Sarah Mellman’s dolls already contain enough real-life touches — dewy newborn skin, lifelike blue veins and visible saliva — to be confused for the real thing.

But a further step elevates Mellman’s “reborn baby dolls” to a realm beyond the mere lifelike and into the creepy: each has a head of human hair, taken from her own children’s clippings.

The dolls, which range in price from $750 to $7,000, are collected or “adopted” by a burgeoning subculture that travels across the country to trade shows to follow their favorite baby-making artists. Reborn baby dolls also are used in long-term care and nursing homes as therapy babies for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

“To some people they are creepy and weird,” Mellman says. “To these people I try to explain that there are people who, for various reasons, can’t have children and this is their way of easing the ache in their longing arms.”