Credit: Schylling/ Loyola Medicine
Doctor Issues Serious Warning Over Popular NeeDoh Cubes As Children Hospitalized
A doctor has issued a serious warning over a viral children’s toy, after a number of children have been hospitalized with serious injuries.
The warning relates to the hugely popular NeeDoh Cubes, made by toy company Schylling, which are a type of sensory fidget toy.
The cube-shaped toys are filled with a soft, gel-like compound that allows users to squeeze them like a stress ball, squish them into different shapes and watch them slowly return to their original form.
According to Schylling, the toys are ‘designed to be as satisfying as they are fun’.
In the same range, kids can also get their hands on the Cool Cats NeeDoh, NeeDoh Gummy Bear and the NeeDoh Nice Cube – all of which are hugely popular.
Warning issued over DeeDoh Cubes
Unlike the recent warning that have been going round about the fake Squishy Dumpling toys, the NeeDoh Cubes aren’t inherently dangerous on their own.
Instead, it is what children are doing with them that is making them particularly unsafe.
According to doctors and fire officials, there is a current trend which involves placing the toys in the microwave to make them softer, despite the fact the packaging specifically tells users not to heat, freeze or microwave the products.
In a number of worrying cases, this has resulted in severe burns after the toys burst open, leaking out hot fluid.
Children are believed to be spurred on to ignore the warnings after the trend began growing in popularity on TikTok.
Fire service warns risk of ‘severe injury or death’
The Nassau County Fire Commission and Fire Marshal’s Office in New York have branded the challenge as ‘extremely dangerous,’ while warning that it could ‘lead to severe injury or death.’
In a press release, the fire service revealed that a child living in Nassau County had suffered ‘severe burns’ after ‘children in the home imitated a viral trend on social media, most prevalently shared on TikTok’.
“This trend shows people putting a NeeDoh gel-filled toy in the microwave, sometimes after being in the freezer,” the statement explains.
“As the toy is gel-filled, it begins boiling within seconds and once removed from the microwave, can explode causing severe burns to the hands, chest and face.
“Several children around the world have suffered third-degree burns to the face. This trend has now sadly reached Nassau County, where a child has suffered second and third-degree burns.”
The fire service went on to call upon parents, guardians and other caretakers to monitor children while doing anything in the kitchen, particularly if they are known to have any of these toys.
Boy left with horrific burns
A nine-year-old boy in Chicago has been left with horrific burns after his NeeDoh toy exploded in his face after putting it in the microwave.
Caleb Chabolla’s mom, Whitney Grubb, told ABC7: “He was crying and just yelling, ‘It burns, it burns. The right side of his face was kind of melting off, basically.”
According to Caleb, he didn’t know it was a trend on TikTok, but he had heard about microwaving the toy from a friend who had tried it before him, but had been lucky enough not to get hurt.
He told the news station: “It’s like a stress toy. I didn’t know it was a trend on TikTok before, because my friend did it before, but she didn’t get hurt.”
Meanwhile, Loyola University Medical Center, where Caleb was treated for his burns, said he is the fourth patient they’ve had with injuries relating to NeeDoh Cubes.
The center’s outreach coordinator, Kelly McElligott, said: “We see the negative results of TikTok challenges all the time.
“The people who are getting hurt don’t necessarily post the TikToks. You’re just seeing the fun ones where it looks cool.”
Caleb’s mom Whitney added: “These people don’t know the repercussions of what these challenges and goofy trends can do to kids, especially the younger ones.
“Sometimes, you take for granted what your knowledge is. That’s common sense to us, but not common sense to them.”
Related Article: Dad Makes Chilling Discovery After Testing Daughter’s Squishy Dumpling Toy Parents Warned To Throw Out
Related Article: Police Warn Viral TikTok Trend Is Putting Lives At Risk
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