Another fluff post...sorta. I don't usually make my fluff posts into full reviews, but that's how this post ended up. When I rooted my Bitty Baby out of storage last summer (it was July 6th, but that doesn't matter) it occurred to me that I briefly discussed her here on the blog, but I never took a closer look or shared my opinions. I don't think my sister ever considered owning a Bitty Baby when we were receiving those catalogs, but for a brief spell I considered asking for one instead of an American Girl. She didn't have hair to get tangled, she came with an adorable teddy bear (Bitty Bear), and her clothes were bright and colorful. So for better or worse, here's my Bitty Baby, Kiara.
Bitty Baby has been around in some way, shape, or form since 1990. In the beginning the line was called Our New Baby, and the doll in question could be a boy or a girl. Then in 1995 the line was rebranded Bitty Baby, the dolls were all designated as girls, and that was that. Bitty Baby relies on a number system like Just Like You does, and a quick perusal of Kiara's debut post revealed that this is Bitty Baby #2, with fair skin, dark hair, and dark eyes.
*#1 is the little black doll. She made her debut in 1990 as Our New Baby. She has textured black hair and brown eyes.
*#2 is my doll, a brown-eyed brunette. This doll was NOT part of the Our New Baby line, but made her debut in 1995. In 2013 she got revamped.
*#3 is blonde and blue-eyed. She was released in 2011 and is very similar to one of the older dolls (see below a few lines).
*#4 is Asian-American and has a slightly different paint job from her Bitty sisters. Her hairline has a fuzzy look, kinda like a buzz cut. #4 was my favorite as a child, kinda like JLY #4 was. She dates back to 1990.
*#5 has dark eyes, dark hair, and medium skin. She could easily be Hispanic, biracial or Native American. This doll was released in 1995 and got a revamp in 2013.
#6 has red hair and hazel eyes, and was a 2015 release.
Apparently the numbering system is a newish thing, because the sole retired doll from the Our New Baby era is not numbered. She's blonde and gray-eyed and looks very similar to Bitty Baby #3.
So! Kiara is fifteen inches from head to toe. She's similar in size to some of the other babies I've had in the blog; her companions here are Elmyra (Baby See 'n' Say), Leslie Emily (a Cabbage Patch Kid), Zlata (a Waldorf doll) and Little Honeymoon. The similarities in size are kinda rough (Leslie Emily's legs are way shorter than Kiara's), but they're still there.
As with many (but not all) baby dolls, Kiara's hair is both molded and painted, though the molding is pretty subtle. My doll has been around the block a few times and thus her paint has quite a few scuffs. Thirteen years is young for a doll in my collection, but it's a long time for a child's toy.
The molding can vary; Afro-American Bitty Baby has a lot of texture molded into her hair to simulate fluffy curls. The rest, as far as I know, have molded wisps on their foreheads and above their ears, like so.
The paint jobs vary more than the molding does. Kiara's paint follows her hairline pretty well, but other Bitty Babies have a fade of sorts, kinda like #4 does. And of course the colors vary some. Most Bitties have dark hair, but there are also blondes and redheads, as I've discussed above. Overall my doll has nice no-frills hair, or she would if she hadn't been used as a toy. She certainly has more hair than
Baby Peep does!
While hair on these dolls varies a bit, these faces don't much. These are babies, after all, and babies tend to look a lot alike. That said, there are a few differences. Here's a general idea of what these dolls look like; my doll's face is asymmetrical.
Kiara isn't that yellow IRL, I promise! She is obviously brown-eyed, as most of the current Bitties are. Her eyewells have a tiny bit of bone structure behind them, at the sides.
#3 has blue eyes, #6's eyes are hazel, and retired eye colors include green, gray, and blue-gray. I bet that blue-gray was pretty. In addition, #4 has "almond-shaped" eyewells, as Asian dolls often do. But Kiara has rounded brown eyes, and they sleep like American Girl eyes do.
Sometimes one eye or another likes to stick, and Kiara subsequently looks derpy!
Cutest derp ever! Also of note are Kiara's eyebrows...or rather, the lack thereof. I think it was 2013 that Bitty Baby started having eyebrows, and those were a little divisive among fans. Some fans liked 'em and some didn't, and I admit that I like Kiara without 'em. But it's not a big issue; I'd have taken her with eyebrows too.
Now the lower part of Kiara's face is where the asymmetry is on full display.
She's got a cute little nose, a small chin, and thick cheeks. I love baby cheeks! The mouth is a nice peachy shade and has...maybe a suggestion of a smile. Babies can start smiling as early as six months, so this isn't too unrealistic.
