Dolls that look like real babies – complete with tiny veins and folds of skin – can be endearing yet deeply unsettling. In the Netherlands, however, there are tens of thousands of ‘reborn’ doll enthusiasts

“It’s a doll,” Ineke Schmelter, 71, often says as she walks down the street with a pram and someone peers fondly under the hood, asking: “How old is the baby?” Then she pulls back the blanket and reveals the doll. She points out the craftsmanship – the little veins, the creases in the skin – and explains that it can take as many as 20 layers of paint to achieve such a lifelike finish. Sometimes, though, she can’t be bothered with the long version – the explanations, the strange looks. “As if I’m not quite right in the head.” Then she just says: “Two months,” and keeps walking.

Ineke Schmelter in the kitchen with her reborn baby Ronin