BABY Born Interactive Summer Adventures

#ad – gifted for review

Erin absolutely loves playing with dolls, and ever since she the arrival of her baby sister, when she watched me become a Mum to a newborn baby of my own, she has become quite maternal, acting out little role plays and pretending that her dolls are her very own bundle of joy. It’s very sweet to watch, and she tells me regularly that she is going to have three babies of her own when she grows up – girl babies obviously (as far as Erin’s concerned there is only one obvious choice!)

This Summer, I was chuffed to bits when Erin was offered the chance to put the BABY Born Interactive Doll to the test. With the 6 week holidays coming up sooner than I can cope with, the BABY Born Interactive Doll is the perfect accompaniement for outdoor playtime, family picnics and summer roadtrips; and we couldn’t wait to put it to the test!

About BABY Born Interactive Doll

The BABY Born Interactive Doll is one of the closest things children will get to having a real baby of their own to play with!
With 9 life-like functions such as controlled wee’ing and even pooping, crying real tears, eyes that open and close and moveable arms and legs, children will love looking after this lifelike and detailed baby doll.

The New BABY Born Interactive Girl Doll comes with 11 different accessories including a spoon and bowl, bottle, nappy and 1 sachet of food for feeding time as well as a nappy, potty, dummy, hat, birth certificate and a heart shaped bracelet, with a matching bracelet for the child to wear! THe BABY Born interactive baby doll can eat, drink and even enjoy a bath just like a real baby! The BABY born doll is compatible with BABY Born clothing and accessories (each sold separately).

BABY born interactive doll is suitable for ages 3+ and retails at £39.99.

Our Baby Born Interactive Review

Erin was really excited when the BABY Born interactive doll arrived. She comes in quite a large box, with all of the accessories immediately on display, so straight away Erin could set sights on all the adventures she would be able to have – getting particularly excited about the potty and the fact that the BABY born interactive could really go to the toilet after drinking her bottle.

Unlike some interactive dolls, BABY born interactive does not require any additional batteries or set up (an added bonus for parents!) so is ready to play with straight out of the box. From a parents perspective, I often hear the word interactive and have a little panic inside, knowing that this usually this means lots of noises and audible crying, but BABY born interactive is a little different. The accessories and features with the BABY Born Interactive doll are all quiet; something which makes for a far more calm and relaxing playtime. For a toy which is encouraging maternal instinct, role play and imagination, I personally found this a huge positive.

Erin really enjoyed some of the traditional elements of playing with the BABY Born Interactive doll. The doll itself is a good size and weight, with no fabric parts, and with the exception of her mouth (the hole inside is visible when she leans back), her features are very lifelike. Her eyes close and open as Erin sat her up and lay her down, and so Erin enjoyed ‘rocking her to sleep’ and giving her a cuddle. She comes wearing her own little baby grow with a clip on dummy – and Erin enjoyed popping the dummy in and out of her mouth and removing it from the clip as she played.

Crying

To make BABY Born Interactive cry, Erin used the water bottle and slowly fed her the contents, before squeezing on her right arm in order to encourage the tears to be released from her eyes. It is worth noting here that the bottle should not be used with anything other than water (as other liquids could block up the tubes in the doll), so whilst using milk might be tempting – it is not recommended. Secondly, the child does have to press quite hard on her arm for the tears to be released – At 5, Erin was able to do this on her own, but a younger child may need a little bit of assistance to get the required amount of pressure. When she does cry – she really does cry, with big plops of water dropping from her eyes! There are no audible crying sounds (again, for me a real positive!)

Feeding

BABY born interactive also comes with the ability to eat her very own doll food – simply adding 20ml of water to the sachets of doll food and mixing it up using the little bowl and spoon before feeding it directly into her mouth. Erin was quite happy pretending to do this with the empty bowl and spoon, and with her younger sister around, mixing up the sachets could lead to a bit of a mess, so we have opted to try this on another day. The pack comes with one sachet included, but packs of additional sachets are available to buy separately.

Going to the Toilet

To make the BABY Born Interactive doll wee, Erin simply fed the baby some water using her bottle, and then sat her on the potty and pressed the button on her bellybutton – as you press, the wee comes squirting out into the potty below, which Erin found hilarious!

BABY Born Interactive also comes with the ability to do a poop – after being fed a sachet of the premixed food, the button on her bellybutton can be pressed twice to encourage BABY Born Interactive to do a poo either into the potty below or using the nappy (again one is included and you would need to purchase more should you want to keep using them). I have to admit as an adult I was a little bit grossed out by the prospect of a pooping doll, and we were quite happy to stick to having her wee in the potty instead. Whilst I think it is clever that she can do it, I don’t feel it is absolutely necessary, and as such, we haven’t used this function as of yet.

The BABY Born Interactive doll comes with one nappy included, and Erin really enjoyed taking this on and off – good practice for when she has a child of her own, or if you have a child who is shortly to be expecting a sibling! The nappy comes with the stickable tabs so is quite lifelike, and it was very cute watching Erin do this on her own.

Finally, one of the best parts of the BABY Born Interactive for us was that she is fully bathable – with no batteries, sounds or fabric parts, Erin can take her in the bath with her, and it was great watching her hold her baby so carefully as she washes her head and splashes with her in the water.

The Overall Verdict

Whilst I don’t think I am entirely convinced by her need to have pooping abilities, I really love the BABY Born Interactive Doll and it has been a big hit with Erin (and Neve!). As an adult I love the fact that her interactive elements are quiet, and that she really helps encourage a gentle and calm side to Erin’s playtime. From Erin’s point of view, the fact she comes with so many accessories makes her playtime lots of fun, as every time she plays with BABY Born Interactive, she does something slightly different, making her appeal last so much longer than a normal doll. I love the fact that the outfits are available to purchase separately, meaning Erin can dress her up and change her look as she wishes.

*Disclosure – we were sent this doll free of charge for the purpose of this review, however as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.*