Luvabella Baby Doll Guide

Luvabella was released in 2017 and, boy, were toy critics in love. Luvabella baby doll won lots of awards in toys and technology and flew off the shelves that year.

But is this baby doll right for your little one? Is this high tech doll worth the time, effort, and money it’s going to take to track one down?

What about after you get Luvabella home?

For the answers to all these questions and more, here’s our parents’ guide to the Luvabella baby doll.

Check the price of Luvabella on Amazon.

1. Luvabella is an interactive baby doll that responds to your little one’s words and touches.

So what is Luvabella? She’s a interactive baby doll robot. 

Although we mean this in a slightly funny way, we are absolutely “for real.” Luvabella is a high tech interactive baby doll and she’s got the equipment to prove it:

• Light sensing eyes
• Back touch sensor
• Tummy touch sensor
• Feet touch sensors
• Speakers
• Microphone
• Internal microchip

If you’re familiar with Fingerlings baby robot monkeys that sit on your finger, Luvabella is a more high tech version of the same technology.

Only, she can do even more…

2. Luvabella has more than 200 movements and sounds.

She has so many movements, sounds, and responses that it’s astounding. In fact, we just picked the number 200. Luvabella actually has HUNDREDS of things she can do.

Here is just a sample of what this interactive baby doll can do:

• Play peekaboo
• Talk
• Speak French (no joke!)
• Kiss
• Sleep
• Giggle
• Yawn
• Burp

Luvabella is also able to move some parts of her body on her own. She moves her eyelids regularly to blink. She opens and closes her mouth to talk, yawn, laugh, and suck on her soother. Her arms go up and down when she’s excited or wants to play. She even moves her head during play, while being fussy, or as part of her other expressions.

To see a wider range of what Luvabella can do, check out the official instruction manual from Spin Master.

3. She comes with 7 accessories…and you need them!

Here are the accessories that come with Luvabella:

1. Dress
2. Pair of shorts
3. Hair bow
4. Soother (pacifier)
5. Spoon
6. Lamb
7. Bottle

The last 4 accessories are “interactive.” Luvabella has lots of movements and sounds that she does on her own or in response to your little one’s actions. She has even more when you bring the interactive accessories close to her. Each interactive accessory initiates a play mode, during which Luvabella will respond in 4 or 5 different ways.

Luvabella likes sucking on her soother and enjoys relaxing with it when she’s fussy. As your little one brings it closer to the doll’s lips, she will open her mouth and happily accept the soother.

The spoon is used to feed Luvabella (obviously). She may ask for food by saying “Eat please” or “me hungry” OR your little one can feed Luvabella whenever she wants. The spoon can’t go in, however, until Luvabella also says “ahhhh” and opens her mouth. If the doll is full, she’ll turn her head. The spoon also prompts her to learn food related words. How fun!

Luvabella’s lamb toy puts her in play mode. When the lamb is brought close to her mouth, she will kiss it and start talking and playing. She’ll also experiment with new words during the play.

The last accessory that comes with the doll is her bottle. The bottle is used primarily for soothing and putting her to sleep.

Check the price of Luvabella on Amazon.

4. Your little one can teach the doll to talk.

One feature that sets Luvabella apart from other interactive baby dolls is that she can be “taught” to talk.

When she first comes out of the package, Luvabella is basically only able to babble like a baby. She’ll also be able to say Mama (the default) or Dada. Once your little one starts playing with her and trying to teach her, she will get better at saying words. The baby doll learns best when playing with the lamb (she learns and improves animal names) or eating from the spoon (she learns and improves food related words).

Besides animals and foods, Luvabella can learn simple commands and responses related to her own care and play like “eat please,” “me hungry,” and “peekaboo.”

In all, Luvabella is capable of learning more that 100 words and phrases.

5. These dolls are not for water play.

As you can imagine, with all that technology and possibility, your little one can absolutely NOT get Luvabella wet.

Imagine dunking your phone in water…you know what happens.

This is the exact same thing that will happen to Luvabella when she gets wet, only you won’t be able to put her in rice to get the water out. Be sure to explain this to your little one when she gets the doll.

So how do you clean the doll then? With a wet wipe. In general, you can use any damp cloth but a wet wipe is gentle and only slightly wet so there isn’t a lot of possibility for damaging Luvabella.

Besides, using a wet wipe allows your little one to clean Luvabella the same way she would clean a real baby, thereby extending the pretend play.

6. For ages 4+, but better for ages 5+.

Luvabella is stated to be for ages 4 and up, but we think she’s a better doll for ages 5 and up.

Luvabella dolls arrive in autonomous mode, which means they can move and make sounds on their own…like a real baby. For some little ones under 5, this independence can be unnerving or even scary (think Chucky). We suggest waiting until your little asks for a Luvabella before you consider buying it. Otherwise, she may not like it or may even be afraid of the doll.

More importantly…

Young 4s–and definitely little ones younger than that–may not be able to understand the amount of care that needs to be taken with a sophisticated robot doll. They are still putting things in their mouths, dropping things in the toilet, dropping things on the floor…you get the idea.

A doll that can learn 100 words and play with hundreds of movements and sounds is NOT going to be durable as well. All the tech on Luvabella that makes her great, also makes her vulnerable to rough play.

