I was flicking through the TV channels recently and landed right into the middle of a documentary on Channel 4 – it appeared to be about adoption or fostering but there was something not quiet right about it. A woman was talking to camera, and although I was exhausted and collapsed on the couch I realised this woman was unstable. She was prattling on about how excited she was – as she was about to go an pick up her new baby. In passing she mentioned that when she ‘ordered’ the baby she sent rough guidelines of what she wanted – “hair and eye colour… et cetera et cetera”. I think it was the way she said “et cetera, et cetera’ that convinced me – she was absolutely bonkers. She was getting a customised baby, no she wasn’t happy with any old baby from a catalog, no, “I knew what I wanted”.

The next scene was her and her partner, who appeared to be fairly normal, shopping in Mothercare for baby clothes – she was holding up babygrows and asking his advice. He was kind of half interested, I think he liked most of them, but rejected one as it wouldn’t suit the baby’s colouring – fair play, they HAD specified the colouring, so that was grand. Yeah, I said to myself, he’s bonkers too.

But then these babies have advantages… look at it like this – you’ll never have to deal with colic and never have to pay college fees – and lots and lots of stuff inbetween. So why would you knock it?

Yeah, blue eyes sound nice…  Ok, we’ll settle for blue then.

The documentary was called, My Fake Baby and it explored the world of ‘reborns’ – lifelike baby dolls – and the women who buy them.  “Although bizarre to some, it brings great rewards to the women involved. Some of the dolls have beating hearts, others have tiny veins and even milk spots. Loved like real babies, they’re taken for walks, cuddled and even have their nappies changed.”

Here’s a clip of the clever woman who makes the fake babies – it shows her offering one of her creations for sale to an elderly woman in a supermarket aisle.

Click here to watch the video: My Fake Baby on You Tube