Tubie Buddies

30/10/2023

𝓣𝓮𝓶𝓹𝓸𝓻𝓪𝓻𝓲𝓵𝔂 𝓒𝓵𝓸𝓼𝓮𝓭

This decision wasn’t an easily decision to make as I love making Tubie Buddies and I have loved helping so many families, but unfortunately due to my son’s condition worsening and what the up coming months hold for us as a family, I have to temporarily close Tubie Buddies.

I have a few bear that are made and need a new home, I will post these in the coming days, after this we won’t be able to make any until things calm down.

I hope you understand.

Tubie Buddies 🐻🧸🐻

18/07/2023

Looking for some advice please, who’s the best insurance company to use to get travel insurance for a gastrostomy button?

My sons condition or gastrostomy button doesn’t come up on the ones I’ve looked at.

Thank you xx

28/04/2023

We can only apologise for not posting and taking longer to reply to messages.

Unfortunately my son’s condition has taken a step back. Our feeding tube journey has changed and there’s a lot to learn and adapt to and urgent surgeries coming up.

We will still be making bears but the turn round like will be a lot longer. We will always reply to your messages but please understand I can’t always reply straight away.

We will be back soon

Tubie Buddies
🐻🧸🐻

07/02/2023

𝓕𝓮𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓣𝓾𝓫𝓮 𝓐𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓴

As it’s feeding tube awareness week we thought we’d share our journey which lead us to make feeding tube bears.

My son has condition where he is unable to swallow safely. Fluid and certain food go into his lungs instead of his stomach! He’s had this condition since he was 3 months old! But unfortunately it was only picked up on his second birthday when he was first ventilated. After the the second PICU admission in October 2021, he came home on a feeding tube.

No one prepares you for life with a feeding tube, you just have to adjust over night. As a parent it was heart breaking.

I searched everywhere for a bear to show my son and to normalise feeding tube for him and for him to show his friends. I had no luck so we made him one. And from there came to life and we decide to make and donate bears to child, adults, families and hospital to help other people. I never wanted to make money so we just asked for postage to be covered.

Since starting Tubie Buddies in March 2022 we have made nearly 400 bear for other people and had some amazing donations along the way. I’ve spoken to other amazing tubie families and adults and it helped my son and myself to not feel so alone in a world where there is not enough awareness of feeding tubes but actually an incredible amount of children and adult have them.

My son has since gone from an NG tube to a Freka tube which again has been a massive learning curve. We have had surgery to help and have more surgery next week and in June.

The Tubie Buddy family is just myself and my mum so sometimes orders take longer than we expect and sometime we go quiet because what I have learnt from this experience is life can be very unpredictable with short notice hospital visit and pure exhaustion as a parent.

We truly love making the bear and seeing all the photos of the bear with there tubie friend it makes it all worth while and we will continue to make bears for as long as we can.

What I will say is I think all the children, adult who have feeding tubes are amazing and the strongest people.

Tubie buddies 🧸🐻🧸

22/01/2023

We have a few bears that we made, but never made it to a new home.

If you would like on the the bears in the pictures, please let me know and we can get these bears posted out this week, as they are made and ready to go.

08/01/2023

Wow where do we even begin to say thank you!

One of our lovely families donated bears to us, 4 big boxes of bears arrived Friday, ready to be stuffed and turned into Tubie Buddies.

We are so grateful to and her lovely family for this, it means so much and we are so greatful, it also means we can help more amazing families in 2023!

I have stuffed some of them this weekend so we could see them, they are all different and we are yet to open 3 of the boxes.

Thank you again from the Tubie Buddie family.

Abbie xx

31/12/2022

🧸🐻 ᕼᗩᑭᑭƳ ᑎᗴᗯ Ƴᗴᗩᖇ🐻🧸

We have loved making bears for everyone throughout 2022 and looking forward to making more in 2023!

Happy New Year and we hope 2023 bring you all happiness, Health and amazing memories.

Love The Tubie Buddy Family 🧸

#2023

25/12/2022

🎅🏻 𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓼 🧑🏻‍🎄

Happy Christmas from The Tubie Buddie family.

We would like to thank everyone for their support this year with donations of bears and medical supplies, it wouldn’t have been possible to help so many families with out everyone support.

We look forward to helping more families in 2023.

Tubie Buddies 🧸

15/11/2022

If you see a bear you like and would like us to adapt it into a Tubie Buddies please message us.

We can make;
✨NG Tubes
✨Button PEG (subject to stock)
✨Freka PEGS (subject to stock)
✨ Stoma and colostomy bag
✨Heart Scar
✨ Tracheostomy Tube
✨ RAM / Nasal Cannula

We just ask for £5 to cover the postage cost, the bear’s themselves are free.

Each bear comes with a certificate of adoption

🧸🐻🧸

15/11/2022

We have a few bears that we made but no longer have a home, if you would like one please message us. They are ready to be posted.

We just ask for £5 to cover the cost of postage if you’re in the UK.

If you or someone you know would like one of these bears, please let us know.

Please feel free to share

04/11/2022

Our Feeding Tube Journey

We became a Tubie family one year ago, with no idea what we was doing, and feeling very alone, it was so hard to get my head round the fact my little fella had a feeding tube.

We left hospital believing it would only be a temporary thing. I never dreamed he’d still have a feeding tube let alone a PEG.

One year on and it’s such a normal part of our lives that keeps him safe and healthy.

Then we started tubie buddies 5 months later and we met so many amazing families who’s children had feeding tube and it was incredible to be able to help but to just talk to other families like ours.

Thank you for sharing our journey with us 💙

03/11/2022

Heart Surgery Bears ❤️

We have a few heart surgery bear made and ready for a new home.

We just ask for £5 to cover postage if you’re in the uk, please message me if you’d like one.

02/11/2022

Love this Asda ❤️

This T-shirt and baby bodysuit are part of the new accessible and easy-dressing collection from George at Asda for this year’s BBC Children in Need appeal.

The range is designed to be sensory-kind, including soft seams, printed care labels, peg openings or feeding tube holes, easy-open Velcro fastenings on the neck, shoulder, waist and lower leg for children who have difficulty getting dressed or are wheelchair-bound. Vicki from our George team said: “We were really proud to be the first supermarket to offer clothing that supports independent dressing for children with specific needs, including a braille T-shirt as part of the Easy-Dressing range – we’re delighted that we are able to extend the range further by including clothing suitable for wheelchair users and babies who need feeding tubes. In partnership with a BBC Children in Need-funded project we’ve worked closely with young people who are blind or visually impaired to support in the creation of the design, which is an extension of our accessible wear ranges at George.” Take a look at the range here: https://bit.ly/3DNu0Jw

02/11/2022

We have made up a few colostomy bag bears, ready for a new home.

We just ask for £5 to cover the cost of postage if you’re in the UK.

If you or someone you know would like one of these colostomy bag bears, please message us.

Please feel free to share

31/10/2022

Please note we are struggling to get hold of button Pegs, these bears were made from donations of buttons.

We made these Tubie Buddies for community nurses to help their patients

31/10/2022

👻🎃𝓗𝓪𝓹𝓹𝔂 𝓗𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓷 🎃👻

𝓕𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓣𝓾𝓫𝓲𝓮 𝓖𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓽

09/10/2022

This was a new request for us to make a Tubie Buddy with a Cleft Lip Scar.

We will always try and make your request 🤍