# Where do they get those babies \[in movies and TV\]?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-they-get-those-babies-in-movies-and-tv/760860>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 25, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-they-get-those-babies-in-movies-and-tv/760860 "2016-07-25T15:15:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bardos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bardos/32/1069_2.png) [@bardos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bardos)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-they-get-those-babies-in-movies-and-tv/760860/1 "2016-07-25T15:15:20Z")

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I have seen myriad TV shows and films where women give birth, and in almost all of the cases it’s a real baby, slightly bloodied up with ketchup or whatever. Who donates these babies for those short film clips of the babies supposedly having just come out of womb? Is it in exchange for pay? Parents looking to make a buck?

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**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-they-get-those-babies-in-movies-and-tv/760860/2 "2016-07-25T15:41:33Z")

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There’s a BBC show (or programme) “Call the Midwife” that uses real _very_ young babies, like a week old or so. Here’s a [Daily Mail article](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2095435/Call-The-Midwife-Real-stars-newborn-babies-acting-like-prima-donnas.html) about it.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-they-get-those-babies-in-movies-and-tv/760860/3 "2016-07-25T16:23:29Z")

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Moved to Cafe Society, and title edited to better indicate subject.

Colibri  
General Questions Moderator

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**Author:** ![Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90ced4/32.png) [@Waltzes\_with\_Cacti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waltzes_with_Cacti)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-they-get-those-babies-in-movies-and-tv/760860/4 "2016-07-25T18:01:24Z")

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We talked about this last spring:  
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=785696](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=785696)

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**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\
**Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-they-get-those-babies-in-movies-and-tv/760860/5 "2016-07-27T11:14:10Z")

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Way back 25 years or so during the mid-80s on Letterman’s NBC show he once had on an official ‘baby wrangler’, which was exactly what it sounds like. It was a woman who was part agent, part nurse, part baby-sitter, and part ‘animal’-trainer. She was there with a pen of real babies crawling around, still in diapers, and she had them do various simple tasks (i.e. ‘tricks’) like you’d see on commercials.

It was both unsettling and hilarious because it was so obvious that Dave was incredibly creeped out by the whole idea. At one point the woman complimented the babies by joyfully saying, _“Oh, these are such **smart** babies!”_ to which Dave immediately picked up on and sarcastically replied, _“Really? Ya, ya ever get a load of dumb babies?!”_ 😃