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Teething toy Sophie the Giraffe under fire after mum’s gruesome discovery

She cut Sophie open after smelling ‘musty’ smell and let’s just say it wasn’t pretty…

Sophie the Giraffe is a life-saver to mums of teething tots the world over but one mum is warning other parents about the beloved toy after she made a rather disgusting discovery.

Dana Chianese found black mould growing inside the Sophie she’d given to her son.

She cut it open out of curiosity when she noticed a ‘musty’ smell coming from the teether.

Source: Dana Chianese

The child dentist from New Jersey told Good Housekeeping that she regularly recommends the product for teething children so was horrified that mould had been growing in a toy

that’s designed to be chewed upon.

“I decided to cut into Sophie out of curiosity and discovered a science experiment living inside. Smelly, ugly mould living in my infant’s favourite chew toy!”

Another consumer Stephanie Oprea posted similar images of Sophie last year.

Posting a review on Amazon she wrote: “Beware! If you have a drooly baby, moisture will get in the hole and you’ll end up with mould! We’ve had ours for two years and the entire inside is coated with black mould!”

Source: Stephanie Oprea

This parent also had a mould story to share:

Source: Amazon

A spokesman for the manufacturer Vulli gave a statement to the MailOnline:

“It’s important to know that Sophie la girafe [the toy’s French name] is composed of 100 per cent natural rubber, so the cleaning instructions have to be carefully respected.

“As indicated on the packaging and in an explanatory leaflet inside the packaging, we recommend to clean the surface of Sophie la girafe with a damp cloth. It should not be immersed in the water nor rinsed off, to prevent water from getting inside, as she may become damaged.

“We thus would like to emphasise the fact that is it important, while cleaning the product, that no water gets inside the hole.”

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