How to fix floppy necks on dolls...

       Here is a common problem with some dolls. You found the perfect doll at resale but . . . it's torso doesn't support the head. Your doll has floppy neck or floppy head syndrome! No kidding, that is what the condition is called.
       This is a result of either poor construction or the use of the wrong material. I recently purchased a doll with this condition for a few dollars. It was very easy to fix simply by replacing the materials that were used to stuff her body.

I didn't hesitate to buy a new doll with floppy head. Her condition was easily corrected by
replacing her new stuffing with cotton. Polyester fiber is too soft for a 18inch child doll.

       The manufacture had stuffed her torso with polyester fiber, a material often used in the filling of baby doll bodies, to give them extra softness. This is preferred when the doll is representing a new born infant, because that type of doll is usually carried non-stop and suited to a small cradle.

       However, for a free standing, 18 inch, child doll, this material is not a good choice. The doll will always be too limp to stand on her own. Thereby, making her an unattractive, inexpensive alternative to the pricier American Girl doll standard. 

       So, I opening up her fabric torso with a seam ripper and removed all of the polyester fill before replacing it with 100 percent cotton batting; this is the fill that resolved this new doll's floppy neck. Then I stitched up the opening in her back using a invisible hand stitch. She is now better than new.

       Now you'd think that a manufacture of dolls would know better, right? They do, however, if they are purchasing materials in bulk from one source, they can do so at a lower price point and this is what most likely took place.

       In case you are wondering if you could do the same by using half polyester and half cotton, don't bother. The doll's body will eventually collapse again. The polyester does not compact enough inside the torso to make it stiff. Fill the doll with tightly compressed cotton balls or cotton batting and you will never have the problem again.

Fixing Floppy Necks:

• FBF floppy head syndrome for a crochet doll
• Doll making tips, achieving sturdy neck construction
• Pumpkin by Madame Alexander Gets New Stuffing

       I added the softer polyester fill beneath the neck of both the porcelain and vinyl versions of my 

Bello baby dolls. Although my investment was only a few dollars, my fondness for these 

twin molds was too great to allow them opportunity for damage I could not repair.

        What child or adult could resist these little faces? Baby dolls by Venezuelan designer, Yolanda Bello, in the 1990s, are notorious for their fragility. Their bodies were stuffed with pellets and polyester fill so that they would feel limp like newborn babies. However, this also meant that the porcelain versions were not likely to survive outside of a curio cabinet, even in the arms of an adult.

       Ashton Drake also sold identical designs in vinyl materials, so that parents had the option of giving a durable doll to a child. But their bodies had little stuffing about the neck and shoulders as well and even if the doll's heads were no longer breakable, the bodies of these dolls could be easily torn and tattered within a short duration of play.