American Girl's Bitty Baby: Perfect for Little Girl and Mom
Written: Jan 18 '01 (Updated Jan 18 '01)
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Pros: High quality, reasonably priced doll with customizable appearance; variety of clothing and accessories available
Cons: Doll is not poseable and cannot actually assume a sitting position
The Bottom Line: Bitty Baby is an excellent choice for children of all ages and a classic doll that will last for many years.
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| tjarnold's Full Review: Bitty Baby |
Growing up as an only child, I was lavished with dolls of every make and variety, from Madame Alexander to Sasha to Barbie. And considering my own mother's perfectionistic home keeping tendencies, it's no wonder that many of them survive in excellent condition. So it was with some trepidation that I approached the task of buying a quality first baby doll for my then 18-month-old daughter. Knowing that I could call upon a near perfect Victoria or Sweet Tears by Madame Alexander, each complete with a wardrobe of outfits, did not make it easier to justify spending a good deal of money on a near duplicate contemporary baby doll.
As a former doll lover, I had noticed the marketing blitz and, more importantly, the widespread enthusiasm on the part of young girls for the American Girl Collection of historical dolls. If I were to buy a doll for myself, in fact, it's from this group that I'd make the selection. About a year ago, however, I discovered that American Girl also produces a line of baby dolls called the Bitty Baby Collection. Disregarding the fact that Bitty Baby is marketed for the over-3 set, I quickly zeroed in on her for my own growing baby. So after much internal debate, I plunked down the $38 for the doll (quite reasonable in comparison to a Corolle doll, for example), plus an extra $36 for two outfits.
And I couldn't have been happier with the decision. Although she is admittedly on the young side for such a doll, my daughter is absolutely enchanted with her Bitty Baby. She will enlist the aid of any adult within sight to help her change the doll's clothes -- it's an endless process of removing the sleeper, putting on the tights, shoes, dress, and hat, then deciding that an entirely different outfit is needed, whereby the whole process is repeated. When an adult is not available to participate in the dressing of the doll, my daughter is happy to put her in a doll stroller and take her for a walk, or put her in a doll bed, or give her a bottle. So while she cannot play with the doll completely without adult interaction and suggestion, I think it's simply because at the age of 19 months, her attention span really doesn't last much past fifteen minutes, and she's not in a position to be left unsupervised for more than a few minutes anyway.
Key Features:
~ Bitty Baby is 15 inches tall, with a cloth body and vinyl arms, legs, and head
~ Her eyes open and close
~ She comes dressed in a turquoise velour sleeper (and a cloth diaper)
~ She is accompanied by Bitty Bear, a 5-inch poseable bear
~ She is available in five different hair/skin/eye color combinations: black textured hair, dark skin, light brown eyes; dark brown hair, light skin, light brown eyes; blond hair, light skin, gray eyes; black hair, medium skin, black almond shaped eyes; and dark brown hair, medium dark skin, dark brown eyes.
Available Outfits and Accessories:
With most outfits ranging in price from $18 to $24, there is quite a bit of built-in value with each of the Bitty Baby sets. Each comes with not only the outfit and corresponding clothing accessories, but also an accessory for Bitty Bear, as well as a small book, toy, crayons or markers, or some combination of the above. At first glance, I thought that $24 seemed excessive for only one additional outfit, but when I realized the enormous potential for added play value, I decided the price was completely reasonable. Furthermore, the clothing is very high quality in comparison to other offerings I've seen. And with an approximate $20 price point, these outfits will make good suggestions for relatives who ask for gift giving ideas for birthdays and holidays.
For my own daughter, I chose the following two sets in addition to the sleeper in which Bitty Baby arrives:
~ Sail Away Set ($24): a truly adorable red, white, and blue seersucker dress and hat, accompanied by blue canvas deck shoes, red trimmed white socks, and two perfect little sailor's hats (one for Baby and one for Bitty Bear). The accessories (in our case, stashed away until my daughter is old enough to play with them): a small sailboat with a cord for pulling across the water, a coloring book, and four markers.
~ Santa's Helper Set ($24, or in combination with the purchase of a new doll, only $12): a sure-to-please hit with a shimmery red velour dress with white feather trim, red tights, shiny patent leather boots, and matching red velour hats with white feather trim for both Baby and Bear. In this case, one of the accessories is even age appropriate for my daughter: a stacking, rocking Christmas tree toy. Other accessories: a book of punch-out tree ornaments and four crayons.
Several other outfits are available, including these on my (oops, I mean my daughter's) official American Girl online wish list:
~ Snowy Day Set ($24)
~ Winter Party Set ($24)
~ Rainy Day Set ($24)
~ Travel Time Set (18)
~ Baby's Carrier ($14)
In addition to many more outfit choices, there is a wide selection of furniture and accessory offerings, customized to perfectly fit Bitty Baby, including:
~ Baby's High Chair ($34)
~ Baby's Crib ($40)
~ Baby's Changing Table ($40)
~ Baby's Lullaby Basket ($70)
~ Baby's Suitcase ($32)
All of these (and more) can be viewed online at www.americangirlstore.com/icmo/plsql/bb1. Orders can be placed by mail, telephone (800-845-0005), or online. I placed my order online and found the experience to be fairly simple, though I appreciated having a hard copy of the American Girl catalog on hand just to get my bearings and check out the entire selection of merchandise beforehand.
Summary:
The Good Qualities of Bitty Baby:
~ Beautifully crafted baby doll which, given the proper care, will last through many years of play.
~ Availability of several outfits and accessories, the majority of which seem to be of very good design and high quality.
~ Doll's hair, skin, and eye color combination can be somewhat customized to your child's own coloring if you wish, though even the most "mainstream" looks may not be exactly duplicable. (My daughter, for example, has blonde hair and blue eyes, but had to settle for a blonde haired doll with gray eyes.)
~ Doll's hair is embossed and colored onto her head rather than actually consisting of strands of hair sewn into the top of her head, so hair will not show wear over the years. (On the other hand, Bitty Baby sometimes appears to be bald, not unlike some live babies I've seen.)
~ Doll's body is soft and genuinely huggable, while limbs and face are made of more durable and detailed vinyl.
The Not So Good Qualities of Bitty Baby:
~ Doll bends, but is not actually poseable. That is, she really only will stay in one position: flat on her back, or standing up straight against something for support. Therefore, she can't be seated in a chair or in another doll's high chair. (I assume that the Bitty Baby high chair is made to accommodate this idiosyncrasy.)
~ My daughter's Bitty Baby arrived with two 4-inch strings coming out of her neck, clearly very tantalizing to little girls of all ages. A phone call to American Girl customer service confirmed my suspicions, that these strings must not be cut in case the doll needs to be repaired in the future and her head removed. The representative with whom I spoke suggested loosely sewing down the strings to the doll's body or carefully taping them to the doll's body, neither of which is a big deal, but both of which seem like steps which might have been prevented had this issue been anticipated at the manufacturing stage. (None of my Madame Alexander dolls, for example, have such blatantly conspicuous strings dangling from their necks.)
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 38
Type of Toy: Other
Age Range of Child: 3 to 5 Years
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Epinions.com ID:
tjarnold
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Location: Connecticut, but I'm a Hoosier at heart
Reviews written: 83
Trusted by: 87 members
About Me:
Mother of two, manager of many. Whatever happened to the myth of "The Total Woman"?
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