Inside the world of Lady Goo Goo: The woman who has filled her home with 300 dolls that she looks after like real babies

When most women's babies start to grow up, they look forward to a time without nappy changes and midnight feeds.

But a Staten Island plus-size model said she enjoyed nursing babies so much that when her three children got older she started collecting dolls that she treats like real infants.

Marilyn Mansfield has turned her apartment into a silent nursery filled with 300 lifelike dolls who she looks after as if they were living, changing their clothes, washing their hair and taking them to the park.

The married 33-year-old woman said she does not leave the house without one of her dolls and often shocks strangers who come to coo at one of her 'babies'.

'I don't do it for the shock value. I do it for myself because it makes me happy,' she said. 

'I just loved when my kids were babies - and these babies stay babies forever,' she told the New York Post.

'I buy them clothes. They never grow out of them and they never get dirty.'

As well as handmade lifelike dolls known as 'reborns' that have human hair, weigh the same as babies and cost up to $2,000, Mrs Mansfield has a collection of 300 dolls worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Lifelike: The 'reborn' dolls have human hair and are weighted the same as real babies. The handmade toys cost up to $2,000 each (file picture)

'I know they're not alive, but their facial expressions give them all their own personalities,' she said.

'When women hold babies, they release hormones. I think that's what it is for me - it makes me feel good.'

Mrs Mansfield, who is featured in TLC show 'My Collection Obsession', which premieres next Sunday, said that her children are not jealous of the playthings.

Her seven-year-old son has his own doll collection and her 12-year-old daughter helps her mother change and wash the dolls.

She said that her husband has no interest in the dolls, but has grown used to their large 'family'.

Mrs Mansfield has mixed reactions when she takes the dolls out in public.

'People will come over and ask me, “How old is he?”' Mrs Mansfield said.

'I'll try to ignore them. If they keep on, I'll say, “Look, it's not a baby.”'

One woman who saw one of the dolls in a store recently said: 'Your baby looks a little pale. Is he OK?'

'She touched him and screamed when she found out it was a doll,' Mrs Mansfield said.