MUM Karen Battams was left horrified when a cuddly toy she bought for her one-year-old son appeared to start swearing.

Karen, 38, of Holmes Drive, Riccall, said she was shocked and appalled by what she heard when her son William started playing with his My Pal Scout puppy.

Instead of singing: “If you’re happy and you know it bark with me,” Karen said the toy had used a rather less innocent four-letter word.

She said: “I couldn’t believe it to be honest, it says it three times and on the third time it’s really quite loud. I really don’t want that to be William’s first word!”

The toy is meant to be an aid to learning speech and it claims it’s suitable for children from six to 36-months-old.

The toy was bought for about £22, and on Karen’s advice, by William’s granddad, Alan Battams, who lives in Bridlington.

Karen, who works as a home carer for City of York Council, said: “When I told him what had happened he was quite shocked and upset.

“He told me before Christmas that he’d found a present for William and he’d seen it online so I logged on and had a look.

“It looked really good, because you can plug it into the computer and it lets you add your baby’s name and your own lullabies, but it turns out you can’t alter the songs that are already in the toy’s memory.”

Karen is married to Simon, 42, a road worker and they also have a 12-year-old son, Thomas.

Her story follows articles in national newspapers about reported problems with the toy elsewhere in the country.

The difficulties elsewhere have been put down to an American accent on the recording making “bark” sound like the “F-word”.

A spokesman for the toy’s manufacturers, LeapFrog Toys, said: “We take great care when designing our toys to ensure that they provide children age-appropriate ways to learn and play, and while we are confident that this product passed all phases of our rigorous testing process, we do take very seriously our responsibility to provide children and families with the best possible experience as well.

“In this case it seems that a handful of our customers have misinterpreted one of the words in one of the songs differently from its original intentions.”

She said that to avoid further misinterpretation, a new recording had now been produced.