A MUM'S plan to get her son to sleep by playing with her hair backfired, as he's now obsessed with a creepy mannequin head.

Ilarni Clark had always let 14-month-old Harry play with her hair while drifting off, but was forced to find an alternative when she started getting headaches.

After appealing to her pals online, the 22-year-old was offered a spare doll's head with the same length and colour mane as her's, by a friend who's a trainee hairdresser.

It wasn't long before Harry became attached to the head, which he's named 'Baba', insisting on sleeping with it in their bed and taking it out with him.

But Ilarni, from Sunderland, is terrified of it, often thinking someone was in the room with them. She's even accidentally kissed Baba goodnight, mistaking it for her son.

Ilarni, who has one kid with Callum Mackay, 21, 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.

"Harry 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 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 mum added:"It started because Harry wouldn't settle unless he was twiddling with my hair. He's done it since he was a baby.

"I couldn't leave him with his dad because he doesn't have any hair to play with and he just wouldn't sleep at all.

"A week ago I put something on Facebook saying I needed some help because I constantly had a headache and couldn't sleep because he was pulling my hair out in the night.

"People commented on Facebook and said to get a Baby Annabelle or some extensions, but I didn't think it would work.

"Then one of my friends messaged me saying she had a spare hairdressing doll if I wanted to try it.

"The doll hair is the same colour and same length as my hair. I don't think he notices it's any different.

"He took to it straight away. He absolutely loves it. Then it started getting weirder."

Despite being freaked out by the mannequin, Ilarni admits it's having a great result.

She 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.

"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.

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"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."

In more parenting news, this mixed-race mum says strangers ask if her son was ‘swapped at birth’ after he was born with red hair and blue eyes.

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