Baby Dolls and Their State of Undress

[SilverSabre25]

In my house, they're naked 99% of the time. How about yours?

[Abigail]

YUP. The boys like the dolls that have no hair too. They like to drool on their heads, yuck. You can always tell them baby is cold and show them how to dress them. We only have a few changes on clothing so if they want to change outfits they only have two choices. I hope to find more dolls the same size so the outfits can fit all the dolls.

Do you have all soft dolls or hard arms/legs/head? I can't decide which size of a doll to settle on. It would be nice to have "triplets" that are all the same size. Many are from the dollar stores where they are all soft and probably 8-10 inches head to toe. They are just too small for standard play strollers. 90% of the time though the kids just want a blanket to wrap the baby in. They don't really play with the bib, hat, bottle, and other diaper bag accessories. It would be cute it they did.

[kendallina]

Yes, always naked. I was shocked the other day when one of the girls asked me to help her put clothes on the baby.

[SilverSabre25]

Yes, always naked. I was shocked the other day when one of the girls asked me to help her put clothes on the baby.

That's how I felt recently when DD asked me to dress a doll. Of course...it lasted all of 30 seconds before the doll needed a diaper change

[countrymom]

they are half and half right now, most of the barbies are naked and my ds (he's 8) was home on monday (snow day) so he found the cats bungy toy (you hang it off the door) he tied the naked barbie up and was launching her, all the kids thought it was the funniest thing ever. I hate changing dolly diapers, they poop too much.

[nannyde]

NO nekkid babies in play.

All of the kids have the skill set to tear off the clothes. They don't need practice doing it. My 18 month olds can do it.

If they can't replace them BY THEMSELVES they can't take the clothes off.

[Blackcat31]

All dolls are nakey here too!!! I even bought nightgown type clothes but they are all still in their birthday suits.....maybe we could paint clothing on?!?!

[Little People]

In my house, they're naked 99% of the time. How about yours?

All babies are dressed! At this moment I have a all girl daycare!! They don't like when the babies are not dressed, they say they are cold ::

I have all soft babies with hard arms. I have 16 & 18 inch babies. This way I buy preemie baby clothes and you can get some really cute ones for .99 at our goodwill.

[Lucy]

Nekkid as a jaybird. IF they dress them (rare) or have me help dress them, they just take the clothes right back off LOL. And some of those doll clothes aren't easy to put on!!! So when they come to me for help and I do it and then they just take it right back off, I just wasted my time. But I'm glad to do it. I wouldn't ever refuse them help in a normal play activity.

Why would anyone squelch a normal part of being a kid by not allowing them to dress & undress dolls? I don't get that. Seems like a tyrant to me.

[laundrymom]

I thought the clothes was part of the packaging??? ,... I buy the ones with the white cloth bodies and tell them its their onsie.

Nekkid as a jaybird. IF they dress them (rare) or have me help dress them, they just take the clothes right back off LOL. And some of those doll clothes aren't easy to put on!!! So when they come to me for help and I do it and then they just take it right back off, I just wasted my time. But I'm glad to do it. I wouldn't ever refuse them help in a normal play activity.

Why would anyone squelch a normal part of being a kid by not allowing them to dress & undress dolls? I don't get that. Seems like a tyrant to me.

[nannyde]

Nekkid as a jaybird. IF they dress them (rare) or have me help dress them, they just take the clothes right back off LOL. And some of those doll clothes aren't easy to put on!!! So when they come to me for help and I do it and then they just take it right back off, I just wasted my time. But I'm glad to do it. I wouldn't ever refuse them help in a normal play activity.

Why would anyone squelch a normal part of being a kid by not allowing them to dress & undress dolls? I don't get that. Seems like a tyrant to me.

I'm so mean. ::

Yes and when it's all said and done... at the end of the day...at the end of the week... at the end of the year.... your kids play with naked dolls and mine play with dressed dolls. That's the only difference.

You "rarely" dress the dolls so they are naked. I never dress the dolls and their are clothed. Neither one of us are "helping in normal play". If you believed it was normal you would dress them for them routinely and "waste your time".

I do the work it takes to teach them not to "take the clothes right back off" so my kids play with fully dressed and accessorized dolls. Your kids take the clothes right back off and they play with "Nekkid as a jaybird" dolls.

