text: The giraffe tends to appear in parents’ lives sometime around the birth of a first child. It’s 7.5 inches tall, squeaky, and vaguely vanilla-scented. Its pupil-less eyes have the same blank, dazed expression newborns might recognize in the sleep-deprived parents dangling the toy above their crib. 
   
   If you have birthed a child or given a baby gift at any point in the last five years, you may well have encountered Sophie the Giraffe. Sophie doesn’t make children smarter or improve cognitive development or any other benefit more high-tech toys promise. It’s just a rubber teether, distinguished from the thousands of other animal-shaped rubber teethers on the market primarily by its $24.99 retail price. In contrast, a perfectly serviceable set of Nuby teething keys—another baby favorite—is $4.99 at BabiesRUs. 
   
   Yet in less than a decade Sophie went from being a virtual unknown in the US to the go-to baby gift for the upper-middle class. Roughly 500,000 Sophies are sold in the US each year. Its price point is right in prime baby shower gift territory. The giraffe is the 10th most popular baby item on Amazon, alongside staples like changing pads and breast milk storage bags. 
   
   The giraffe’s rise to fame is a starlet’s tale of obscure rural beginnings, an LA discovery, and a few lucky breaks. 
   
   In France, where the toy manufacturer Vulli produced its first Sophie on May 25, 1961, la girafe is a childhood staple. Sophie sales match or surpass annual birth rates. 
   
   So when French expatriate Hélène Dumoulin-Montgomery gave birth to her daughter in California in 2000, she looked for a toy Sophie for her baby like the one she’d had as a child. Sophie wasn’t sold in the US at the time. Dumoulin-Montgomery, who then worked part-time as a realtor’s assistant, contacted Vulli and asked for permission to import the toy. 
   
   The company was ambivalent, Dumoulin-Montgomery said. (Vulli did not respond to Quartz’s requests for comment.) After middling sales in neighboring western European countries, Vulli was content to focus on the French market. Nonetheless, the company agreed to grant Dumoulin-Montgomery a license to distribute the toy stateside. 
   
   In 2001, Dumoulin-Montgomery received her first shipment of 100 Sophies. Nobody wanted them. 
   
   “She was expensive. Everyone was comparing it to toys [made] in China,” she recalled via Skype while on vacation in France. (Her company, Calisson, Inc., is based in Orange County, California.) 
   
   “I had a face to face with Sophie and said, ‘How am I going to sell you?’” 
   
   Sophie’s fate changed in 2004 after a meeting with Teri Weiss, owner of the Beverly Hills gift boutique Elegant Child. Weiss crafts custom gift baskets destined for the offspring of high rollers in LA’s entertainment and finance scenes. She sells doll strollers more expensive than the strollers most people buy for their actual children. Dumoulin-Montgomery arrived at Weiss’s offices with a duffel bag full of children’s clothing and toys recently imported from France. 
   
   “I remember it like yesterday,” Weiss recalled. “She brought a bag. I didn’t like anything. Nothing. And then at the bottom I saw this little giraffe, with no packaging or anything. I pick it up. It’s the right color and shape. I said, ‘That would look great in my basket.’” Dumoulin-Montgomery had six Sophies in the trunk of her car. Weiss bought them all. 
   
   She put a Sophie that same day in a basket a Hollywood agent was gifting a client, the actress Kate Hudson, who had just given birth to her son Ryder. 
   
   “A week or so later, her assistant calls me and says, ‘Kate Hudson received this basket.’ It’s literally a $500 basket, and her assistant says, ‘Her son loves this giraffe.” 
   
   Demand rose as famous babies like Ryder Robinson were photographed gnawing on the toy. For the next four years, Elegant Child was one of Dumoulin-Montgomery’s biggest clients. Weiss was sending out 100 to 125 rubber giraffes per day at the peak, she said. 
   
   Sales exploded after the toymaker Mattel’s 2007 recall of millions of lead-tainted Chinese-made toys. Sophie is made of natural rubber—each giraffe spends three months curing on a tray in the factory in Rumilly, France—and embellished with food-grade paint. 
   
   Its success has led to unsubstantiated reports of imposter giraffes. Several parents have complained in Amazon reviews of receiving a giraffe they suspect is counterfeit, either because its painted spots faded (a normal occurrence in the genuine toy, Dumoulin-Montgomery said) or it has a funky chemical smell. Neither Dumoulin-Montgomery nor Amazon was able to confirm cases of counterfeit Sophies. 
   
   Sophie’s US success convinced Vulli to invest in international marketing, Dumoulin-Montgomery said. The giraffe is now available in 75 different countries. If Sophie is on the higher end of toys in the US, in other countries she is practically gilded. In Brazil, the toy retails for roughly $50. In Europe Sophie is considerably cheaper—£8.99 ($13) on Amazon UK, €11 ($12.50) in her native France—and thus more democratized. London mom Carol Horne was at a wedding in Amsterdam in 2011 when her then-6-month-old bit down on the toy’s distinctive squeaker. Without turning around a Dutch woman two rows ahead said, “Ah—Sophie!” 
   
