This Christmas I was faced with a bit of a dilemma. My daughter would only be 9 months old and being such a tricky age to buy for everyone was looking to me to provide ideas for her pressies. With a grandma & pops, a nanny, great nanny and 4 sets of aunts and uncles all asking me what to buy for her I was really struggling to come up with ideas. We still had lots of big toys from my 2 year old son's birthdays and Christmases and so things like trampolines, ball pits, kitchen sets and even ride on toys and walkers were all out of the question.

After an evening spent searching online for ideas I had come up something for all but my mother and one of Eliza's aunties (my sister). My mum then made the situation even more challenging, saying that the rest of our family's gifts from her and my sister were already bought and not only that they were all themed, so could I please hurry up and come up with an idea, oh and it would be lovely if their presents for Eliza could be things that 'went together' too.. No pressure then mum!

My husband said I should tell them in no uncertain terms to swivel. But, being someone who can't resist a challenge I instead rose to the occasion and dug out my Argos catalog and there it was, the solution to my problems, the fisher price brilliant basics first pushchair, well that was my mum sorted now for a 'co-ordinating' gift from my sister. It had to be fairly cheep... and go with the pushchair. Then to my utter delight I saw the words 'doll not included' printed in small red letters underneath the pushchair, I scanned through the catalogue hoping to find a doll chunky enough for Eliza to hold but small and flexible enough to fit within the seat of the pushchair.

And there she was, a vision in baby pink, sat amongst the pre-school toys, a big smile plastered across her rosy cheaked face- the Fisher Price my first doll! She was perfect, at £9.97 even my skint student sister could afford her and being the model posing in the my first pushchair I knew she would fit.

So it was settled, Christmas day came and went (thank god) and Eliza was very happy with all the gifts (I) her relatives had picked out for her. She took a shine to Chloé (the doll, as named by my son who has a baby cousin of the same name), carrying her around with her as she crawled about. Which unfortunately brings me to the only negative of this doll.. As Eliza crawls about, doll in hand, Chloé's face gets dragged along the floor, being soft bodied and having perfectly pale porcelain skin she tends to attract dirt and when she gets even a bit grubby (as baby's favorite toys often do) boy does it show up!

But don't despair, the Fisher Price my first doll is machine washable, so if your little monster is a fan of banana you wont have to scrub off the black smudges it leaves behind by hand. She can't however be put into a tumble dryer and will have to sit on the radiator or swing merrily on the line until she dries out, something that seems to take rather a long time, but that could just be due to the recent bad weather (it's -4 here at the time of writing).

Assuming she's not covered in banana stains and bits of whatever that is on the floor, she's actually a very nice looking doll.. For which I am rather grateful, I'm a little phobic about dolls particularly ones that are 'realistic'... Chloé is however as nonthreatening looking as they come, with beautiful blue eyes (and blue eyelashes for some reason I can't quite fathom), a pretty pink babygrow and hat both of which are not removable. This suits me fine as there are no bits to loose and if you really wanted to you could dress her in other clothes, although good luck with that, because she's all thigh and no leg, but maybe you could put a dress on her.

As I mentioned, Eliza finds it very easy to carry Chloé about and although chunky she weighs very little, her arms are also the perfect size for little hands to hold onto. Her head is the heaviest part of her, both due to the amount of stuffing in her big round face and probably also to the rattle contained within it. Apparently it makes a good noise when you bang her head on the floor as this is what Eliza does with Chloé when she's not dragging her about (poor sod).

I'd say the Fisher Price my first doll is deffinately well suited for a baby of say around 3 months+ it is suitable from birth but this is more of a safety guideline than an age your baby can actually 'use' this toy. Really until your little one becomes a little more interested in toys it is essentially a very expensive rattle. The first pushchair from Fisher Price is recommended for ages 9 months plus so the two could be bought together at that age or the doll earlier maybe with a view to expanding your collection as your child grows. As I said earlier you might have a hard time dressing her, but as far as other accessories go I can see no reason why she wouldn't fit into most toy high chairs, doll swings, motorized cars (yes, they really do sell them for dolls now) and other accessory type things, which would in theory extend her life and playability as your child outgrows her.

To sum up, I like her and more importantly Eliza likes her too, she's cute and reasonably priced as baby toys go and although I can't comment on how hardy she is as we're only 1 month and 1 wash in the machine in, as of yet, so far so good!