To hot in car seat?

Question

we are going to be taking a trip with my 2 month old son. Whenever he is in his car seat for a longer amount of time his back gets all hot and sweaty. I've tried dressing him in as little as possible and putting cotton fabric underneath him and it really doesn't help. any suggestions from moms to make this trip a little more comfortable in the carseat?

Answer 1

I bought a little $5 fan at the drugstore and stuck it in between the car seats. My cheap little car doesn't push the air back there real well, but this was the best $5 I ever spent!

In addition to the shades, etc, I always give her a sippy cup of water back there, plus her car seat is a nice light color, but you could throw a towel over it if you are parking in the sun. And I always feel the buckles first. He may just sweat a lot, too, just bring a change of clothes. As long as he's drinking water he should be OK.

Answer 2

Try getting sun reflectors/visors for the window to block the sun as much as possible. Maybe the air conditioning isn't working in the back? It could be a problem, so I would test it out. That's really all you can do. He may be a "sweater" lol, but maybe take pit stops every 30 minutes to cool off.

Answer 3

How about a towel behind his back?

Answer 4

Ideas to help keep her cool:

1)buy a car seat cover especially for this purpose. They sell covers that you put over the seat when the child isn't in it, so it doesn't get as hot while your car is baking in the sun. You can also just lay a towel over it whenever you get out, a light covered towel. Car seats heat up more b/c most are dark colored.

2)Whenever possible cool the car off by running it a few minutes with the AC full blast before you get in. Even if you're out shopping, this is possible. Just keep her out of her seat up front with you while the car cools down. Then put her in her seat in the back.

3)Purchase some of those cold packs that you activate by shaking/cracking. Crack/or shake it then set it in her seat to cool it some before putting her in.

4)Aim the vents at the ceiling

5)Having the windows tinted professionally isn't a bad idea, and depending upon your state's legal limit could really help. Make sure it blocks UV rays. But you don't ever want to use any kind of baby screen that sticks up with suction cups or has any hard plastic pieces. It becomes a projectile in a crash. Instead, purchase the self stick kind: they're static clings that stick to the window and can be taken off whenever you want. Usually come in a pack of two. First Years makes some.

6)If you can not cool the car down first, as you're first driving, roll the windows all the way down AND run the AC full blast at the same time. Seems like a waste but its now. It allows the how air to get out of the car and provides some breeze while the AC gets going.

7)Make sure you use a sunshade in your windshield whenever parking outside in the heat. Though you should aim to park in a garage at home, and parking garages or shade elsewhere. Purchase an extra sunshade to put up in the rear windshield as well, this will really cut back on the heat back there.

Above all else - don't be tempted to turn him forward b/c you think he'll be cooler. 1)A forward-facing child under 2 years old is 5 times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash than a rear-facing child of the same age.

2)A child's vertabrae do not fully fuse until 3-6 years old, before then, she is at great risk for internal decapitation. The spinal column can stretch up to 2 inches in a crash BUT the spinal cord can only stretch up to 1/4 inch before it snaps and baby is gone.

3)Current research suggests that children under the age of two years are 75 percent less likely to die or be seriously injured when they are riding rear facing.

4)In a recent article from Injury Prevention, it was found that the odds of severe injury to forward facing children age 12-23 months old was 5.32 times higher than a rear facing child. (Car Safety Seats For Children: Rear Facing For Best Protection; Injury Prevention 2007; 13:398-402.)

It works this way: when you get in an accident and run into something, the car stop suddently, but everything and everyone in the car keeps moving in the direction the car was moving when it stopped, in most accidents, this is forward. So in an accident with a child in a forward facing seat, his head, the heaviest part of the body on babies and toddlers, flies forward very forcefully and easily snaps. If that same child is in a rear facing seat, his head tries to fly forward but is supported by the back of the rear facing seat, so there is no stress put on the child's neck and spine.

Check out this photo album exclusively of rear facing kids, many of them much older than 12 months: http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum... There isn't a single documented case of a child breaking their legs b/c they were rear facing in an accident. There are, however, lots of cases where children have been killed and seriously injured where a rear facing seat would have protected them better.