Sanni is what is known as a reborning doll. Put simply, these are plastic dolls that are carefully prepared and painted to make them look uncannily like newborns.

Reborning has become so popular that there are websites, magazines, internet forums and even an exhibition devoted to the subject.

"Some people want to buy a kit and make the dolls up themselves while others prefer to pay someone to do it for them," explained Peter Chase who with wife Penny, runs Eynsham-based company Doll Kits.

As a recognised reborning artist, Penny is a dab hand at painting the dolls to achieve a realistic look.

"I apply as many as eight coats of paint and place the doll in the oven to allow each layer to dry before adding the next," she explained.

Delicate thread veins, birthmarks, and even spots are all carefully added to give an underlying mottled skin effect, just like a real newborn.

Hair is painstakingly threaded in strand-by-strand, eyelashes and realistic-looking eyes are added, holes drilled for the nostrils and fingernails painted with glaze.

To have a doll custom made, choosing eye and hair colour, gender and weight will set you back £160-200.

Alternatively, DIY kits made up of a head, arms and legs start from £35 and there are 75 different ones to choose from.

Sometimes the dolls are issued as one-offs or limited editions, which makes them quite collectable - one doll recently sold for £8,000 on ebay.

There are many reasons why people buy reborning dolls, according to Peter.

"We get women whose babies have died or can't have babies of their own," he explained.

Then there are the more unusual motives such as a woman who had adopted three children aged 3,4 and 5.

"They had no history because there were no pictures of them as babies," said Peter.

"So she sent photographs of them as they are now and asked us to make a reborning dolls to look as they would have done as babies," Peter said.

"She even included strands of their hair so we could make them more realistic," he added.

Penny and Peter have been asked to make babies' as presents for retiring midwives and supplied one for the BBC TV series Casualty.

"We've had a couple of nursing homes buy them as therapy for the old ladies. They knit for them, cuddle and even bath them," said Penny.

"Even those suffering from dementia seem to enjoy holding and rocking them," Peter added.

Often customers will come back and buy more to be a brother or sister to one they have already or a bigger doll to hold' a smaller baby' in its hands.

"Some have cots and prams and have turned a room in their house into a nursery," Peter explained.

"But the majority of those who buy reborning dolls are normal people who just want to do it as a hobby or a little business," he stressed.

Nevertheless, Penny sometimes has a few surreal moments: "A lady called me the other week to ask Do you have any spare limbs?' "Then there are the times when someone's phoned up and I've had to say: Sorry, must go, I have a baby in the oven."

For more information about reborning, contact Dollkits of Eynsham on 01865 883775 or visit www.dollkits.co.uk

Carterton-based grandmother Lyn Wren, 63, has been collecting dolls for seven years and has amassed more than 60.

Four years ago she discovered reborning and now has 10 babies'. She explained what the attraction is: "Reborning dolls are absolutely beautiful and incredibly realistic.

"I can order them exactly the way I want, for instance, I had one made with really thin arms and legs to look like a real premature baby.

"I've learned how to attach the eyelashes, fingernails and hair myself. I use a felting needle to thread a few strands at a time and just love doing it.

"I've got dolls in the conservatory, front room, in both bedrooms and pretty much all over my bungalow.

"My son laughs when he comes over and sees them but my granddaughters, Alicia, whose 15, and Keelee, 11, absolutely love it.

"Michael, my partner, doesn't mind but he won't say the word dolls' as he prefers to call them vinyl sculptures'.

"All my dolls have names and in the evenings I like to knit or sew clothes for them.

"Sometimes I'll buy outfits for them and I've got a real pram to put them in, too.

"The kits come with an instructional DVD so it's something anyone can have a go at.

"It's an awful lot of fun. You see the baby' forming in front of you and it is quite exciting because no two are ever the same."