Doll:Mommy's Having A Baby

To help parents explain to their children where little siblings come from, toy maker Tyco in 1992 released its Mommy's Having a Baby, an 18-inch doll with a protruding stomach that hid a 4.5-inch infant doll tucked in a pouch in Mommy's dress. A strip of judiciously placed Velcro kept the infant doll in place until the blessed event. The dolls came with the endorsement of a play therapist and a child-development specialist who suggests a before-and-after narrative to accompany imaginative play: before the baby is "born," the play includes poking Mommy's soft tummy to feel the baby and using the baby scope included to "see the baby move." After the baby is born, little girls are encouraged in more traditional baby-doll play like dressing and feeding the infant and combing and styling the Mommy's long blonde hair. Many examples of this doll still in its original packaging seem to be available in online auctions, perhaps suggesting that numbers of dolls were sold, but, once purchased, parents had second thoughts about giving the doll to their daughters.