Cheerful Tearful® is a doll sold by Catalina Toys Inc.™ This doll has a
battery compartment in her back. Placing 4 AA size alkaline batteries in this
doll and flipping the switch on leads to some human infant type of behaviors
from this doll. Cheerful Tearful® laughs, cries, coos, burps, wets, and says “Ma Ma” at random times. “Just like a real baby.”
My little sister got one of these dolls a few years ago. With the doll came a
section in the instruction booklet called “Helpful hints to new mommies”. One of
which says “NEVER, NEVER, NEVER put CHEERFUL TEARFUL® directly into water.
Putting CHEERFUL TEARFUL® into water will cause her great harm. She may never
cry or make any of her sounds again.” (They say this like it’s a bad thing!)
After a few days of this doll’s random noises at any slight movement an unnamed older sister suggested this doll should have a nice warm bath.
The doll comes with a small bottle which the child, (“ma ma”) can fill with
water and feed to their new baby doll. The doll drinks the bottle which then
comes out of two places on the doll. The doll cries, with water coming out of the eyes. The doll also wets her diaper.
Any motion will cause Cheerful Tearful® to make one of the baby sounds. The
sound she makes is random. The doll continues to make the sounds as long as she
is being moved. They say it only takes about a minute and a half of not being
moved before she goes into a sleep mode, (but any movement will
cause this doll to start making noises again). The eyes do not necessarily close but the doll remains
quiet until she is moved again. The directions recommend switching the doll’s
switch to off if she will be left unmoved for more than an hour. This is to
conserve battery life.
The doll’s bottle should only be filled about half way and ONLY with water.
No other liquid should be used. Solid foods are an absolute no-no (unless you
are intentionally trying to break the doll). The doll should be held in an
upright position and the nipple of the bottle needs to be inserted all the way
into the dolls mouth. If feeding is done correctly the doll will not cry nor
make other baby noises for a
short while. After feeding, the doll needs to be burped. This is done by placing the
doll upright on your shoulder and patting its back three times.
After feeding the doll cries when she is upright and wets her diaper when
cradled or laid down. The wet diaper should be removed and hung to dry over
night. Leaving a wet diaper on the doll can lead to mildew, which is not
pleasant. The manufacture recommends using real newborn sized diapers as a
replacement for the single diaper the doll comes with.