   For this story, I informally surveyed roughly 30 parents with kids born after 2007, from Cape Town to London to New York. Nearly all of them had purchased or been gifted at least one Sophie at some point. 
   
   “I’d never heard of Sophie until I got pregnant, and all of the baby registries listed it as a top pick,” said Stephanie Paterik, a New York journalist expecting her first child in August. “I’m still unclear about what she is/does, but registered for her anyway.” 
   
   Sophie isn’t a universal panacea. Several parents surveyed for this story reported that their children never cared for the toy. At least two family dogs tried to commandeer it as their own. 
   
   But for those babies who do take to the giraffe, Sophie holds a near-hypnotic sway. My own daughter gummed hers reverentially. An increasingly worn Sophie appears in almost every photo taken of her in her infancy. That graspable neck, chewable legs, and soothingly empty expression appeals in a way Sophie’s fans are incapable of explaining. 
   
   “It’s her face. There’s something magical about it,” Dumoulin-Montgomery said. “I wish I could go in the head of a baby just to know.” ||||| When parents discovered mold in their "Tommee Tippee Sippee" cups last year, people everywhere were horrified. Well, we have more bad news: Sophie the Giraffe isn't safe either. Recent reports from parents reveal people have found mold growing inside of the popular toddler teething toy. 
   
   As a pediatric dentist, Dana Chianese recommends teething toys to parents every single day, including Sophie the Giraffe (which her two boys under the age of three prefer), but not anymore. A month ago she decided to clean the toy and noticed the air coming out of the hole smelled musty. "I decided to cut into Sophie out of curiosity and discovered a science experiment living inside," Chianese told Goodhousekeeping.com. "Smelly, ugly mold living in my infant's favorite chew toy!" 
   
   Dana Chianese 
   
   Chianese says she always cleaned the toy according to instructions, using hot, soapy water with a damp sponge and never submerging it into water. "It still hurts my heart to know that for months I allowed my babies to chew on moldy toys," she says. "I no longer buy any chew toys with a hole or recommend any to my patients." 
   
   And she's not the only one: On Amazon, one reviewer tried to alert others to what she found when she cut the legs off of her child's teething toy and even shared a picture for proof: "Beware!! If you have a drooly baby, moisture will get in the hole and you'll end up with mold!" says Amazon user Stephanie Opera. "We've had ours for two years and the entire inside is coated with black mold!" 
   
   Stephanie Oprea via Amazon 
   
   Meanwhile, a user on What to Expect shared her own pictures of the moldy toy. She says she only found the mold after she chopped off the legs after hearing reports of them getting caught in the throats of other babies. Let's just say, she had no clue she was about the uncover the real danger inside. 
   
   What to Expect 
   
   Dr. Lyuba Konopasek, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at New York Presbyterian/Weil Cornell Medical Center told Care.com exposure to mold in toys is usually not something to be too alarmed about, unless your child has a immune disorder. However, if your child does have a mold allergy, they may start experiencing symptoms such as coughing or itchy eyes. 
   
   So what can you do? "The only way to prevent mold inside plastic toys is to make sure they are cleaned and thoroughly dried," says Carolyn Forte, the Director of the Cleaning Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute. The best way to clean washable plastic toys is in hot sudsy water or in the dishwasher. Then, disinfect them with a solution of 1/2 cup Clorox bleach per gallon of water. Soak them for five minutes, rinse and air dry. 
   
   How often you should clean these toys depends on the frequency of use. If used daily, Forte recommends cleaning them at least once a week. And don't let these items sit in water or leave them with water trapped inside between uses or cleanings. See update below for more information. 
   
   Update, 1/16/2017: When contacted for comment, a spokesperson for Sophie the Giraffe, shared the following statement: 
   
   First of all, it's important to know that Sophie la Girafe [Sophie the Giraffe] is composed of 100% 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 emphasize on the fact that is it important, while cleaning the product, that no water gets inside the whole. As of now, we have not been contacted by Mrs. Chianese nor Mrs. Opera and were not aware of the situation before reading your article. It is thus difficult for us to comment on the current situation, as we haven't had the chance to examine the products. Please know that each complaint received is taken very seriously and that the return of the product is always asked for further examination. Furthermore, please know that the safety of children and satisfaction of their parents is our main priority. For the past 55 years, we have always strived to exceed security standards and all of our products comply with the most stringent global standards. 
   
