Critics Dump on Potty-Training Baby Dolls

This year's hot toy is as chatty as Tickle Me Elmo but much, much more realistic. Little girls are crazy for new baby dolls that eat and excrete, but psychologists and some parents aren't thrilled with Hasbro's Baby Alive Learns to Potty and Mattel's Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Gotta Go Doll. "That is just so wrong," one shopper tells the Washington Post.

The manufacturers tout the dolls' realism and young children's fascination with bodily functions; after a flood of advertising, kids' interest seems to bolster the claims. But child psychologists recommend toys that foster imagination, rather than creepy animatronic dolls that come with fake bananas. "It makes a real mess," one mom says. "I'm not looking forward to it."
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