Tips for Keeping Your Child Cool During Summer Travel

With summer quickly approaching, our reviewer Melanie is looking for ways to keep her adorable little girl cool! Since she knows that time in the car can’t be avoided, she was excited to partner with RECARO to review their Convertible Car Seat. While she did receive a car seat free of charge, all opinions as well as the tips on keeping your child cool during summer travel are her own.

As a parent, you’ve probably already heard all the do’s and don’ts of car seat safety and installation. I won’t sugar coat it - there’s a lot. If you’re looking for tips on how to keep your baby, toddler, or child cool in a car seat, then chances are you’ve at least read your car seat’s manual. No judgements for those that haven’t, but consider fishing it out of whatever drawer you tossed it in or locate the digital copy on the manufacturer’s website and take a look. You’ll be surprised at what valuable safety information you’re missing out on.

Bundling your kid up in the winter can leave them sweaty and overheated on just a quick drive to the grocery store. Imagine what you would feel like strapped in a 5-point harness for any length of time with no breathing room. The heat is just as bad for car seat riders in the summer. Unless you have rear vents the AC hardly ever makes it to your rear-facing child. The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests to rear face your child until at least age 2 or longer if permitted by the restrictions for height and weight by your car seat manufacturer. That’s a while to have your child sweating in the backseat. Harper is hot-natured so I have to work hard to keep her cool in her car seat. Our plan is to rear face until two years old, but we’re open to going longer. Believe me I’m having a hard time not turning her around now because I’d love to be able to share more of her car riding experience with her. I completely understand parent’s choices for turning their children early, so I say you should familiarize yourself with recommendations and guidelines for child safety and do what’s best for your family.

Because I know I’m not the only mom having to figure out how you can possibly keep a child cool in their car seat, I decided to create my top five list of tips:

1. Invest in a sunshade to keep sun exposure and direct heat down while riding.
2. Have a cold beverage within reach for your child, when age appropriate.
3. Dress your child in loose, unlayered clothing.
4. Buy a car seat cover to prevent the fabric and buckles from getting too hot inside a locked car. (Sometimes just draping the seat in a blanket will do.)
5. Consider getting an external fan - no handhelds.

Recently, we started using the RECARO Performance RIDE Convertible Car Seat in Midnight, a color exclusive to Babies R Us.

If you’re looking for a truly gender neutral car seat, I highly recommend going all black like the Midnight RECARO. Convertible car seats save you the most money when you invest in a seat. You get all the protection of a full-sized carseat, but the versatility to fit your newborn baby rear-facing up to a forward-facing child that is 65lbs! With such a bulky seat, I wasn’t sure that Harper would survive a hot summer in the back seat. She won’t be two years old until the end of summer. Although with the RECARO, she may have to forward-face in it prior to her second birthday due to the occupant guidelines:

Rear-facing - Weight: 5 - 40lbs; Height - up to 22.5 inches seated height
Forward-facing - Weight: 20 - 65lbs; Height - up to 49 inches standing height

She’s almost at the maximum seated height for rear-facing, which means that it will not be safe for her to ride until two years old this way if she grows over the limit. I was hesitant to go ahead and start using the RECARO Performance RIDE as our second car seat now because warmer weather is approaching; but after seeing the seat for myself and checking out the features, I knew she’d have a cooler ride in the car.

The RECARO Performance RIDE car seat is a 5-point harness with breathable mesh, memory foam, temperature balancing fabrics, and a removable cup holder. Not only will she not get sweaty and sticky from the seat fabric, but she’ll be able to ride in a comfort and luxury with her sippy cup by her side. Hopefully, these features ease the minds of any parents who were hesitant to check out the all black seat. I don’t have to worry about the dark fabric overheating.

I can make sure that the straps are snug thanks to the EasyAdjust no re-thread harness, the twist-resistant buckle, and the HERO technology that keeps the shoulder pads appropriately placed at your child’s neck. That’s more comfort for your little one and fewer red marks! Plus, Harper loves helping Mommy snap the chest clip that goes together easily but remains locked without an issue. Luckily, she hasn’t figured out how to unbuckle herself, yet.

One thing that sets RECARO a part from competitors is that they have designed a racing-inspired seat. Think about race car drivers. They need a seat that protects them from high speed impact, while keeping them cool every lap of the race. I was extremely impressed with the side impact protection, energy absorbing EPS foam, and PUR foam found in the head restraint. From Harper riding in the seat, I don’t think that the added padding makes the seat any hotter. If anything, she’s more comfortable on long car trips. She definitely hasn’t complained on any car rides, and I usually find her asleep by the time we’ve reached our destination.

While this feature has absolutely nothing to do with the safety or child temperature aspects of the RECARO Performance RIDE, I had to gush about the labels found all over the important parts of the seat. After reading the manual (that tucks snugly into the base), I easily found the LATCH clip storage area (so convenient!), belt routes, and had plenty of additional directions for installation. Admittedly, my husband is the car seat installation guy at our house. So, I was installing this one by myself for the first time. RECARO’s direction helped me tremendously, and I feel confident that I could install this car seat on my own multiple times in multiple cars.

My unofficial tip number six for my how to keep children cool in their car seat would have to be get them a pair of sunglasses. They’ve already got their special comfort seat for the car. Why not let them look and feel cool riding in it?!

Feel free to share some of your car seat tips for beating the heat in your car seat in the comments below. Find your nearest Babies R Us location to check out the exlusive Midnight fashion color in person. Also, follow product updates or get more information about RECARO by following or liking on Facebook and Twitter.

RECARO Performance RIDE has my daughter covered this summer! One lucky reader also gets their very own RECARO Performance RIDE Convertible Car Seat exclusive fashion Midnight available at Babies R Us. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway will end at 11:59 pm EST on April 4, 2015. Giveaway is open to US residents only, 18+ except where prohibited by law. The Adventures of J-Man and MillerBug is not responsible for prize fulfillment. Our reviewer Melanie received a RECARO Car Seat free of charge to facilitate this review.