I have had many people tell me how my dolls have helped to ease their stress and anxiety simply by just picking them up and holding them for 5 minutes. When designing Potato-Babies™ dolls, I wanted to create a doll that was weighted to feel like a real baby and incorporated aromatherapy. I saw many aromatherapy animal options, but no full scale dolls.
I love to hold dolls that have a heaviness to them. Something about it is very soothing to me. Although I also love life-like dolls, i.e. reborn dolls, I wanted Potato-Babies™ to be a classic, handmade rag doll; realistic weight, not resemblance.
I recently read an article by Dr. Gall Saltz about how women use fake dolls to cope with feelings of loss, anxiety, and depression.
"It’s natural for people to find ways of preserving memories of those they love — from making photo albums, to visiting grave sites to keeping an urn of ashes on the mantel. Everyone tries to vanquish death and the ravages of time. But, can an inanimate doll — one so realistic as to look alive — really replace a living being?...
The reality, however, is that people often face sorrowful issues in their lives. In many cases, they use denial to cope with the loss and the resulting anxiety. This happens to empty-nesters, who may feel they no longer have children to take care of and struggle with what identity they now have left. It also may happen to childless women, whether they have chosen to remain child-free or are childless through happenstance.
It’s not that these doll-owners think the doll is a real baby, but it affords them moments when they are comforted and can pretend they have a real baby, to themselves and to the world.This is different from insisting the doll baby is real. It provides moments of relief and reprieve, when they can escape the stark reality of their loss, and instead have those familiar feelings of coddling a baby, cooing over it, and all those other nice moments that temporarily undo the harsh reality."
Potato-Babies™ are weighted in their lower bodies, arms, and head. Their necks are floppy unless supported. They can be heated to increase to realism when cradling. However, as I mentioned before and as the article reads, I did not want to deviate from reality, but instead to alleviate stress. Check out our mission statement on the About Us page.
