Whenever Christina Keeler, a Pennsylvania mom of two, goes out with her daughters, they get a lot of stares and surprise reactions from other people because they also bring along four reborn baby dolls that look like real infants.
Christina does not hide her obsession with these fake babies and even documents how she's caring for them, such as feeding or changing their diapers, on her social media. She and her husband, Bill Keeler, even consider themselves a family of eight but with four fake babies despite receiving a lot of negative reactions from trolls on the internet.
Speaking with The Sun, Christina explained that she started collecting reborn baby dolls when she saw a documentary about it soon after losing her firstborn child in 2015 through a miscarriage. She said that her first fake baby doll helped her deal with the pain and loss because she was still grieving for her mom, who passed away from cancer.
"All I could think about [after the miscarriage] was how much I wanted my mom and how much I wanted my baby," Christina said.
Now, her daughters, Grace, 4, and Joy, 2, are also into the dolls, and they have been featured with their "siblings" on their mom's YouTube channel, The Reborn Family. The mother said that she especially loves that she can share her hobby with her family, which is something that trolls online do not understand.
Family and Friends Do Not Accept Her Hobby, Too
But it's not just trolls who find her obsession with reborn baby dolls quite odd. In an interview with The Mirror, the mom said that her in-laws told her husband not to support her hobby.
Bill, admittedly, was not on board at first because the dolls also freaked him out since they look so much like real babies. However, he has slowly embraced what his wife loves and has even helped out Christina role-play and film some of her YouTube clips.
Christina also has friends who refuse to talk to her about the dolls, and she said it's hurtful to pretend that the fake babies are not there. Some of her trolls are, in fact, people she knows in real life, such as distant relatives who have called her a freak.
The mother said that her hobby isn't harming anyone, even if it seems strange to many people. Her only wish is for people to be happy with her choices and to celebrate what brings her joy.
To normalize reborn baby dolls, Christina is habitually taking them out with her family. She said she could sense the whispers behind her back, but many of them have been positive feedback.
What are Reborn Baby Dolls?
Doll lovers and collectors ushered the popularity of reborn baby dolls in the 1990s. In the beginning, these items were only available from a handful of online providers and specialty doll-makers; hence the dolls carried such a price tag.
From doll collecting, the dolls became coping tools for mothers who have suffered a miscarriage, drawing a debate from critics who think that the fake babies may hamper a mother's grieving process, according to Today.
But reborn baby dolls have formed a life of their own as it has been featured in movies and TV shows. Some experts also support using these dolls for elderly residents in care homes because holding life-like babies brings them peace.
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