We sent Jeremiah's sister, Bethany Wallace, a sample Car Seat Poncho and asked for her thoughts from the colder climes of Seattle, Washington. Below is her guest review from the ZRecs Archives. It was originally published on January 14, 2008.

Hats and mittens are a joke in our household. Our 17-month-old, C, treats taking them off and throwing them out of the stroller (despite freezing temperatures) a fantastic game - that is, until C gets cold, at which point he starts screaming and we have to cut our walk short. So I was excited to try the Car Seat Poncho, a wearable, machine-washable poncho for children. Car Seat Ponchos are currently produced in 6-24 month and 3-4 T sizes.

The idea behind the Car Seat Poncho is a marriage of convenience and safety. Safety experts and car seat manufacturers caution against placing children in car seats wearing bulky clothing like coats or bulky sweaters, as the material has significant give and the difference in tightness of the car seat straps could allow your child to slip out of their car seat in an accident.

(If you need a visual on why you should never buckle your child into a car seat while wearing a jacket, try this experiment: Bundle up your child and put them in their car seat. Buckle and tighten securely. Take your child out, but do not readjust the belt tightness. Remove their coats and put them back into the car seat and buckle them up. See the slack? That slack is keeping your car seat from properly protecting your child. This goes for adults too!)


The poncho works like this: When you are ready to leave the house, pull the poncho on to keep your child warm from the house to the car, when you get in the car you can buckle your child into the car seat without ever removing the poncho. Simply lift the back of the poncho up over the car seat and buckle the car seat straps under the front of the poncho - your child stays warm and safe.


The poncho covers C's head, hands, and body from the knees up while riding in a stroller or the car, and is almost impossible for him to remove due to its cleverly designed flaps, which fit over the stroller straps or car seat back. Made of extremely soft fleece that is much warmer than many of C's coats, it has a zipper up the front you can adjust for fluctuating temperatures, and for car seat use you can easily put it on your child after securing the car seat straps. I did have some trouble with the zipper, much to C's frustration.

For C, the poncho does not take the place of a coat, since active play on the playground caused our 17-month-old to trip over its ends. This means at least some parents will need to pack both a jacket and poncho or leave the poncho in the car. I probably won't use it much for the stroller because it's inconvenient to pack a coat as well.

Stylistically, C looks a little babyish in the sky-blue poncho with its Kewpie-doll hood. C is still somewhere between a baby and a toddler in my mind, so it doesn't bother me now, but I would likely reach for a coat and blanket next winter. (A variety of styles are available on a rolling basis.)

In general, I found the Car Seat Poncho to be extremely useful in specific situations (namely long walks in the stroller, which we do a lot of); to use it in the car, leave it there and treat it as a blanket you leave there.

The Car Seat Poncho is available from the company's website. - Jennifer