In fact, the instruction manual suggests that your little one not even take the doll OUTSIDE, for fear that dirt, grass, and cement will scratch the finish and block the sensors.

Luvabella’s fragility leads to the next point…

7. There may be manufacturer’s defects.

While critics and lots of parents love Luvabella, there are also a lot of parents that don’t like Luvabella.

This interactive baby doll is a mechanical, electrical, and digital wonder designed to play with children…who break things regularly…you see the conundrum here?

The first design and manufacturing of the doll may not be completely up to the challenge of rough playing children. And even if your little one is delicate…

Your doll may have manufacturer’s defects. Here are some of the reported issues:

• Eyes stop blinking
• Loud grinding noise from the motor
• Head sticks or shakes
• Eyelashes fall off

If your doll doesn’t work, scroll down to find tips on troubleshooting Luvabella’s issues.

Need to return your doll? Spinmaster, the toy maker, says do not return her to the store. Instead, you should call or email their support team for a refund or replacement. Spinmaster DOES offer replacement dolls. Go here for help:

https://spinmaster.com/contact-us.php?userLoc=us

8. Get ready to buy lots of batteries.

These dolls need 4 C batteries to operate…and she doesn’t come with them.

All her movements and sounds come at the price of high battery life. Although Luvabella does have a sleep mode, she still uses battery life. Be sure to turn the doll OFF if your little one is not playing with her.

Even with fastidious battery conservation, you will still need more batteries. Better buy in bulk.

9. There are 3 Luvabella options plus 1 boy, Luvabeau.

Luvabella has a limited but adequate range of options:

Brown skin baby girl with brown hair

Fair skin baby girl with blonde hair

Fair skin baby girl with brown hair (brunette)

There’s even one boy: Luvabeau. He has fair skin with sandy brown hair. He also comes in cute overalls and has blue interactive accessories.

Luvabeau has the exact same movements and sounds as Luvabella.

By default, Luvabeau will refer to your little one as “Mama.” To switch to “Dada,” hold Luvabeau’s back button and once you hear the beep, touch his right foot for Dada. You then can release the back button.

In general, Luvabeau’s are slightly more expensive and definitely harder to find than Luvabella’s. If you see one, buy it!

Don’t forget to print your little one’s FREE adoption certificates from the Spin Master site:

Adoption certificate for Luvabella

Adoption certificate for Luvabeau

10. These cuties have accessories you can buy or use your own.

You can use your own accessories with Luvabella if you like. These baby dolls can wear preemie baby clothes and diapers.

The best size baby clothes and diapers will be preemie.

Clothes should be easy to find at garage sales, Goodwill, or Walmart. If you want to buy them on Amazon and get clothes sent right to your door, here are a couple of our favorites.

For Luvabella, this cute matching body suit with footies and hat set.

For Luvabeau, this adorable version of the preemie set.

If your little one wants to change a diaper, consider getting 1 washable and reusable cloth diaper.

Want official accessories? Check out the Diaper Bag Nursery Gift Set.

This set comes with 10 pieces:

1. Diaper bag
2. Blue trim cloth bib
3. Pink trim cloth bib
4. Blue trim changeable cloth diaper
5. Pink trim changeable cloth diaper
6. Lamb “blanky” toy
7. Blue trim burp cloth
8. Pink trim burp cloth
9. Soft baby powder bottle (it’s pretend)
10. Soft soother (pacifier) container

Editor’s Review of Luvabella

What We Like

• Your little one can teach this doll to talk. How cool is that?!?
• Interactive accessories are a nice touch to extend play.
• There are lots of pretend play options.
• The doll’s size (about 16”) makes it compatible with other baby doll accessories.

What We Don’t Like

• The initial 4 C batteries you need to operate this doll aren’t included.
• There’s a high probability you will get a defective doll.
• Lots of possibilities for this baby doll to break.
• We feel this doll is a little expensive for what you’re getting.

Final Review

Luvabella is a high tech interactive baby doll with lots of functionality and play potential.

We love the idea of Luvabella, but there is some work to be done on her design and manufacturing. You can buy the doll now if you have a high risk tolerance and don’t mind dealing with returns. Otherwise, we recommend waiting a year or two to buy Luvabella till some of the kinks are worked out.

Check the price of Luvabella on Amazon.

Want More of Luvabella?

Check out some unboxing videos from our favorite Youtubers.

Check the price of Luvabella on Amazon.

Troubleshooting Luvabella’s Defects

1. To minimize the possibility of getting a defective or used doll, make sure you buy online only if the listing reads Sold and Shipped by Amazon.
2. Luvabella does have a sleep mode, so your little one will need to pick her up and play with her to get her out of sleep mode.
3. When the doll’s batteries are low, she will YAWN and say, “SO SO TIRED.” She will then close her eyes and shut off. If she doesn’t do this, the batteries aren’t the problem.
4. Once you encounter an issue, try resetting her. Here’s how to do it from the instruction manual: To reset her memory, make sure she is TURNED ON. HOLD her BACK BUTTON, once you hear the beep, adjust the LANGUAGE SWITCH and release her BACK BUTTON. Luvabella is now reset.
5. If none of this works, you might need to return your little one’s doll and get a new one.

Want a baby doll that’s not so interactive? Check out Adora Adoption dolls.