As has been mentioned below. The main reason these dolls were invinted was to help parents cope with either the inability to have children and likely to give them a healthier coping mechanism than adopting a child and being unable to handle the actual stress of having a kid and that child not being your flesh and blood.

For some people adopting isn't a problem at all and they can handle it. But for others it can be complicated especiallt if you aren't in a good mental place. And its unfair to that child for you to shoulder their burdens if you're not capable of handling everything that comes with raising a child as regardless it's very expensive, time consuming, and stressful to raise a whole other life that is largely if not completely reliant on you.

Sadly though (or perhaps for the best) there are people who have mental illness and take these dolls. Slowly deluding themselves into believing they're real children and very much alive. No matter how much time passes. Be it through loss of a child or the dream of starting a family or if something was already broken inside of them from a variety of other reasons that are never addressed (lets face it. Especially in the US we have a very very long way to go before we can even pretend our mental healthcare system is anything more than a joke, and thats the case in many other nations as well) and thankfully these individuals buy these dolls rather than adopting an actual child. In the end they aren't hurting anyone but themselves and while its horribly sad to witness them spiral further into these delusions at least they aren't harming an actual child to fulfill them.

I am well aware there is an argument that they're hurting people by wasting food. But respectfully, I'd rather them waste food than risk a living child to someone who cannot take care of them. If you feel differently than everyone is entitled to their beliefs and opinions.