Meet Dolly: our uncomplaining lead stunt baby

We are about to start sharing a new series of short videos showing how to use the Tummy Time app on the floor.

Which immediately created a casting challenge: who plays the baby?

Real babies, as any parent knows, have two major disqualifications for commercial video shoots.

First, privacy. At Baby Newt, we don’t put children’s faces on the internet or in marketing feeds. Lara is the reason these apps exist and tests every feature, but you won’t see her photo here. That same privacy rule applies to every other baby.

Second, professionalism. Real babies are notoriously difficult to direct. You cannot ask a three-month-old to hit their mark, hold a steady head lift for six seconds, track a caterpillar, and hold off on a mid-take spit-up until lunch. They will look at the skirting board, sneeze, and take a four-hour nap.

Enter Dolly.

Dolly’s qualifications

Look at her sitting there on the mat. You can tell she takes her responsibilities very seriously.

• Spotless attendance record: Always on the mat fifteen minutes before call time.
• Unwavering focus: Her facial expression is permanently locked in quiet wonder (that round “ooh” mouth, as if watching a high-contrast caterpillar crawl across an iPad is the cinematic event of the year).
• Wardrobe ready: Diaper already fastened, no costume changes required.
• Zero rider demands: Never asks for warm milk in her dressing room.
• Floor-tested stamina: Stays completely calm, take after take.

Her only weakness is core strength. Being a vinyl doll, her neck muscle tone is strictly zero, which means she occasionally requires a discreet human finger under the chin to “look” at the screen.

Behind the curtain: yes, she’s AI-generated

In the spirit of complete transparency: Dolly is an AI-generated character.

Baby Newt is a one-dad operation run from home without studios, production teams, or big advertising budgets. Building calm, private apps for our kids between nap times and bedtimes doesn’t come with a commercial film crew.

Dolly was created simply to keep these videos lighthearted, fun, and entertaining, while demonstrating practical floor setups without ever turning real children into content. If she looks a little too picture-perfect sitting next to the wooden blocks, now you know why: pixels don’t spit up, and they don’t charge studio day rates.

What Dolly will be demonstrating

Over the next few weeks across TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, Dolly is taking on the floor shifts so real babies don’t have to:

• Where to place the screen: Flat or propped slightly on the mat, right in baby’s line of sight without craning.
• Screen setup: Brightness turned down so it’s gentle on little eyes.
• The quiet alternative: What floor time looks like when your vocal cords get a rest from doing puppet voices and shaking rattles.
• Staying close: Tummy time is always something you do together, with an adult sitting right there on the floor beside them.

Real babies do it better

In the videos, you will see Dolly getting a little manual assistance with her head lifts. Real babies, of course, do this work themselves — a few seconds at a time, wobbling, resting, and practicing a tiny bit more each week.

Dolly is just holding the space on the mat so parents can see how the app works in a real room, without putting real kids on social feeds.

Spot Dolly in the wild

Keep an eye out for Dolly in our new video clips starting this week. If she looks slightly startled in some of them, don’t worry — she was just informed that the rattle is taking the day off.

And if your little one wants to see what Dolly is staring at, the quiet caterpillar is ready whenever you are.

Tummy Time is free to download on iPhone and Android, with no ads and no sign-up.

A quick note: Dolly is an AI-generated character created for entertainment and demonstration, but tummy time is for real life. Always stay right beside your baby on a firm, flat surface on the floor, keep sessions short, and stop while everyone is still smiling.