Baby Doll for Little Boy

There's nothing wrong with boys playing with dolls. It doesn't mean that they are gay or will become gay or grow up to be less manly. I swear... why do eyebrows get raised when boys play with dolls or want to paint their toenails, but not when girl play with tools or trucks. Sorry, it just fries my bacon.

Keep in mind that he doesn't "need" a doll to play with to role play. Kids will pretend to feed stuffed animals. And there are lots of different types of role play. Kids that are allowed to express all of their emotions through creative play are leaps and bounds ahead of those who are stuffed into their gender role boxes.

Call me a long term planner, but I want to be a Grandma. I am a single mom and my only child is a boy, so for me to be an involved Grandma HE needs to be an involved Dad so you better believe he has a couple of babies to practice being Daddy too!

My son is all boy, too. He's 2. He wrestles, goes and goes, plays in dirt, LOVES trains and cars, bugs, frogs...you name it. He is a rough and tumble little boy. It's so funny you asked this question, because I went to a friend's house today and he was beside himself over her doll. He played with that doll forever. He loved it. I couldn't believe it! I'm so going out and getting him a doll! Oh, my husband doesn't care. He does have a play kitchen that he loves, already.

If you want him to grow up to be a nurturing father, why wouldn't you want him to play with a doll? (care for it, feed it, hug it, etc.)

Are you planning on having more children? If so, this will be good practice for him to take care of a "baby" so he will learn to be gentle with his siblings.

Your little boy is ALL BOY, as you say, because you have provided him with those toys. What if you had only given him "girl" toys all his (short) life? If he played with dolls and kitchen stuff and brooms and fairies, would that make him ALL GIRL? Of course not! That would be ridiculous, right?

My son played (and still will play) house, dolls, etc. And he is wonderful with younger children. He also plays kickball, basketball, and spy. And he is wonderful with children his age and older.

Your son will be well rounded if you expose him to all different types of play. But then, at 15 mos he may just not be ready for role playing. Because he doesn't have to have a doll to do it. He may one day pick up his stuffed bear and try to feed it. Because he sees other moms do it, and you do it with him.

I don't think he was saying he needs a doll.
He was asking if he plays pretend.
My son had a corduroy bear that he loved and he had Disney bear that he played with like that. but never really played with dolls, and he has an older sister that has dolls.

Your son should have a doll... Just like my daughters should have trucks, hard hats and tools.

There is no such thing as girl toys or boy toys. If he wants to play with dolls, get him a doll.

I would agree with the other moms who said that your doctor was just checking to see that your son engages in imaginary / imitative play. What exactly your child does will depend both on his interests and what he sees the important people in his life doing. You don't really need to provide a lot of props ... He'll find something. When my first son was two, he spent loads of time rocking, mothering, and yes , even "nursing" his favorite stuffed frog. Why? Because he had a newborn brother, and that's what he saw me doing all day. My second son (now two) mostly plays pirates, because that's what his older brother currently likes. Long answer, but basically, while there's absolutely nothing wrong with getting a doll, he'll find other ways to pretend to be a mother or father, if that's what he is interested in.

I have two very boyish boys! The youngest found two Barbies left here and LOVES them! Takes them everywhere and calls them "my guhls." They ride in his trucks as well! I don't think you have to buy a baby doll but no harm if you do. Both of my boys show lots of care and love for their stuffed animals and they have Woody and Buzz dolls fromToy Story the adore. They role play with all of those and action figures. They play dress up with a variety of costumes and they love this Fisher Price gender neutral Little People house that's like a doll house they play with. The oldest had an actual baby doll he dug out of a needy kid Christmas basket I was making one year, and he was interested for about three days. It's fine either way! They also love their play kitchen (Dad was a professional chef for years). Your son will grow to be who he is going to be, and I see nothing wrong with him playing with a doll or doll-type toys if he likes them.