Now who's got the better deal? I think mine do and you think yours does. All good for everybody.

[MG&Lsmom]

ours are 1/2 and 1/2. DD2 loves dolls so we have a lot. My least favorite are the tiny 3" Disney princess ones with the rubber clothes. Ugh! Then we have a bucket of naked Barbies. The cloth dolls are mostly clothed. I have a couple of different ones with cloth bodies and plastic arms, one Bitty Baby and then 2 Waldorf dolls. They love the Waldorf dolls the best. One I bought for a ridiculous amount of money and the other I made myself. Each doll came with it's own clothes, but we have a huge basket of preemie clothes for them. Both my DDs were preemies and these were the clothes they both wore for almost 3 months and then I bought boy clothes thinking DS would come early like the girls and he was 3lbs bigger than both.

[Lucy]

I'm so mean. ::

Yes and when it's all said and done... at the end of the day...at the end of the week... at the end of the year.... your kids play with naked dolls and mine play with dressed dolls. That's the only difference.

You "rarely" dress the dolls so they are naked. I never dress the dolls and their are clothed. Neither one of us are "helping in normal play". If you believed it was normal you would dress them for them routinely and "waste your time".

I do the work it takes to teach them not to "take the clothes right back off" so my kids play with fully dressed and accessorized dolls. Your kids take the clothes right back off and they play with "Nekkid as a jaybird" dolls.

Now who's got the better deal? I think mine do and you think yours does. All good for everybody.

But what's wrong with taking the clothes back off? (Rhetorical question) They are cloth with peach colored skin and a white "onesie", as laundrymom put it so well. I just feel squelching the method with which the children want to play is ridiculous. Or as I have seen it misspelled here - rediculous.

And btw, my meaning was twisted around. I don't feel there's a right or wrong way to play with dolls. If they want to clothe them, that's fine. If they want to un-clothe them, that's fine. And I don't think mine have "the better deal" because of playing with un-clothed dolls, I think they have the better deal because they are playing how they WANT to play, and not micro-managed.

[nannyde]

But what's wrong with taking the clothes back off? (Rhetorical question) They are cloth with peach colored skin and a white "onesie", as laundrymom put it so well. I just feel squelching the method with which the children want to play is ridiculous. Or as I have seen it misspelled here - rediculous.

And btw, my meaning was twisted around. I don't feel there's a right or wrong way to play with dolls. If they want to clothe them, that's fine. If they want to un-clothe them, that's fine. And I don't think mine have "the better deal" because of playing with un-clothed dolls, I think they have the better deal because they are playing how they WANT to play, and not micro-managed.

There's nothing wrong with taking the clothes off if they can get them back on. I don't want the play where they spend five seconds taking something apart and not being able to put it back together.

Here's my barbie collection: http://www.nanshouse.com/apps/photos...bumid=10599095

What is wrong or unnatural about them just playing with these dolls and the accessories without JUST undressing them? I don't care if they change their clothes. What I don't want is the play where they just disasemble and can't put it back.

I don't see any play value in that. I think it's "good enough" for kids to have a collection like I have and PLAY with the toys in a way where the adult doesn't have to be involved AT ALL.

I have kids play with toys that THEY can clean up. Dressing dolls IS a part of "clean up" just like putting blocks in the bin is cleaning up. Once they are old enough and skilled enough to have a shot at dressing the dolls in their play we give them a shot at it. As long as they are able to do BOTH they are welcome to change their clothes. Until then the simple prompt "don't undress the dolls" is all they need. Very simple and I like simple.

My little girls will play for HOURS with these dolls and all we have to do is get the collection out for them and put it back. I don't have to micromanage them AT ALL. That's the kind of play "I" like for my kids.

[Unregistered]

Naked babies

I would say that a good 80% of the baby dolls here are currently naked. If I dressed and undressed the dolls for the dcks everytime that they wanted the doll to be wearing different clothes, then I wouldn't have time for anything else in my day! My solution was that one day I sat with my dcks and taught them how to dress and undress the babies and since then, they dress the dolls on their own. I also have the same policy with the kids dressing up in costumes. If they don't know how to get in and out of the costume, then they need to pick a costume that they do know how to put on and take off or they need to learn how to put the costume on and off because I won't do it for them.