The popular teething toy, Sophie the Giraffe has been condemned by parents online after some parents found the inside lining of the toy coated with black mould.

Dana Chianese, a pediatric dentist decided to clean her sons’ favourite toy after noticing a musty smell coming from the hole.

Chianese told Goodhousekeeping.com, “I decided to cut into Sophie out of curiosity and discovered a science experiment living inside.”

“Smelly, ugly mold living in my infant’s favorite chew toy!”

Image by Chianese

The mum had always followed the instructions to never submerge the toy into water and to only clean it with hot soapy water and a damp sponge.

Yet despite following the instructions, Sophie the Giraffe harvested a bacteria of her own.

“It still hurts my heart to know that for months I allowed my babies to chew on moldy toys,” says Chianese. “I no longer buy any chew toys with a hole or recommend any to my patients.”

Chianese is not the first parent to find mould in the popular chew toy.

An Amazon user, Stephanie Opera, alerted others to what she found when she cut off the legs of her child’s teething toy and showed a picture with the following caption,”Beware!! If you have a drooly baby, moisture will get in the hole and you’ll end up with mold!”

“We’ve had ours for two years and the entire inside is coated with black mold!”

Another parent, a use of What to Expect, shared her own pictures of a mouldy Sophie the Giraffe. She only found the mould after cutting the legs off after hearing reports of them getting caught in the throats of other babies.

Despite the findings, a child’s exposure to mould is not something to be alarmed about unless the child has an immune disorder.

Dr. Lyuba Konopasek, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at New York Presbyterian/Weil Cornell Medical Center told Care.com if a child has an allergic reaction to the mould, they may experience coughing or itchy eyes.

Mould in toys tends to happen is soft/chewy toys where a hole captures moisture inside the toy. Bath toys are notorious for growing black mould inside if they are not squeeze out consistently after bath time.

Toys that are used daily should be washed once a week. Chewy toys like Sophie the Giraffe should not be left submerged in the water. Once disinfected, the toys should be left outside to dry.

Since the warnings shared by parents online, the makers of Sophie the Giraffe have yet to comment.