That's a cool idea. Even if he had Andy and Ann it's nothing bad. I don't think kids should be set up in these gender roles, not that you are. I think the lines between boy/girls should be erased. I'm not saying dress him up in dresses, but dolls are okay. My daughter plays with trucks, tools, etc and boys should be allowed to play with dolls (which doesn't have to include barbies) and stuff like that. They sell puppet theaters as well that would play into the role playing thing too :)
It doesn't have to be he is a boy BUT has a doll. He is a boy, the end. Kids in general should be able to play with whatever toy they want, "boy" or "girl" toys.

Both my boys had their babies to take care of. They still like playing with their little sister with dolls. How is he going to learn to be a good daddy? My boys cared for their stuffed toys just like babies too.
Dolls should be considered gender neutral. So should much of everything else children play with. It's play. It's learning about the world.

Don't confuse his natual gender selections. Give him a truck and he will be happy and grow up to be a man. If you want a little one to play with a doll have another child until you get a girl.

Good luck to you and yours.

It is just about 'pretend play.'
Which naturally occurs developmentally at a certain age.
Your Ped was just asking per developmental questions per the check-up.
Its the usual.

It does not have to be a "doll", it can be a stuffed animal or anything that your child likes.
Then again, you cannot force a kid, to play with a doll, or if they rather play with other things.
The point is... it is about 'pretend play.'
Which a child will do.
Regardless of their gender, and REGARDLESS if it is with a "doll" or other toys.

My son likes stuffed animals and other boy toys, dinosaurs etc.
It is just pretend play.
I don't force a 'doll' on him, but just go by HIS interests and cues.

Again, you do not HAVE TO, get your son a doll, if he is not into it or interested in other things/toys.
No biggie.
It is just about pretend-play... and seeing the kids development, developmentally.

It is about Pretend-Play.
Not about a "doll."

Pretend-play... encompasses ALL sorts of play.
Not just about feeding a baby-doll pretend food.
Kids have imaginations... and they create all kinds of play, scenarios and sounds, as they play. Even with just blocks.
This is, pretend-play.
Not it being about a "doll" per say.

I have a 6 year old girl and a 4 year old boy. He can't help but want to play dolls too! So, yes when he was about 2 years old, I got him his own doll. He is all boy too. He loves cars, airplanes, and power rangers. But, he also likes to play dolls with his sister. There is nothing wrong with that.

Last summer, when my daughter and her family were living with us, their son (then about 2 1/2) found one of my daughter's old cabbage patch dolls. He loved playing with it! He fed it, put it down for naps, put it in time out when it was "naughty", and in general, imitated all the nurturing things we did with him. He also loves to play with cars, blocks, trucks, trains, and all of the little boy things.

He will take a box and put blocks, puzzle pieces, etc. in it and "cook", telling us he is making "pupcakes" or something like that. I have really enjoyed watching his imagination take off this summer.

Playing with a doll won't affect his gender identification, any more than playing with cars and trucks will affect a girl's gender identification.

Being a cabbage patch doll, it was very gender neutral, but I don't think it has to be "anatomically correct" for a boy.

I don't think he was role playing the year before, though.

I don't really think there is a problem with a boy having a doll to play with but role playing doesn't have to just be "feeding a baby doll". Maybe take empty cans, boxes, plastic dishes and see if he will play kitchen or cooking. Get a small medical kit and see if he will "doctor" his stuffed animals. Role playing means that he is engaging in imaginary play and becoming the part he is imagining. Does he run around like a super hero? That's role playing. He is probably starting to do some role playing but it was asked in a way that was confusing to you but suggesting does he try and feed a doll.

My youngest boy has a Dora the Explorer doll and a Diego doll. I gave him Dora first because he loved her. He calls them his 'friends'. He's three. We're comfortable with it.

