Fun

My daughter loves this doll. She is definitely a classic but I still despise how you have to buy the diapers and they are more expensive than real diapers. We tend to buy newborn baby diapers for the doll since you pay $2 more and get three times the amount but the doll is adorable!

Too messy, but otherwise good

It's not that this doll is bad, it's actually a very sweet, fun doll that would work well for teaching kids about babycare, but I think it has a few flaws which might cause problems. The biggest one being that parents might not know what they're getting into.

Succinctly put, cleanup is a nightmare and containing the 'mess' is similarly difficult. So while on the surface, packets of food and diapers seem great and many kids want a pooping/peeing doll, in practice it doesn't work out so well.

For example, the experience for me went something like this. First, you must mix the powder up with carefully measured water. Kids aren't going to measure this unless they are older or particularly precocious, so if you want it to go right, you must do it. The powder makes a gungy green syrup which smells really awful, like a super sweet chemical.

Next, you must let your little one 'feed' the baby. After every couple of spoonfuls, they must rinse it by squeezing water into her mouth. Again, you really need to be there to direct and considering things like the hair aren't supposed to be washed...well, let's just say a child feeding a child is exceedingly messy and there's lots of spills already. It was enjoyable (for the little one), but not for me and it's a lot of work.

Even though I measured carefully and we only fed 'Sweet Spoonfuls' the exact amount listed, her diaper ended up leaking at the sides. Luckily I had the foresight to do this on a tiled floor and the cleanup was easier because of it. Taking the diaper off is...well, it's an unwelcome flashback to liquid baby poops that I could live without and frankly, cleaning is a nightmare.

The food goo gets stuck in every crevice. Meaning even when you've rinsed and washed and wiped every bit of her nether-regions, you will still be finding green slime in her leg crevices and essentially anywhere that has a seam.

Because of this and the cost of diapers and replacement food, I'd recommend simply using it without food at all and feeding her water. A friend of mine also suggested using premature baby diapers as a cheap alternative (but I haven't checked to see if that's cheaper). By using her with only water, any spillage or leakage isn't a problem (unless it gets out of hand) and you don't need to observe as strictly during playtime, plus it makes clean-up a breeze.

Other than the whole 'poop' fiasco, I do like the doll. She's cute (though the open mouth is a bit creepy) and while her body is quite hard and not snuggly, that didn't deter our little testers from snuggling with her. The dress is really cute and has an easy detachable velcro neck tie (perfect for getting it out of the way fast for changing diapers).

The accessories she comes with are also cute and other than the diapers and food, they are reusable. So the bottle, comb and food dish are all great. The price is fair, but I simply wouldn't use this with food again and will stick to water.

As for unpacking it? It's as difficult as with most dolls, there's a few plastic ties wrapped so tight around her that they're extremely difficult to cut. As always I recommend pet nail clippers to cut them more easily. At least she doesn't require batteries!