Kiara's ears are delicate and are relatively flat.
Bitties don't get their ears pierced at AG's salons, by the way. I wouldn't make note of this because I've NEVER seen a baby doll with earrings. But once in a great while I do see a child under one year of age with earrings. I don't like that, but some parents do it anyway. For some folks it's a cultural thing, so I'll just shut up.
Being a baby doll means that Kiara will have a fairly simplistic body, but she's got a few important things that I want to look at more closely.
Firstly, I have a handful of baby dolls whose bodies are plain white fabric.
Adam Middleton is my best example of this; a perusal of his pictures shows his fabric body peeping out from under his clothes. It's not a huge deal, and I've got quite a few dolls that are like that anyway. But I admit that I prefer when the body semi-matches the limbs, and Kiara and her Bitty sisters have just that. Note that Kiara has a white cord around her neck, confirming that she predates 20xx.
Yep, Bitty Baby had white cotton strings that held her head on, just like Silver Bird does...
...and like River Song and most of the Cabbage Patch do not. River Song's tie is covered by her neck fabric, while Nathan Hunter's is on full display.
I like to tie the older dolls' ties into bows so they won't be as unseemly. If you've got 'em, may as well flaunt 'em.
Unsightly as they may be, I prefer these strings to cable ties. The strings are easier to undo if home repairs are needed, though in Bitty Baby's case home repairs usually aren't needed. Her joints are not strung like American Girl's, but rather sewn fast to her torso.
From a practical perspective I get this, because very young children play with Bitty Baby and very young children can be rough on their toys. Joints are a weak point. But from a collector's perspective this lack of joints is kinda a pain. In their catalogs and online American Girl shows Bitty Baby sitting up to model her outfits, like so...
...but in actuality, it's more complicated than that. The cloth parts of Kiara's legs are loosely stuffed, so she CAN sit. The problem is that she often sits like this...
...or like this.
That's when Kiara is undressed, and I don't make a habit of parading my dolls around nude. When Kiara is dressed I usually have to prop her up from the back. Par for the course for a baby, really.
In a similar manner Bitty is shown standing up to model several ensembles, like so...
...but Kiara can't stand at all. Splop!
I know, I know, AG's pictures are edited, but I'd have been a little bummed as a kid to know my Bitty Baby couldn't sit on her own. Another thing that I don't like about the lack of joints is Kiara's inability to move her arms into a more dynamic pose. But then again, Bitty Baby is meant for very small children, very small children don't know their strength, and joints can be a weak point for someone who doesn't know their strength. One thing Kiara CAN do very well is lie on her back.
She's even better at lying on her stomach, though doctors warn not to put real babies to bed like this due to fears of SIDS (I did it anyway when I was a baby; Mama told me I'd roll over if I was put on my back, LOL).
Kiara's neck is jointed, and like the majority of American Girls her head can turn but not tip.
The back of her neck is marked as such. I don't know if that's significant or not, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
Kiara's arms are...oh, I'd call 'em three-quarter arms since the cloth bit extends a little below the shoulder. These are a bit floppy, but they don't hold a pose.
Kiara's hands have different shapes. On her right hand her index finger is extended slightly. She's got lovely little nails and shallow little dimples on her knuckles.
The left hand is mostly the same, except that Kiara's fingers are clenched.
As far as I can tell, Kiara's legs are the same...except for there being a left and a right, LOL.
Maybe there's a subtle difference in the position of the toes, but for the most part these legs are the same. They're nice little legs and nice little feet.
Kiara's soles are mostly flat, with no molding except for the toes. I know from eyewitness experience that babies love to stretch out their toes...but that might've been tricky to mold.
Oh, and while I was flipping Kiara over and turning her this way or that, she was derping. She did this several times.
Maybe I should change her name to
Derpina.
Like Just Like You, Bitty Baby's meet getup has varied over time, though she's almost always wearing a sleeper. Kiara came in a flowered pink onesie, which would put her between 2011 and 2013...or between Joplin and El Reno, if you're going by violent tornadoes.
This one is one of my favorite onesies (my other two favorites are the blue one and the one with green stripes). Truthfully there...isn't much to say about this outfit. It's pink paisley with short puffed sleeves and a pink satin bow on the chest. And the logo, LOL.
For the sake of completion, here's how Kiara looks in it. Nice and cozy, a hair warm for August.
Bitty Baby never was stuck in a pink rut like some dolls are, and that's ironic because one of my favorite little Bitty Baby dresses happens to be pink. In the beginning my favorite outfits were these two, the Happy Birthday set and the Holiday set. I particularly liked those cute little shoes.