My son did not have a baby doll and showed no interest in his older sister's dolls. However, it wouldn't have bothered me if he did. Nowadays, boys who play with a doll are not emulating mom or spending too much time with mama as was thought in previous generations. These boys are copying their dads, who take care of and nurture them and their siblings. Boys know that they and their baby siblings are fed, diapered and bathed by dad just like by mom. Caring for and nurturing babies is not women's work anymore

My oldest had many dolls, he got the Molly American Girl Doll at 8. He played with her for about a year.
Then everything mophed into Legos and Pokeman.
My youngest played with Polly Pockets forever then we found "boy Pollys", littel boy figurines of the same size. THere are two girls between the boys, so the youngest also wore pink, nailpolish and makeup. He is also now 10 and ALL BOY. He stopped being his sister's toy at about 5.

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You've got a ton of answers, but I just have to weight in too! I love your Raggedy Andy doll idea. I have 3 boys who are all rough and tumble boys, and they love their dolls (their grandma gave us my husband's dolls from when he was a kid!). The two oldest learned to be good big brothers by practicing with their dolls, and my youngest gets to pretend to take care of someone too :) Nurturing and caretaking is a natural instinct in all children that we need to encourage and develop. My goal is to raise good men who will be nurturing and caring fathers one day.

Hi there,
Sounds like my son... he is 3 and is all BOY. Loves trucks, rough play,dinosaurs. He also has a big sister and now a new born little sister, so there are a lot of dolls around. He does feed and play with dolls occasionally because he likes to do what his older sister does, but tends to gravitate to the trucks!! He will also put on her princess dresses now and then, and there is really no problem with it. It is fun to pretend play no matter what it is. (though I am not sure I would let him wear a princess dress out of the house LOL!) He also loves our toy kitchen set... he will pretend to cook and serve food- very gender nuetral. You can also get a doctor kit and he can "doctor" his dolls and stuffed animals. He can also pretend to be a construction worker when playing with his trucks. There are so many ways to pretend play, so be creative and expose him to everything. Boys/men should know how to care for a baby, so why not get him a doll. Don't force him to play with it, just have fun!

Just responding to your "what happened." Think that is a wonderful idea. As you have a "boy" boy it may get punched and loved hard : ) but so cool as a keep sake no matter its ultimate condition: )

my nephew is 100% boy. plays tackle football at age 6, baseball, cars, trains, wrestling, etc. BUT he had a baby doll. he pretended to feed it and sometimes slept with it. no big deal.

My son loves all the boy stuff...bugs, dirt, cars, trucks, action figures, airplanes, balls. He does like girl stuff too, and I haven't restricted him at all. He had a baby doll and doll stroller that he would push around, and now he has barbies and it's totally fine with me. When he potty trained, I took him to the store to pick out a toy, and he picked Ariel from the Little Mermaid. Whatever, he likes what he likes and I am not going to try to change that.

When my son was about 2 or 3, he fell in love with Polly Pocket. He had to one - carried it every where. He also had stuffed animals that were gender non-specific.

No biggie - it is good for them to explore and play with non-traditional toys.

:)

Just a quick line to say, I really think baby dolls should be regarded as gender-neutral toys. After all, dads take care of babies too!

That said, my own son (who was never a big "manly man" as far as little boys go) never tried to feed and nurture his toys. He did, however, build approximately 4,6487,568,765,798,796 train tracks for them. Today, he is very sweet, patient, and understanding with younger children.

So, based on my very limited experience, I think a baby doll is a wonderful, appropriate toy for a little boy. But I'm not sure it's essential when it comes to raising a caring, ethical little man.

Hi 1-

When my eldest was very young...and we were expecting # 2...I got him an 'anatomically' correct 'boy' doll (much to my then UBER military ex hubby's chagrin) in the hope that eldest son would 'bond' and nurture the doll...

LOL

The doll was named 'buddy'...and my loving eldest son DRAGGED him around by a leg....

NO amount of 'coaching' with this doll 'buddy' helped...**sigh**

BUT...when his 'real live' brother was born...a better helper I could NOT have had...honest.

Then I had a girl...I was SO excited!! I bought babies...baby carriages...etc...she ONLY ever put 'animals' in the carriage...and fed THEM with the bottles...

She is in animal science (pre vet) and rising junior in college...STILL no interest in dolls...

