"Reborn babies" are disconcertingly life-like baby dolls carefully crafted in vinyl, which have become swiftly popular mainly with collectors, but also with nostalgic grandparents and grieving parents.

Earlier this week police in Gympie, Queensland, reportedly broke into a car to rescue what they thought was a dying baby, only to discover it was a "reborn".

Made and collected by an online community of enthusiasts, they are painted several times to create the mottled colour of newborn skin, have mohair hair and eyelashes, and are weighted to make them feel as heavy as human babies.

Fans of the hobby, who call it "reborning", are mostly women and increasingly guarded about discussing it since media reports highlighted their purchase by bereaved parents, prompting some to portray the hobby as macabre.

"Cuddle therapy" is what one reborning website calls the hobby – the dolls’ bodies can be fitted with electronic devices that mimic a heartbeat and breathing.

British department store Harrods – whose motto is "Everything for Everybody Everywhere" – describes them as "a bit too life-like" to stock, and collectors themselves say the dolls can cause feelings of intense unease, even disgust.

"I pick them up and I change them and I do hold them like a baby now and again – it’s relaxing," said doll-owner Gill, a 50-year-old grandmother who asked to remain anonymous because of the way reborning has been portrayed in the media.

Reborners say their hobby began in the United States in the early 1990s, with dolls becoming more and more realistic over time. Media coverage helped spread the idea to other countries, mainly Britain and Australia.

Cathy Newcombe, who makes the dolls and runs reborning Website Reborn Babies UK, said counsellors were increasingly looking into the therapeutic benefits of holding reborn babies.

"The act of holding the doll may have a role in releasing a ‘feel-good’ hormone," Ms Newcombe said.

But not all react in this way.

"You get this repulsion from some because it looks so life-like and they just see a dead baby," said Sue, 56, who bought her first doll in June.

"Looking at my reborn I’ve never seen a dead baby – she has too much colour in order to be dead."

Too niche

The term "reborn" is used to distinguish custom-made baby dolls from those mass-produced in a factory, says Deborah King, who took up doll-making as a hobby three years ago and now sells dolls via Reborn Baby.

"My daughter wanted a sibling and I didn’t want to have any more children, so I made her a doll instead," said the 32-year-old mother of two.

Ms King’s website features lists of baby dolls photographed in cots and dressed in frocks, some of which are described as "premature". Most have girls’ names and are described as waiting for "adoption".
She sells the dolls for between 250 pounds to 1,600 pounds ($514-$3,290) and receives 10 to 15 requests a week.
The reborning community says most buyers are collectors.
"To me it’s a work of art… I’m not into pushing it around in a pram," said collector Gill.
Newcombe of Reborn Babies UK said most of her customers want to collect the dolls as art: "Between 10 and 15 per cent are for ladies who have lost a child."