The disturbingly lifelike 'reborn' baby dolls which are made to order for grieving parents and nostalgic grandparents and sell for thousands of euros in Belgium

These incredibly life-like dolls are so realistic you could easily be forgiven for thinking they were real babies.

Costing up to thousands of euros each, they are certainly no children's toys, but handcrafted one-off works of art that take dozens of hours to create.



They are made to order for collectors but are also proving popular with grieving or nostalgic parents and grandparents as mementos of their own children.



Life-like: Beatrice Van Landeghem poses with two of her 'Reborn Baby' dolls at her workshop in Belgium

Creepy: They dolls are carefully crafted in vinyl and have become popular with grieving parents and nostalgic grandparents

They are the work of Belgian artist Beatrice Van Landeghem, whose workshop, 'La nurserie des Tis Lous De Bea', is based in La Louviere, southern Belgium.

The 'Reborn Babies' are carefully crafted in vinyl and are even weighed to make them feel exactly as heavy as human babies when carried.



The dolls are created from a kit composed of the limbs and head made from vinyl and a trunk made from fabric which are painted several times to create the skin tone of newborn babies. They are then fitted with natural-looking hair and eyelashes.



The cost of a 'Reborn Baby' varies between hundreds to thousands of euros and takes around 25 hours to be assembled together depending on the level of precision requested by people who 'adopt' the dolls.

Sleeping beauty: Final touches are applied to a doll named 'Loan', at Belgian artist Beatrice Van Landeghem's workshop

Workmanship: The dolls are created from a kit composed with the limbs and head made from vinyl and a trunk made from fabric

The cost of a 'Reborn Baby' varies between hundreds to thousands of euros depending on the level of precision required

Nostalgic or grieving parents and grandparents often provide photographs of their own infants for the doll makers' to base their work on

Tyssia, 6, daughter of Belgian artist Beatrice Van Landeghem, poses with her doll named Betty Lou at her mother's workshop

Detail: The dolls are painted several times to create the skin tone of newborn babies and are fitted with natural-looking hair and eyelashes

The dolls are even weighed to make them feel as heavy as human babies when carried