Not to worry!
Michele/cat

I've bought my son a couple of baby dolls, but he was never interested in them. I bought him a boy one and then a girl one when we found out he was going to have a little sister. He likes stuffed animals better. He has a Pooh bear that comes everywhere with us.

For the record, I never liked dolls when I was little. And my daughter doesn't seem to be too interested in them either.

They actually encourage role playing with children...especially when he goes to preschool he will play in the kitchen...with the dress up clothes...and with dolls. My husband is a military guy -- and at first he was a little freaked out -- but then he understood that he was just playing. With our little man (now 5) having 2 sisters, he didn't stand a chance escaping the girly toys! He loves playing polly pocket, littlest pet shop, zoobles, squinkies, etc...but EQUALLY loves playing with his dinosaurs, trains, legos, cars, etc. :)

n

My daughter started role playing shortly after her sister was born. She feeds her favorite stuffed monkey, Woody (from toy story), her baby doll, anything, really. She has those bottles with the disappearing milk for her baby doll but if I'm feeding the baby and she can't find it she'll grab anything, legos, these weird bug things that snap together, anything at all that looks even remotely like a bottle. I'm not too sure you CAN stop a kid from role playing whether you purchase the specific item or not. :-)

For the record, when I get curious about where my daughter's interest is heading, we take a trip to the toy store and I turn her loose. I watch what she heads for and where she spends her time and that's where I get my ideas for games to play and crafts to do and, yes, which toy to keep an eye out for future purchases.

My boys are loving playing with baby dolls right now. They were their girl cousins dolls, so I bought some preemie boy clothes for them. The other night they both walked into the living room teaching the babies how to walk. It was really cute. There is nothing wrong with them playing with dolls, it gives them someone else to take care of/ talk to.

My son had a baby doll, doll stroller and toy kitchen.
I got him these things because I saw how much he enjoyed pretend play at preschool, and because he was/is the big brother to two little sisters.
The biggest challenge was finding stuff that wasn't pink!
His baby doll was just a plastic, bald baby with a diaper, unisex :)
The stroller was green with a jungle animal print.
The toy kitchen was simple, lightly stained wood, with red and white accents.
(Many) little boys like to play daddy as much as (most) little girls like playing M.!

I have 3 boys. My oldest is 16, and he had a boy cabbage patch doll that he LOVED. He had a toy stroller that he pushed him around in. And he played w/him in the tub. He is a sweet loving GREAT kid, who also loves baesball,football, basketball....you get the picture.

My middle son is 3, big age gap. He also had dolls, all kinds. And a play kitchen, and baby beds, you name it. And he is still, all boy. LOVES pirates, dinosaurs, sharks, karate, sports etc.

There is NOTHING wrong with allowing a boy to play with a doll. They'll most likely be a daddy one day. And letting them role play with the care of a "baby" is a natural healthy thing. It's not like getting him a doll with ruffle dresses and glitter to put on them while he curls their hair....LOL
There is a difference!
Is your son an only child? If it turns out eventually he won't be, getting him a doll to show him how to be gentle with babies is another good reason!

No they don't have dolls, but my boys have bears. They love to play ninja with them, monsters and aliens... but they also treat them like little babies sometimes feeding them and tucking them in their beds when they sleep. So cute.

Today, we got posters for their room, Angry Birds, Mario Cart and get this ... Tinkerbelle and her friends. I think having little girly things are fine for boys, so long as you don't focus on it, it's fine.

Also, try a cabbage patch doll, I know you can get them on ebay. My little boyfriend had tons of cabbage patch dolls, there are boy ones too.

My 18mo son LOVES his baby dolls! It's really cute to see him try to feed them with his sippy cup and fork. I don't think there's anything wrong with it at all, especially in this day and age when men are expected to care for their children as well. But if your husband has a problem with dolls (what, is he afraid they're going to turn his son gay??!), then perhaps a stuffed animal like a monkey that he can carry around like a doll.

