Lifelike dolls repel and attract

She sells the dolls for between 250 pounds to 1,600 pounds and receives 10 to 15 requests a week.

The reborning community says most buyers are collectors.

"To me it's a work of art... I'm not into pushing it around in a pram," said collector Gill.

Newcombe of Reborn Babies UK said most of her customers want to collect the dolls as art: "Between 10 and 15 percent are for ladies who have lost a child."

Others have emotional reasons of a different kind for their purchase: King recalls one client who decided to buy a doll for her mother, an Alzheimer's sufferer, after noticing she spent most of her time looking at baby photos.

Ian James, a doctor at the Centre for the Health of the Elderly at Newcastle General Hospital said the use of dolls in care homes for the elderly can help reduce disruptive behaviour.

"There are a number of reasons for the powerful effect of the doll in reducing some of the challenging behaviour," he told Reuters by telephone.

"People are comforted and are so much calmer and quieter -- you just have to be there to witness that."

"It's a familiar role from time when they were busy and happy," his co-researcher Lorna Mackenzie said.