Mother creates matching doll to make daughter feel confident about her face birthmark
Five-year-old Nevaeh and her matching doll are inseparable. Source: Jesica Bird
A young mother came up with a brilliant idea to make her five-year-old daughter feel confident about the distinctive birthmark on her face.
When five-year-old Nevaeh Bird said she wished that the new doll she got for Christmas looked more like her, mom Jesica didn’t waste any time. She came up with the most endearing idea: using dark red lipstick to make the doll match.
Jesica replicated the birthmark onto the doll by using dark red lipstick and added a coat of clear nail polish to make it permanent.
“I did it in 20 minutes, it was so easy to do and I never would have thought something so little would be so huge for her,” the 31-year-old mother-of-two explained.
Now, Nevaeh and her matching doll are inseparable. The little girl carries her doll everywhere and can’t wait to show it off to others.
“Now, she seems even happier with her doll now and is proud, she wants to show it off to others. She always loved to play with her doll before but now it seems like it’s more special to her now. I believe she wanted her doll to match her, she’s proud of her birthmark and was happy enough to have it on her doll too,” Jesica said.
Nevaeh was born with a port-wine stain – also known as a firemark. The stain is vascular anomaly caused by abnormally widened blood vessels.
Nevaeh’s matching doll – Source: Jesica Bird
Navaeh’s parents have always encouraged her to embrace her birthmark. However, they haven’t always had it easy. When Navaeh was a toddler, people kept confusing her birthmark with a sign of physical abuse.
“When she was a toddler, we had a few people following us round a store threatening to call the cops because they thought I was beating my child. In those situations, you don’t know what to do, you tell people over and over that it’s a birthmark but some are so ignorant they won’t listen. Now she is a little older, when people ask about her birthmark she smiles at them, so it’s changed how I react a lot more,” the five-year-old’s mother confessed.
Navaeh’s parents considered laser treatment but eventually decided to let their daughter choose for herself when she gets older.
“We decided we would let her choose, if at a certain point in her life she wants to do it, then it’s her choice or if she wants to cover it with make-up she can do that too,” Jesica explained.
According to her parents, Navaeh has thankfully never been bullied and is very proud of her port-win stain.
“She’s never had any bullying or anything like that, there’s never been a time she was upset by her birthmark because we’ve always encouraged her to embrace it. She’s never felt the need to be ashamed and we never want her to feel embarrassed. Thankfully, she’s so proud of her port wine stain and we are too, we never want her to hide it,” Jesica added.