I didn't buy my son a doll, but my niece gave him one of her old baby dolls when I was pregnant with my daughter (I think he was 20 months old) he was so sweet with that baby! My husband was a little freaked out, but even he thought it was cute when he would take care of the baby. He's 3 years old now, that doll just sits in his sisters room, sometimes he will see it and start to play with it for a minute, put a blanket over it and pretend to tuck it in and move on to playing with his "boy" toys.

Throw a doll in there. If he's "all boy," as you say, you will probably find he has little interest in it. It won't hurt him, either way.

I wouldn't buy a doll specifically for my son. He will role play with whatever he has. It's not a necessity for him to role play with a doll.

Our son is child #2. His older sister has dolls. They have played dolls together. It's been interesting to see how he does it because it's very "boy" how he plays with his doll. It's almost like it's his little buddy. He'll carry him under his arm and will be kind and caring with him, but it's SO DIFFERENT than my daughter is. She's all girlie and mothers her doll. My son will rough house and play and it's more like it's a little brother that he brings along to play with him.

Anyway, getting a boy a doll specifically for him seems odd to me. If you want to, definitely do. I see absolutely nothing *wrong* with it, but I think he won't be damaged one little bit by playing with the toys he already has.

My son got a doll when he was 3, right before his sister was born. He really wasn't interested much. Now he is 5 and he sometimes plays with his sister's dolls (it is mostly a gender free for all when it comes to toys around here both kids play with whatever they want). Raggedy Andy is a great idea. My son also takes care of the beanie babies, stuffed Toy Story characters and other stuffed animals.

When I was little, I liked to role play with my stuffed animals. Same effect, if you ask me:) If he wants to role play, he will. I say don't worry about it.

Gosh, we worry WAAAAY too much about neutralizing kids' genders this day and age. WHY? If it ain't broke, don't fix it:) If boys choose a traditionally "girls" toy, then so be it, no big deal at all, but I don't think it is necessary at ALL for parents to purposely try to push the neutral stuff.

My boys don't have dolls but they have buddies! lots and lots of stuffed animals that they love on, lug around, sleep with and take care of....and they are 6 and 9!!! I don't see a problem with him having a baby doll if he asks for one. If he doesn't ask then I don't see the problem in NOT getting him one either.
L.

Yep. Here they are (beloved ones):

Master Chief (from Halo)
Stitch (from Lilo & Stich)
Sully (from Monsters Inc)
Dragon (a 6' long dragon from Ikea)
Siberius (a tiger)
((retired)) Nearly every wooden train from Thomas the Tank Engine

All his dolls/"action figures" (seriously, they're just people-dolls for boys)/ stuffed friends have personalities, facial features, family stories, bedtimes, etc. PLENTY of role play and all the rest. In a format he enjoys. He wanted a giant barbie once (I'd have nixed that even if he was a girl, shudder, the thing was 3 feet tall and creepy), but given the choice between a human type doll (not in battle armor) and a crazy colored monster... he chooses the monster.

Per Update:
Raggedy Andy sounds great!! But it still "counts" if he's kissing his trains good night, or the stuffed tiger wants a tuna sammie, or the GI Joe is put on timeout in the corner.

we got our oldest son a boy baby doll when his baby brother was born. He loved it. He is 15 now, and all boy still. Tell your husband it will be OK.

my son had a teddy bear that he decided was his "baby". He asked for a diaper and a bottle for it which I supplied out of my stash of baby supplies. He took care of his baby for a few weeks before moving on to the next fun thing. Now we have dolls at the house because we have a girl and he loves playing with the dolls with her...just as much as she loves playing batman with him. I figure he sees his dad cook and take care of babies so he is just imitating his daddy.

