Sophie the Giraffe - a must have?

jellybean0110 · June 2011

We received both a full sized Sophie and a smaller bath time Sophie at our shower. I've heard about how AMAZING it is, but I just can't get past the fact that it is a $22 rubber giraffe. I mean it looks like a dog toy! Anyone have experience with this? Is it really a miracle worker? I will keep them and try them out since they were gifts, but I'm just curious what all the hype is about.

cozylittlecave · June 2011

I obviously haven't used my Sophie yet, but MAJOR LOL at 'dog toy.' As I was unpacking the gifts from my out of town shower, the only thing our dog went insane for was Sophie. She could care less about HER rubber squeaky toys, but she knows exactly where in the nursery that Sophie is... lord knows what'll happen if she ever gets her paws on it.

AliE2007 · June 2011

We have Sophie and I still don't get the hype. After we shelled out the money for her (because everyone said it was a must have) I would actually put it in DD's mouth trying to get her to want to chew on it or get attached to it or something. She never had much interest. Like you said, it's basically a $22 dog toy that lays in the basket of toys set aside for our next baby. I shouldn't have bought in to the hype.

gimmietimmies · June 2011

I didn't get the hype either. And I thought it was a dog toy. But S loves the stupid thing. She chews it, bashes it and mauls it. I still don't get it, but she plays with it more than anything else. I guess it works for some babies and not others.

CrazyToast · June 2011

We received THREE Sophies!!!

The first one was from the ILs - so, a keeper. It says it was developed in 1961 in France on the packaging...which I don't know if I'd believe it or not.

BUT...DD loves Sophie. We returned one of the 3, kept 2. One is in each car for when we're out. It took until DD was at least 5 months old for her to care about Sophie.

The ILs gave DD the blue "relative" of Sophie for Christmas. That was liked by DD before Sophie was.

ecleptic · June 2011

It's an expensive dog toy made out of rubber that's safe enough for your baby to actually eat... but babies love them. Same reason as dogs probably. Squeak squeak, pretty colors, interesting shape, delightful (gag) taste. Babies don't know to be dubious about something that has an interesting taste and smell (really- take a strong sniff- it smells like rubber which isn't a typical baby toy scent), colors, shapes, and makes noise. That's like the best thing in the world. Taste, scent, vision, touch, and noise. All 5 senses at once.

I know it's an over priced dog toy but I'll wind up buying one anyway. I saw how much my nephews loved it.

Bekah5000 · June 2011

I did some research on Sophie and apparently parents/babies love her. Just be careful because the long legs and neck pose a choking hazard. Many parents had to pull a leg out of their babies throats. Scary. :S

12bailey18 · June 2011

I never got the hype either. I always thought it looked like a glorified dog toy. My DS got through the teething stage just fine without it. However, if it was a gift I'd definitely try it out...I would just never buy it myself!

julygal · June 2011

I didn't get the hype either and did not get it for DD. Then I broke down and bought it for DS when it was on sale on Amazon, which it seems to be frequently. He really liked her, and in fact she still has strong appeal to the kids when they see it in our storage closet waiting for the next baby. I would not say DS loved Sophie and he would not have been devastated had we lost it, but it was one toy he reached for frequently so I would say worth the $15 we spent. I mean it seems expensive, but it is priced similar (especially when on sale) to a lot of the lamaze toys an other infant toys.

GingerCupcake · June 2011

I broke down and got one for DD1 but she never enjoyed Sophie at all, despite my repeated attempts to capture her interest with Sophie. Now that she is 19 months old DD does enjoy stomping on Sophie to make her squeak, but she never used her the way she was intended to be used.

iristony · June 2011

Not a necessity, but really great to have. It is a great gift so you should at least try it out. Most babies I know love it and to me that is worth it.

ermaderma · June 2011

Bekah5000:
I did some research on Sophie and apparently parents/babies love her. Just be careful because the long legs and neck pose a choking hazard. Many parents had to pull a leg out of their babies throats. Scary. :S

This is why we won't be getting/using Sophie. I really don't want to take the chance, so we won't buy it and if it is a gift, we will be returning it.

