"Reborn babies" are life-like dolls crafted in vinyl, which have become popular mainly with collectors, but also with nostalgic grandparents and grieving parents.

Made and collected by an online community of enthusiasts, they are painted several times to create the mottled colour of newborn skin, have mohair hair and eyelashes, and are weighted to make them feel as heavy as human babies.

Fans of the hobby, who call it "reborning," are mostly women and are increasingly guarded about discussing it since media reports highlighted their purchase by bereaved parents, prompting some to portray the hobby as macabre.

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"Cuddle therapy" is what one reborning website calls the hobby - the dolls' bodies can be fitted with electronic devices that mimic a heartbeat and breathing.

British department store Harrods - whose motto is "Everything for Everybody Everywhere" - describes them as "a bit too life- like" to stock. Collectors say the dolls can cause feelings of intense unease, even disgust.

Cathy Newcombe, who makes the dolls and runs reborning website Reborn Babies UK, said counsellors were increasingly looking into the therapeutic benefits of holding reborn babies.

Deborah King, who took up doll- making three years ago, now sells dolls via Reborn Baby. "My daughter wanted a sibling and I didn't want to have any more children, so I made her a doll instead," she said.

King's website lists baby dolls photographed in cots and dressed in frocks, some described as "premature."

Most have girls' names and are described as waiting for adoption.

She sells the dolls for between 250 (HK$3,900) and 1,600 and receives around 10 to 15 requests each week.

REUTERS