   Update, 1/17/2017: After hearing from the manufacturers of Sophie the Giraffe, we checked in again with Carolyn Forte, Director of the Cleaning Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute. "You should always follow the advice for cleaning a toy that a manufacturer provides," she says. "Sometimes there is special care required that may be different from other toys your child owns. Always check a toy's packaging for care instructions before discarding it or if the packaging has already been tossed, check the manufacturer's website." 
   
   That said, Forte questioned how practical a teething toy might be that can't be thoroughly washed. ||||| Parents surprised at mold growth inside Sophie the Giraffe toy 
   
   Hi, parents. Welcome to Babies 101. First lesson? Babies drool. A lot. And they like to suck on toys. A lot. Moisture in an enclosed space can cause mold to grow, which should be common sense. 
   
   Apparently, it’s not. 
   
   In the latest edition of Parent’s Freaking Out, we have moms and dads upset that their child’s Sophie the Giraffe teething toy is full of mold. Dana Chianese, a pediatric dentist and mother of two toddler sons, tells Good Housekeeping of her horrifying discovery after noticing a musty smell coming from the hole of her child’s Sophie toy. “I decided to cut into Sophie out of curiosity and discovered a science experiment living inside,” she explains. “Smelly, ugly mold living in my infant’s favorite chew toy!” 
   
   Though Chianese followed the cleaning instructions that came with the toy, wiping it down with hot, soapy water and never submerging it, the mold still grew. Understandably, the mom is shaken, saying, “It still hurts my heart to know that for months I allowed my babies to chew on moldy toys. I no longer buy any chew toys with a hole or recommend any to my patients.” 
   
   OK, ew. Like, all the ew. We won’t deny that this would be a jarring discovery for any parent, and in the haze of our exhausting lives raising small people who hardly let us sleep, we might forget tiny details. Like the fact that mold growing inside a toy a baby constantly sucks on shouldn’t be a huge surprise. 
   
   Yet, Amazon has more than one review, including cautionary photos of gross Sophie toys full of blackish-colored mold, with stories just like Chianese’s. User Stephanie Oprea writes, “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!” 
   
   Behold, the grossness. 
   
   Another reviewer writes, “My 8-month-old grandson had this giraffe. When it started giving off a foul odor, my son cut it open to find the inside covered with mold. It was not used as a bath toy, but was washed in order to clean it.” 
   
   Alright, we get it. It’s shocking and disgusting, but again, shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. And mold is more than just yucky to look at, the CDC says it can cause health issues including respiratory symptoms, itchy eyes and even skin reactions. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way, since there are easy ways to keep plastic toys with holes in them clean. 
   
   Advertisement 
   
   Cleaning website The Maids has several suggestions for keeping bath toys and teething toys clean and free of mold. The most practical and baby-safe among them are: 
   
   Vinegar 
   
   Mix together 1 gallon of water with ½ cup of white vinegar and let the toys soak in this solution for about an hour. Give them a scrub once the mold is loose and then let them dry. If they still smell like vinegar, just do a simple rise and dry before placing them back in the toy bin. 
   
   The Dishwasher 
   
   Running bath toys through the dishwasher also sanitizes and kills any gunk or mold that may be growing on both the inside and out. It seems like an overly simple method, but it gets the job done. 
   
   Boiling Water 
   
   Take the toys and boil them in hot water and squeeze out any of the “yuck” from the insides with some tongs. Let them cool and dry thoroughly. 
   
   So, it’s not Sophie’s fault she gets moldy. She just needs a proper cleaning, like any other plastic or rubber toy with a hole in it that your baby regularly gums on.
target: – Sophie the Giraffe, a squeaky rubber teething toy, has become all the rage the past few years, despite a relatively steep price tag—Quartz noted in June its $24.99 cost compared with simpler teething toys that retail for less than $5. But Sophie's popularity may take a hit after some consumers report finding mold, per GoodHousekeeping.com. Pediatric dentist Dana Chianese, a mom of two young boys, says she promotes teething products (including Sophie the Giraffe) to parents of infants, but she recently noticed a weird smell emanating from her own, and when she sliced Sophie open, she made what the website calls an "absolutely horrifying" discovery. It was a "science experiment living inside," she reveals, adding, "It … hurts my heart" to know she let her own little boys gnaw on the giraffe. Other complaints have filtered in about the giraffe's mold issue on Amazon and various baby forums, with some saying even a baby who drools a lot could spur mold growth inside the giraffe. Meanwhile, Valerie Williams rolls her eyes at the Scary Mommy blog: "If you don't want toys filled with mold, clean them." (Chianese, for her part, says she always meticulously followed directions on how to take care of the toy.) A spokeswoman from the company that makes the giraffe reiterates that tip in a statement to GoodHousekeeping.com, noting that cleaning how-tos should be "carefully respected" and that all efforts must be made to keep water out of the hole. (Parents, stay away from homeopathic teething products.)