Surprisingly, there are people concerned about whether dolls like this are a good idea for these people. Part of the problem stems from the fact that young children play with dolls; therefore, if adults have dolls, they must be engaging in the same behavior.
Instead, people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias are well aware that these are dolls, that they are not real babies. What the dolls enable these people to do is reconnect with very basic caretaking memories. They are not practicing being parents; they are instead able to partially relive actually being parents and caretakers, re-experiencing those tender feelings and connections.
Damenschen came to life in 2014 when I sent these three baby-sized dolls sent to the facility my mother lives in.
