Doll-A-Day 2023 #75: Bless You Baby Tender Love

   I'm feeling a bit better today, but not completely back to normal yet. But on we go with the dolls, Today's doll came from The House of Fire last week. (But no, it's not smokey or smelly. Thankfully it was 'out of the line of fire'. Har Har.) It's Bless You Baby Tender Love.

Bless You Baby Tender Love was made by Mattel in 1974. I think the date on the back of this doll is the date of the body mold, and not the date of this particular doll.

She's about 13 inches long, with bent knees, and dimpled baby knees and elbows.

Her body and limbs are all one piece, so her arms and legs can't be moved. She's molded with curved limbs for a more realistic baby pose though.

She was known for her rubbery...excuse me, I mean soft...Baby Tender Love skin. It was called 'plastisol foam' body.

She came wearing a nightgown, and with a bottle, and a pack of Kleenex brand tissues.

Like other Baby Tender Love dolls, she can be bathed. (I'm assuming Talking Baby Tender Love couldn't be bathed, but I'm not sure.) She's very rubbery, and has a hole in the back of her head, which I assume is for draining. The hole is buried under the hair, and I forgot to photograph it. 

  She also had another special feature. She 'sneezes'. When her belly is pushed, she makes a squeaky noise. Personally, I think she sounds more like she wheezes, than sneezes. (Maybe she should have been Asthma Baby Tender Love.) You can watch a commercial for Bless You Baby Tender Love HERE, and hear her wheeze, uh, I mean, sneeze.

She originally came in a flowered night gown.

  She can also be fed a bottle of water, and she will 'pee'. She has the appropriate two holes to accommodate such features, but I'm only going to show you one of them.

She has blue eyes, which I think all the Baby Tender Love dolls had, except for Baby Brother Tender Love, who had brown eyes.

She has rooted blonde hair.  

Quite a head full for a baby.

I don't know if all of these dolls have hair like this, but this one's hair is pretty silky.

Her head can be turned, unlike her immobile arms and legs.

  She has a little baby butt, which unfortunately has some marks on it. (And on one leg.) I didn't think of magic erasering them. They might come off actually.

  There were a pile of other Baby Tender Love dolls, like Newborn, Tearful, and even Baby Magic Baby Tender Love, who was a magician! You can't make this stuff up! I never heard of the Magic one until I was researching this post. That's a weird one.

This baby would have been after my baby doll era. I would have been 10 when this doll came out. I do remember being aware of Baby Tender Love dolls, but by 10 I was past baby dolls and buying weird looking dolls and books. Especially books. I also was very into writing stories, and I got my first bicycle around 9, and a TV for my 10th birthday, so I had other things to do.

  This baby is not part of my collection, but rather a doll we had around the house in our sales stuff. If anybody wants to take it off my hands, I'd be grateful! Plus, we had no insurance so we have a house to repair after the fire. I don't want to start sounding like I'm only here to sell stuff, but I am going through a bunch of the stuff that was intended for selling, so it does come up. $15 and shipping and this baby is yours. Comment with your contact information, which I won't publish, if you're interested. See you tomorrow for another doll.