My brother is a TOTAL "manly man" (he knocked out an adult gator with his fist when it approached him while he was doing some underwater welding kind of tough). He had that doll from the 80s called My Buddy. (I still have the little song from the commercial in my head as I type this). When I was pregnant with our youngest, my older son (2 1/2 at the time) knew I was having a baby. I gave him a little baby doll (a generic, cheap little baby in a blue, because we knew I was having a baby boy).....we played "baby" with it. I taught him to sit flat in the "big chair" (very deep and wide) up in the corner, and I'd let him hold the baby and tell it stories or whatever he wanted to ramble about. He was very good at holding his real brother 4 months later, correctly (except he was perturbed that the real brother was MUCH heavier than the doll). He also practiced holding the bottle and all that. We bragged on him A LOT about what an awesome big brother he'd be because he was doing all this big brother "school". This is the time that he can learn with no stress or freaking out that no, we can't throw the soccer ball to baby until he can sit up all by himself.....or no, it's best not to pull baby up by his arm, but to stay behind his head and lift here....etc. There was nothing "feminine" about it. He was just learning how to handle himself. We didn't do it all the time, either. Just when he cared to.
The doll did get donated later, because the baby got replaced. We put him in a "big brother" class that the hospital provided. Joseph was proud to know more than all the other kids in the class and could tell everyone what to do with stuff even if he didn't know the names of stuff (thermometer was called "to take temperature", etc). At the end of class, we got to stuff and dress our own bear (build a bear type thing) and that was the "baby" he played with afterwards because he chose the color, type, and shirt all by himself. Cute-he still sleeps with it on occasion. Both boys (now 20 months old, and 4 years old) each have their own Bob the Builder doll, which is almost the size of the 4 year old. But they just wrestle with Bob, or when my oldest was 3 he put Bob in time out a lot. That's about it with him though---they're more interested in dinosaurs, guns made out of legos, cars/trucks, and digging in the dirt.
IF your husband is going to be uncomfortable about a doll, I would get a couple of the bigger GI Joe guys (a little bigger than the Barbies) or something like that. Something that looks like a person so he can understand it's "a person". I've overheard my son making a car noise, driving a little car into his full size clubhouse like he sees "daddy" do in our garage, and say "I'm home!" even though there's no people in his car.....they can do role play without dolls. They're not absolutely necessary, so I wouldn't sweat it. But there's NOTHING wrong with it if he wants one.
**Edited: Aww! A homemade Andy? That would be so special! My first "babydoll" was Godzilla. He slept in a babybed and had tea with me and Garfield, Pooh, and a lamb. I didn't like babydolls as a kid. They kinda creeped me out because they always looked at me with weird babydoll eyes.

YEP!

They also have the kiddo size Ergo baby carrier....They are dolly wearer's.

My oldest asked for a house set for Christmas when he was three.

Santa brought it.

Santa also took alot of heat from her family...Because BOYS should not play with dolls...and Definitely ones that are PINK.

My youngest still pretends to breastfeed the very same doll my oldest raised.

My middle guy was not much into the baby doll thing. He is more manly then fem...He likes being the dad!

We bought a doll when we were pregnant so that our dogs could get used to us holding something small that made noises. It was the cheapest doll at the store but it came with a bottle and paci and a little stroller. We kept it and it just went into the toy box when our son was born. He loves his cars and trucks but he will also feed change and hold his "little sister". He loves playing with her and I think it's sweet. Tell your husband that your son will be a father someday so what's wrong with him learning just like a girl.

My boys are 4 & 6. They don't have dolls. Not that I would oppose them, but they never asked. They have stuffed animals and action figures that they can role play with. They don't really even play with their 2-year old sister's dolls. Just not interested, I guess.

If I were you, I wouldn't be afraid to get him a doll, but you could also get him an action figure! Boys can role play with dolls, but to be honest... most baby dolls, even "boy" ones have "girl" oriented stuff with them. I have two girls, so we have dolls galore... but my nephew is 4 and has never had a "doll" in his life, but still played with stuffed animals, action figures and other toys the same way my girl plays with her dolls. He is right on track for school too!

Good luck... i think the raggedy Andy would be a great idea!
-M.

My son (5-1/2) does not have a 'doll' but he has tons of stuffed animals with which he plays school, reads to them, puts them to bed, etc. Daddies feed, change and care for babies, right? So why shouldn't little boys. I personally hated dolls when I was little. If my son wanted one, we would get him one - one of the non gender stereotyped Waldorf ones.