-free packaging. The doll itself was secured to the base in a number of places with easily cutable string, a nice change from the usual, twisted wires and much easier to remove. Once the doll was extricated, the accessories were easy to remove. A few slices on the tape and the bowl, spoon, bib, 2 diapers, and baby bottle were freed.
The quality of the item is pretty standard. Baby Alive is made from soft plastic (I'm not sure whether it is BPA free, however) and comes wearing a colorful, print baby dress and a diaper. Unlike Baby Alive of old, the features are more cartoonish, the eyes are painted on and don't open and close, and her hair is molded out of plastic. The doll appeared somewhat ugly and troll-like to me, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Whatever the aesthetics of the design, the quality of the painting and the smooth fit of the joints is better than your standard made-in-China fare and is probably the reason that Baby Alive commands a higher price point. [NOTE: After further research, it looks as though there are different baby alive lines. The high line baby alive (for example, Baby Alive Real Surprises Baby Doll, African-American or Baby Alive Learns to Potty) have movable eyes, regular doll hair, and a moving mouth for both speaking and eating. These also seem to be more interactive than the reviewed model)
When you press her left wrist, baby alive makes a number of cooing and laughing sounds and moves her legs back and forth. In spite of myself, I couldn't help but find this to be cute. My girls--especially the 7 year old--couldn't help but push the wrist a number of times. The doll also coos and makes sounds when she is fed to indicate that she is `full.' This was also a barrel of laughs for my kids. (One of the advantages to buying this doll through Amazon is that the doll ships in demo mode: a customer can push on the wrist and activate the doll for a few seconds. A dozen over-zealous demoers at the brick-and-mortar toy shop and you could easily get stuck with dead batteries. Just be sure to flip the switch on the back of Baby Alive's neck to the `on' position, or she has a more limited repertoire and won't make the I'm-full sounds.)
My biggest disappointment in the doll was that the mouth no longer moves when you feed her. The oldest versions had a leaver and newer versions were battery powered. With this doll, you just align the bottle and squeeze or tilt the head back while your feeding her food. My kids didn't care that Baby Alive didn't chew. They have no nostalgic reference point and simply enjoyed the fact that the doll performs biological functions (or as it says on the package, "I `pee' and `poop'!"). They also enjoyed changing the diaper. (Once you've done this a gazillion times as your own kids grow up, this part loses its appeal. But for a kid, this is a major selling point.)
Sadly, the instruction manual informs you that after play time you need to perform a colon cleanse on the doll to prevent the doll food from hardening inside and making the doll difficult to clean. The Baby Alive version of Green Magma is fairly straight forward: you hold her over the sink sans diaper and flush her through with water using her bottle until the water runs clean. Cleaning the doll can be somewhat messy and, it should be mentioned, Baby Alive cannot be completely submersed underwater. Given that the doll can eat and drink and is bound to be covered with doll food at some point, this is something of a design flaw. You can certainly spot clean the doll, but otherwise have to be careful that you don't splash water on the electronic components (most notably Baby Alive's abdominal speaker).
Baby Alive comes with two packets of baby food (which for the sake of an argument we will call dinner and breakfast) and only two extra diapers (which we will call Daddy gets railroaded into buying replacements tomorrow). As an extra cute aside, This is something akin to giving away the razor and making money on the blades. You can price Baby Alive's food and diaper accessories here (Hasbro Baby Alive Diapers Accessory Pack, Hasbro Baby Alive Food Accessory Pack 10 packs. Suffice it to say, if you bought a six pack of diapers and a ten pack of food on Amazon today, you'd be $1.90 short of free, Supersaver shipping. And what's with the 6 to 10 ratio and that kooky least common denominator? If 1 packet of food yields 1 soiled diaper, you'd need to by 5 accessory packs of diapers and 3 accessory packs of food until it all evens out...) Please note that regular food is verboten--it will cause severe constipation and attract insects. And there is no way to buy bulk Baby Alive diapers at your local big-box store or hire a Baby Alive diaper service. (So unless you can find some cheap, knock-off, generic doll food and doll-sized diapers stocking up for baby alive is pound-for-pound more expensive than stocking up for a real baby.)
But I'll be darned if this thing doesn't have kid appeal. In spite of any of my grownup complaints, my kids had a blast today. My guess is that your kids will enjoy this product too. And for that reason (or so I've been told), Baby Alive rocks!
