Doctor's warning over popular Nee Doh Cubes and their 'serious risk' to children

Parents of young children are being told to keep an eye on a dangerous social media trend involving Nee Doh Cubes.

Kids are being urged online to put the popular sensory toy in the microwave to make them softer and more pliable, despite clear packaging that warns users not to heat, freeze, or microwave the products.

Nine-year-old Caleb Chabolla suffered burns to his face after putting his Nee Doh Cubes in the microwave.

"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," Caleb told ABC7.

Dr Alicia Webb, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Children's of Alabama, said to The New York Post that 'parents need to be aware of this trend and all dangerous social media challenges because they can pose a serious risk to children, and the children participating are not yet mature enough to recognize the danger for themselves'.

Caleb Chabolla, nine, suffered burns to his face after putting his Nee Doh Cubes in the microwave (Loyola Medicine)

The health expert added that the toys can ‘easily explode, causing burns to the face, eyes, mouth, body, and can even cause internal damage if the hot substance is swallowed’.

"He was crying and just yelling, 'It burns, it burns'," Whitney Grubb, Caleb's mother, said.

She said his Nee Doh Cubes exploded and the hot gel-like substance was stuck on to his face.

"These people don't know the repercussions of what these challenges and goofy trends can do to kids, especially the younger ones," Whitney added.

"Sometimes, you take for granted what your knowledge is. That's common sense to us, but not common sense to them."

Parents of young children are being told to keep an eye on a dangerous social media trend involving Nee Doh Cubes (Loyola Medicine)

Loyola University Medical Center said to ABC7 that Caleb is the fourth case this year involving Nee Doh Cubes.

"We see the negative results of TikTok challenges all the time," said Loyola University Medical Center Burn Outreach Coordinator Kelly McElligott.

"The people who are getting hurt don't necessarily post the TikToks. You're just seeing the fun ones where it looks cool."

A representative for Schylling, the company who makes the toys, said in a statement that Nee Doh Cubes should never be heated up.

"Ensuring the safety of our consumers is fundamental for Schylling," a representative said.

Nee Doh Cubes aren't designed to be heated up (Schylling)

"We are disappointed to see there has been a trend on social media demonstrating misuse of our NeeDoh products.

"Misusing a NeeDoh product by microwaving, heating, or freezing is dangerous and could cause injury to the consumer."

Schylling added that they are working with social media platforms to ‘remove influential content containing NeeDoh product misuse’ and has included ‘a safety warning on NeeDoh packaging and our all e-commerce listings to help combat product misuse’.