DIY rice heat pack

With ‘real winter’ finally here we’ve been doing some serious hibernating this last week.  Rory has decided that he doesn’t like to sleep anywhere but on me, and though I appreciate the cuddles it does make doing anything rather difficult.

I decided to make Rory a rice heat pack for his cot because getting him into bed has become a nightmare. As soon as he feels the temperature change from warm body to cold sheets he wakes straight back up again.

What you need:

Rice or wheat to fill bag

Small amount of scrap fabric (less than 1/4 m is fine) I used a stretch so I didn’t have to hem the edges. (lazy!)

paper to funnel rice in

Step One.

Cut two rectangles of fabric, one slightly longer than the other (this will be the removable cover).  You could use a different fabric for the inner if you like as it won’t be seen, but because this was scrap from another project anyway I didn’t bother.

Step Two.

Sew the three open sides of the smaller rectangle of fabric leaving a small gap to turn it the right way.

Step Three.

Create a funnel with paper to pour your rice or wheat into the bag.  Fill about 3/4 of the bag.

Step Four.

Hand stitch the gap closed. (Note. you could leave it here and it would be functional, I chose to make the cover so that it could be removed and washed.)

Step Five.

Place the bag on top of what will be the cover and trim the longest edge, leaving room for seam allowance. (If you used a fabric that will fray, you may like to hem the edges here.)

Step Six.

Fold the ends over to work out where you will need to sew.  Pin and remove the bag.

Step Seven.

Sew both sides closed.  Turn in the right way and insert the rice bag.

And that’s it.  I microwaved mine for about 2 minutes but that will depend on your microwave and obviously check it’s not too hot before you used it near babies or kids.

The only thing left to do is cross your fingers and hope the baby stays asleep!*

*For the record – it totally didn’t work, but Eamon has happily claimed it as his to snuggle at night so it wasn’t a total waste of time.