Recent reports from parents reveal people have found mold growing inside of the popular toddler teething toy. 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," Chianese told Goodhousekeeping.com. “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. We thus would like to emphasize on the fact that is it important, while cleaning the product, that no water gets inside the whole. Stephanie Oprea via Amazon 
 
 Meanwhile, a user on What to Expect shared her own pictures of the moldy toy. 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. It was not used as a bath toy, but was washed in order to clean it.” 
 
 Alright, we get it. 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. "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 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. Boiling Water 
 
 Take the toys and boil them in hot water and squeeze out any of the “yuck” from the insides with some tongs. Dumoulin-Montgomery arrived at Weiss’s offices with a duffel bag full of children’s clothing and toys recently imported from France.
– 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.)