If you ask my husband how old he is he will tell you that he’s “ancient” (not really – he’s only43!). He says that because he’s got those annoying little aches and pains that no so much come with age, but more so the fact that he lifts and moves heavy equipment at work (he says it’s age). For the past week his lower back has been hurting him.
Up until now whenever we needed a “heating pad” for a muscle ache or one of my rather annoying earaches (I think I get them because my jaw is “off”) we reach for the sock. Our “heating pad” is a sweat sock (clean of course) filled with rice. I read about it on the Internet years ago and it works great. Just pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and you have a source of heat for what ails you.
It goes without saying that reaching for the “rice sock” as we call it, isn’t pretty. Do you really want an old sweat sock pressed against your ear if you have an earache?
A few weeks ago I was asked if I’d like to review Carex’s Bed Buddy. The Bed Buddy is a heating source that you can pop in the microwave to warm up and supply you with a source of heat for sore muscles, an earache or anything else that you can get relief from with heat. The only probably is that the Bed Buddy is a super adorable Teddy Bear.
Sorry for the bad photo – he does have eyes! LOL!
First of all I have to say that the Bed Buddy (or “Buddy” as we now call him) is an adorable Teddy Bear. Just look at him. Even seeing his picture makes me want to cuddle with him.
Bed Buddy IS a Teddy Bear in every sense of the word. He’s cute, he’s cuddly, he’s oh-so-soft and just the site of him bekons you to want to hug him. But Bed Buddy is NOT a toy. He’s a “Thermatherapy” heating source.
Bed Buddy contains 100% natural materials in his tummy, feet and paws. The materials heat up in the microwave in just a few seconds. It provides you with comforting heat which can last up to an hour. Bed Buddy provides moist heat, unlike the heating pads you have to plug into an outlet (which make me nervous too).
The hard part is putting him IN the microwave. My whole family (my kids included) thought it was rather “cruel” to put Buddy in the microwave. He looked so sad spinning around on the tray in the microwave. Poor Buddy!
My husband was the first to use Buddy for his lower back. He just placed the Bed Buddy behind him on his chair and leaned back on him. Because Buddy is so soft it was not uncomfortable for him to do that. The heat from Buddy helped my husband’s back feel better.
The first few times we used the Bed Buddy he gave off an odd smell. We can only assume because he was new. After a few uses the smell sort of went away. The smell bothered my husband more than it did me. He temporarily renamed Buddy “Stinky Bear”.
Thankfully I didn’t have a need for the Bed Buddy (yet). Just for the fun of it I “nuked” Buddy and used him to snuggle with on a cold night. It actually felt really nice to have something warm to cuddle with. It did help to take off the chill. Buddy kept me warm until it was time to go to bed, then I just cuddle with my hubby to keep me warm. 🙂
The Bed Buddy can provide a warming comfort for those with muscle aches, ear aches, arthritis, stiff neck, tooth aches, stress and something I have a lot – cold hands and feet. My toes especially are always cold, even with socks and/or slippers on.
Bed Buddy can also be used as an ice pack to comfort little ones who get a bump or even to provide cooling relief for a fever. I’m going to put Buddy in the freezer in the hot summer months to provide me with some coolness on a hot and sticky summer night. I would recommend putting him in a freezer bag before putting him in the freezer to keep him dry and clean.
Buddy’s filling also helps to keep him sitting up right so you can put him on display when not in use (remember he is NOT a toy).
If you would like to learn more about the Carex Bed Buddy visit www.Carex.com. Carex also offers a lot of other health care products.
The Bed Buddy Warming Bear is available online and at select retailers, independent pharmacies and drug stores for an MSRP of $19.99.
Kimberly
*I received a free sample product in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.
Nichol says
Oh neat, he looks soft! I am having some horrible pains right now in my neck, he looks much better than those gel pack things:)
Daily Woman says
This is the cutest bear I have ever seen, and it can be heated. Me and my son would enjoy this.
deanna says
This is adorable. I think the kids might actually want to hang on to this!
xoxoxo