For quite some time I was rejecting the idea of buying L an interactive doll purely because she had a basic one and secondly I thought that it might be a little bit too early for her. When L hit potty training stage I thought it the perfect time to try out Baby Annabell doll (£36.99)who will be helping L to master potty training at home or at nursery.
Little Baby Annabell is very realistic looking, even though it has the soft body it can fall asleep, cry, go on a potty, babble and much more.
Before L got her hands on the doll I wanted to have a little play myself which was a good decision as it saved us some real tears due to L's anticipation. Baby Annabell doll is dressed in a fleecy, baby pink romper and a hat that comes off easily, it also comes with bottle, dummy, bib, nappy and cute pendant.
Batteries are not included, to bring Baby Annabell to life you would need 3 AA batteries. Once batteries are in and the switch is turned to "On" little doll starts to babble and giggle every now and then. As the doll comes with instructions it makes it easier to understand how to respond to her noises and needs.
What to expect from Baby Annabell: little interactive doll will make cute babbling noises, as well as cry and fall asleep, it will close and open it's eyes when given a dummy or a bottle as well as move her mouth/lips (you may also hear her inner mechanism working), it will yawn and make loud sleeping noises, will fall asleep when lying horizontally and rocked back and forth, can wet the nappy (re-usable) or do a wee in the potty.
L seems caring when playing with Baby Annabell (and that's how she calls her too) but does need my help when wants to feed the doll or put her on a potty.
What mummy likes: the noises that come from the doll are not loud enough to annoy a parent and the doll will cease making any noises if not played with for a while, which means there won't be any sudden noises in the middle of the night! It's great for imaginative role play and helps develop good, caring qualities.
What L likes: playing and looking after the doll and repeating what mummy does on a daily basis- offers the bottle, gives dummy, changes nappy, goes on a potty.
I did notice that sometimes the doll doesn't understand that she is offered a dummy or a bottle and to make sure she respond you need to firmly (but not too much) push any of these 2 accessories in her mouth.
To make Baby Annabell cry with real tears or go on a potty you would need to fill her up with water, you cannot use anything else apart from clean, pure water. Once the bottle is in doll's mouth squeeze the bottle allowing the water to go down "inner tube". Before placing the doll on a potty take the romper off and press pink heart (you will feel the button under the fabric) which will release the water from the back of the doll. This is something that makes L impatient as you do have to press the button few times to release all of the water but I try to do it myself.
Space for improvement: I would have liked it even more if it didn't have soft, fabric body for practical reasons so that L can do whatever she likes with it.
Baby Annabell is not parent proof as I have noticed that it will babble or cry even though the dummy is still in the mouth or her eyes are closed and she is laughing away. It maybe of course my batteries, but for an innocent, young child not knowing all parenting hacks it's a great basic interactive doll which will make any boy/girl happy for Christmas or birthday!
Disclaimer: I was sent the item mentioned above for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
