A mum who let her son play with her hair to help him sleep has seen her plan to find an alternative spectacularly backfire after seeing him instead become obsessed with a 'creepy' mannequin head.
Ilarni Clark went looking for a backup plan after 14-month-old Harry's hair pulling began to give her headaches and she was contacted by a trainee hairdresser who had a spare doll with hair the same length and colour as hers.
But little Harry has become so enamoured with the head that he insists on taking it to eat lunch, nap and go shopping.
Any attempt to spilt up the new best friends results in an 'absolute meltdown' and it's now Ilarni who can struggle to sleep after accidentally kissing 'Baba' goodnight in the dark after mistaking it for her son or partner Callum.
The 22-year-old first time mum said: "In our bed, there's me, Callum, Harry - and the doll's head. It has given me a few frights in the middle of night.
"For the first couple of nights I shouted 'Callum, there's someone in the room!' We've both done it.
"He carries it around everywhere he goes. He won't eat his breakfast or his meals unless the doll's with him.
"We went to go to town [on Monday] and I said 'come on, we'll go in the car' and he was halfway through the door with it.
"I refused to take the doll's head with me and he had an absolute meltdown and screamed. I had to distract him with something else.
"I've gone over and given the doll a kiss by accident instead of Harry. It takes about half an hour to get back to sleep because you get such a shock."
The reception manager from Sunderland found Harry wouldn't settle unless he was twiddling her hair and she reached out to friends for tips on a more practical method of helping him nod off.
It got so bad that she couldn't leave Harry with his dad Callum because he doesn't have enough hair to play with and the tot simply wouldn't sleep.
After suggestions were made to get a doll, Ilarni laughed off the idea convinced it wouldn't work but now says the training doll's hair is so similar to hers she doesn't think her son notices the difference.
"He took to it straight away," she said. "He absolutely loves it. Then it started getting weirder."
The tot even places Baba's head on his tray along with his morning breakfast but in more positive news for his mum, Harry now appears to be able to settle on his own - all thanks to the doll.
Ilarni said: "At the weekend, my partner's mum rang me and he'd fallen asleep on his own. He's never done that.
"I normally have to rock his pram to go to sleep. He needs to be moving to sleep normally.
"I've tried everything to get him to fall asleep on his own, but yesterday he got on the sofa, got his doll head and fell asleep for an hour and a half.
"This is the secret - get a creepy hairdressing doll.
"He does normally sleeps through the night, but last night he was a nightmare.
"I took the doll head off him because I don't let him sleep with it while I'm asleep in case the hair goes round his neck. He woke up and noticed, then screamed for about three hours."
