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Erin has wanted a cry baby doll for what seems like forever. She has watched a LOT of YouTube videos with Disney Toy Collector and watched those girls play with their Cry Babies dolls on the swings, and ever since has been begging me to get her one. Initially we were going to get her Cry Baby Leah – the one with the super cute leopard style onesie and ears, but then we were offered the chance to complete a Cry Baby Doll review, and trial a brand new addition to the range – the deluxe version Cry Babies Katie.

It seems that the TV has been hinting at me ever since, with the advert being regularly on Milkshake in the mornings, enough so for me to spend many of my walks to work humming along to the ear worm that is “cry baby, cry cry cry cry cry”

As someone who grew up with a cry baby doll in the 80s (albeit a silent one) I could definitely see the attraction! Having not long become a big sister, this was an ideal gift for a four year old!

About the Cry Babies Katie

Children can take care of their very own cry baby doll with this Cry Babies Katie Doll, the newest member of the Cry Babies family. This  deluxe version is different to the other dolls in the Cry Babies Range in that she has new functions and is slightly larger in size. When Katie cries, soothe her with the dummy and give her a cuddle or rub her head to calm her down. Wipe away the tears from her eyes as you listen to her realistic baby sounds.

Katie sips water from her water bottle and comes dressed in an adorable removable onesie with a hood and cute cat ears easily fastened with a Velcro clasp. She ha moveable arms and legs and comes with her own dummy and cup.

Cry Baby Doll - Cry babies katie in the packaging

Our Cry Baby Doll Review

Erin couldn’t wait to carry out our Cry Baby Doll Review! Cry Babies Katie arrived when I was at work, and as such, I had to pop to a local newsagents to collect her. I have to admit, it spooked me ever so slightly to hear her crying in the box on the journey home before we’d even got her out. Knowing that Erin would be desperate to get her out the box, I tried to hide it from her until morning, but Katie’s cries soon blew her cover. Erin was genuinely worried about her and desperate to get her out for a cuddle! 🙂

My first impressions were very positive. Cry Babies Katie is very cute, and her outfit is soft to the touch, and very easy to remove and put back on which I knew was something Erin would love. She has no styleable hair, but her cute little hood with ears is very sweet, although Erin did sometimes ask for help in popping it back on.

Cry Baby Doll - cry babies katie drinking from cup

We had a few challenges at first during our Cry Baby Doll review getting Katie to drink from the cup and despite trying lots of times our cry baby doll was not crying! After some investigating it was discovered that the test batteries that come with Cry Baby Katie aren’t quite strong enough to allow Katie’s drinking motion to work, despite the fact all the sounds appear to have been working. Once we popped in a fresh pair of batteries in this was quickly resolved and she began sucking up the water from her cup as soon as the straw was popped into her mouth. A couple of things to note here are that it is recommended you use bottled water to prevent any corrosion, and that the cup does need to be filled to a certain point (which is clearly marked on the side).

Cry Baby Doll - Close up of Cry Babies Katie crying real tears

When the cup and/or dummy are removed Katie starts to cry – and that’s where the tears really start to flow – to the point where she can become quite damp pretty quickly!! The tears can be quickly stopped by popping the dummy back in her mouth.

As an adult the cries can be pretty hard to hear, but Erin absolutely loves her, and loves being able to comfort her with the dummy and rock her gently to soothe her. I, on the other hand, have been known to pop the switch off on Katie’s bum when Erin wasn’t looking! 🙂

Cry Baby Doll - Cry Babies Katie with child

Overall Cry Babies Katie as a cry baby doll and does exactly what the name implies – so if the thought of a noisy toy puts you off then this isn’t one for you! Whilst we did have a few difficulties with the drinking element at first, we got there in the end, and it really is realistic when the tears start to fall! 🙂

You can learn more about Cry Babies Katie and purchase for £39.99 from Smyths.

Pros

  • Cute outfit which is easy to remove and a cute hood.
  • Accessories included.
  • Poseable arms and legs and a nice size.
  • Encourages positive nurturing behaviour from your child who has to work to comfort her and stop her crying.

Cons

  • Oh my god the crying!!! I guess the clue is in the name that this doll is going to cry – but as a parent who has already had a newborn cry ringing in her ears in the not so distant past, the crying can be a little on the annoying side. I may have said “turn that doll off!” more times that I expected. That said, Erin absolutely loves it when she can comforting her and make her stop, and I just breath a huge sigh of relief.
  • The cup with its drinking straw sticking out of it’s side is a little bit odd, and I would prefer it if there was some other way of getting her to drink the water that didn’t look like it could hurt someone.
  • The batteries supplied are not strong enough to perform the drinking motion, and this is likely to cause a lot of confusion for parents!

You can learn more about Cry Babies Katie here.

*Disclosure – we were provided with a Cry Baby Katie for the purpose of this Cry Baby Doll review however all thoughts and opinions are my own*