"Holiday," indeed. Red and green kinda screams Christmas. The American Girls got sets for Kwanzaa and for Hanukkah, but as far as I know Bitty Baby did not. Oh yeah, I also like this one an awful lot; it's the Wildflower set. I can remember a day when ponchos were all the rage for girls and women; I even crocheted a few for myself.
Hot dog, I own this one! It's way too warm outside for Kiara to wear this full-time, but she'll get her chance. For now she's happy to model it.
I don't think Bitty Baby's size has changed much over the years, but don't quote me on that! Pleasant Company American Girls are known for being a bit thicker all over than their Mattel counterparts, but I don't think the same is true for Bitty Baby. At the moment my Kiara just has her sleeper and a few dresses from Etsy, and for the time being that's how it's going to stay since I've gotta pay for paint for the house. Dress #1 is this one, in which Kiara spent the past two years. Etsy shop is
AngiesSewCrafty.
In addition to the stuff on Etsy that's specifically for Bitty Baby, Kiara can wear some Cabbage Patch clothes and some Waldorf clothes. Just be mindful of sizing; something that might fit a sixteen-inch Cabbie would be too big for Kiara.
I wanted to add that I love how Bitty Baby is included when American Girl releases a designer line for their eighteen-inch models. When the LoveShackFancy line was available Bitty Baby's outfit was the Garden Party dress (left), and during the Janie and Jack collab Bitty got the Wrapped in Roses party dress.
During the Something Navy collab Bitty Baby got TWO dresses. Blooms of Blue is a summer-type dress, while Crimson Sparkle has a Christmas/winter vibe.
I make note of these designer Bitty Baby threads because the Wellie Wishers weren't initially included in these collaborations. They did get
a Wrapped in Roses dress of their own, but not a Garden Party dress. They also got
a pretty Something Navy dress...but just one. Kinda makes me wonder how well the Wellie Wishers are selling. Interestingly,
Something Navy went under during their collaboration with American Girl! Talk about rotten timing!
Let's take a quick look at Kiara's friend, Bitty Kitty.
Bitty Kitty was a member of the so-called "Bitty Bunch," and was a spin-off of Bitty Baby's original teddy bear friend, Bitty Bear. The other friends were
Bitty Bunny,
Bitty Ducky,
Bitty Froggy,
Bitty Lambie,
Bitty Piggy, and
Bitty Puppy. If I'd remembered Bitty Ducky I might've reached out for her instead since I owned a stuffed duck as a child. But Bitty Kitty is who I have. She needs her neck ribbon replaced, but I can fix that. Y'all might've noticed in the images above that early Bitty Baby outfits included small clothing items for their critter of choice to wear, like this little poncho that came with the Wildflower set.
While the Bitty Bunch was available one could've chosen which companion they wanted to come with their Bitty Baby. In that case I'd have picked Bitty Froggy for reasons I've discussed in the past. Unfortunately by 2013 the whole Bitty Bunch (Bitty Bear included) had been archived, and if I'd bought Kiara straight from American Girl I'd have received a wishing star like this instead.
Accessories for Bitty Bear had been largely phased out by 2008, but Bitty Bear stuck around until 2013. The star in turn was available until 2015, and as far as I know Bitty Baby hasn't been accompanied by a soft toy since. The star is okay, but I prefer the stuffed animals.
Funny thing about Bitty Baby is that like so many baby dolls, there's not a lot to say about her. Kiara is adorable, no question about that, and she's built to take a fair amount of punishment from a small child. She comes with an amazing wardrobe, and I can't say that about all my baby dolls. She can also share clothes with other like-sized dolls, creating further options for clothes and accessories. The thing is, Kiara is just...nice. She can't do anything that the Wal-Mart babies can't also do, and she's a LOT more expensive. Indeed, some of the babies at Wally World CAN do something Kiara can't: they can drink and wet. On the other hand, they're a lot more likely to break, and they don't have the extensive wardrobe that Kiara and her Bitty sisters do. So...well, if you like baby dolls and insist on having that American Girl name attached, or if you like that sweet little face that isn't eternally smiling, Bitty Baby is perfect. If money is an issue, or if you do like smiling baby dolls, or if this is for a very small child...better go to Wal-Mart or Target for your baby doll instead. I personally like Bitty Baby, and I hope she's around for years to come. She's a nice alternative for that little girl that wants an American Girl, but might not be quite ready for one.
Love,
RagingMoon1987