Best Deals for Baby Alive Changing Time Baby - Blonde
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program The major design flaw with this doll is the fact that she can't give her a bath. With all the "baby food" and other stuff you are shoving down her, this is a big problem. You have to flush the food out by holding her under a faucet but you're not supposed to get the other parts of her wet. Well, you give the doll to a five year old and see how that works, okay?
She did pee and poop, though, so my granddaughter was thrilled. Cleaning the doll up is less than thrilling and a battle to get the gkid to hand her over for the flush.
She does love her, though, so something is being done right. I'm just not happy with the extra diapers and food that need to be bought, but that is selfish. The feeding is a big hit and I just need to buy the stuff and shut up.
Honest reviews on Baby Alive Changing Time Baby - Blonde
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Baby Alive Changing Time Baby is another modification of the same concept as the original Baby Alive. I got this item for my daughter to play with, as she has the "original" baby alive doll that came out many years ago.
What does it do: Like all the Baby Alive dolls, the baby "chews" and "sucks" on its food and bottle. This one is different in that rather than the mouth moving, it makes sucking sounds and kicks its legs. The doll works only with the special bottle and spoon that come with the set (so don't lose them). These items contain a sensor of some sort (magnet or chip?) that when it is placed near the baby's mouth, activates the motion. The food and water go through the baby down its hollow tube center and come out the other end. The original, larger Baby Alive had "real" hair and spoke words. This version has plastic hair and is supposed to be younger than the original "toddler" version, and thus only coos, goo-goos and cries (it will make noise spontaneously or when a small button is pressed on its wrist). In the Baby Alive doll line, there are other variations of actions and a variety skin and hair colors for sale.
Pros and Cons:
Pros: This is a fun toy for all kids who like to play "mommy" or "daddy". When it is fussy and you feed it, the baby immediately makes happy noises. My daughter loves the real aspect of the food and water rather than the "pretend" bottles and food she has to feed the rest of her dolls.
Cons: Because this is a toy, the food you feed it is specially formulated to go through a plastic baby's stomach. This means expensive food refills! In addition, the diaper immediately fills with water and food, which also means expensive diaper refills. I purchased newborn diapers to fit the original, larger Baby Alive doll, and these work fairly well. However, this new doll is much smaller and the newborn diapers end up covering half her body and often leak. Because of the mess, my daughter has started feeding and giving the bottle to the doll while it sits on a play potty (which came with the original set, not with this one). In addition, because the food can get stuck in the baby, after feeding it food, you MUST wash her insides with several bottles of water to get rid of all the food in the doll. It is a little disturbing to hold this doll over a sink and force water down her throat several times to insure that all the food has come out the other end. I have a squeeze bottle that I use so that I can get a larger volume of water through the doll at one time, and this has speeded up the process tremendously. However, this is still a chore and makes it so that my daughter cannot feed the doll without me involved in the clean-up process.
I gave this product four stars, mainly because my daughter and all her friends love it so much and always want to play with it. However, if it were me rating it as an adult consumer, I would give it 2-3 stars, mainly because of the cost of the refills and the maintenance required to keep this toy in good working condition.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Baby Alive Changing Time Baby - Blonde
Baby Alive Changing Time Baby is a cute little baby doll somewhat cartoonish, but with that is just the sort of cuteness that appeals to my six-year-old. It giggles and coos, and moves her legs some, which is cute. But, the real clincher is that this doll eats and then "poops" out the food, which my daughter found disgusting and hilarious. (Kids are weird.) The doll comes with a dress, two diapers, bowl, spoon, bottle, and two packs of food. Batteries were included with the one I got.
Well, what can I say, my daughter loves this doll. She thinks that it is very cute, and she thinks that the eating and excreting (I don't know, what word would you use?) are fun and entertaining. She really likes the doll, and is now carrying it around everywhere she goes along with the jealousy of her best friend.
As for me, I think that it is OK. Its biggest weakness is that when you get the doll, you really must lay in a supply of food and diapers. And you will want to ration the food, or you will go broke buying food for a doll! (I've been told that preme diapers are cheaper, but I haven't checked that out yet.) But, nonetheless, the joy my daughter gets out of this doll is priceless. So, let me just say that she and I both highly recommend this you.
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How much fun is this toy? 5 stars she loves it!
How would you rate this toy's educational value? 4 stars having a baby means changing diapers, get used to it.
How durable is this toy? 4 stars seems pretty good, just watch out for that electronic voice box.
How do you rate this toy overall? 5 stars like I said, she loves it.