Mrs.M&M · June 2011

I don't know yet as LO one is due in three weeks, but I agree about the dog toy. The reason I wanted one (before hearing about the hype) was because my grandmother brought back something very, very similar from France back in the 60's or 70's for my oldest sisters. I'm not sure if it was a favorite for me & my six siblings, but it was used for all of us and my mom was so upset when my dog got a hold of it and destroyed it in the 90's. So, this thing lasted roughly 30 years through 7 kids. When I saw it in the store, I registered for it out of notalgia and my mom ended up buying it (without knowing about the hype either) because when she saw it on my registry, it reminded her of the one her mom brought back from Europe. I can't wait to see if LO even uses it.

katcarls · June 2011

I don't know if it's a must have for everyone, but DS loves Sophie. I ordered it from Amazon for about $15. I get annoyed when everyone says it's an expensive dog toy because the materials are completely different. It's made from 100% natural rubber and food paint and it is phthalate and BPA free. It's not like it's a regular dog toy that they decided to market towards babies and subsequently jacked the price up.

GracieLou Freebush · June 2011

My dog is sure Sophie is for her. I've heard great things about the Sophie so I'll be keeping ours. You got it as a gift, keep it and see if it's magical!

Klikina · June 2011

I got Sophie because DS went through a really rough teething time at about 9 months. Yeah, he could've cared less. Half the time he never plays with her, the other half he just squeezes her so she squeaks. He's never really used her as a teether. We have the Born Free $9 teether that DS LOVES- he would chew on that thing for hours, and it was so much easier for him to hold. Get that instead.

novlove11 · June 2011

My SIL has the Sophie teether for her daughter & swears by it. But I think any natural rubber teether would be the same.

mchupie · June 2011

DD would nom on Sophie all day if we let her. Good enough for me

littlehckyplar · June 2011

My nephew has one and loves it!

A little story behind my statement... my brother and I work together and my nephew comes to work daily. His Sophie is one toy that he could squeak from early on... he just adores it. I also find it entertaining to put Sophie on the corner of his pack and play and he pulls himself up to get to it.

I'm sure we'll end up getting one for our baby.

puterbaby · June 2011

My mom gave one to E for Christmas. Up until a couple days ago she showed absolutely no interest in it. She could still take it or leave it. I'm waiting for the dog to get ahold of it, I know it'll happen eventually! If we're talking teethers, she loves the lifefactory ring.

jamienbj · June 2011

ermaderma:
Bekah5000:
I did some research on Sophie and apparently parents/babies love her. Just be careful because the long legs and neck pose a choking hazard. Many parents had to pull a leg out of their babies throats. Scary. :S
This is why we won't be getting/using Sophie. I really don't want to take the chance, so we won't buy it and if it is a gift, we will be returning it.

the neck isn't a choking hazard, the head and ears are in the way. the legs do cause my DD to gag sometimes but not choke, she would never be able to swallow a leg! DD loves her Sophie!

Kimee13 · June 2011

DS LOVES it and has loved it for the last 3-4 months. My mom bought it for him and the whole time she was grumbling about the price and after seeing how much he loves it she bought him one for their house too. She also bought him the teething ring, he wasn't much of a fan of that.

lacahab · June 2011

For us, it was a waste. My dd was not into it.

Clerk9 · June 2011

My sister just got us a Sophie. We haven't used her yet (LO is still cooking!) but the reason she got it for us is because we have a picture of me at 6w old (in 1977) holding a Sophie! So my sister found a new one that we could use to take picture of LO holding & put in a double-frame with the picture of me as a baby.

Can't wait to test her out!

water-fairy · June 2011

DS never had a sophie. he survived.

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