In case you hadn’t heard, this Arizona summer heat is a killer–literally. It’s very possible for babies to get 2nd degree burns from touching their car seat buckles when climbing into a hot car. Thankfully, that’s never happened to one of our crew, but those insulated car seats make for a very hot ride. At least for now, we’re taking Brynn’s seat into stores with us, but the boys’ seats are burning up! Add to that the inefficiency of our car’s AC unit, and we’ve got two sweaty boys in a matter of seconds.
Which is why I’m shocked that I just recently found out about this wonderful invention. How have I been an Arizona mom for 4 1/2 years and this has never come up in conversation?
Well, in order to do my part to spread the word, I’d like to introduce you to my new best friend. Moms, meet the Car Seat Cooler. 
We purchased this one from Amazon, and it’s been wonderful!
The cooler has a special filling inside that freezes (they call it CoolTech, but I’m assuming it’s similar to a gel pack), so we keep it in the freezer–ready to go. We throw it into the car and once we get to our destination (usually an exotic location like Walmart), we open the car seat cooler and place it in Coop’s car seat since his gets the most sun. 
Then after buying our gourmet food items (like Cheezits and toaster strudels), we return to the car and fold up the cooler. Cooper gets to sit in a chilled car seat instead of climbing into an inferno for the drive home. (And in case you’re worried about Silas, his seat isn’t usually in direct sunlight, and he has three AC vents directly in front of him.) The cooler stays frozen for hours, and we just stash it back in the freezer so it’s ready for our next adventure.
I know there are fabric coolers you could make yourself and just tuck ice packs into its pockets, but this cooler is so convenient (and has the added bonus that I didn’t need to wrestle with my sewing machine in order to get it). Now I just need to find a seat cooler for my seat!
This has been a public service announcement.
Pretty neat. Never heard of those before, but what an awesome product!
Ironically, I was going to text and ask you about car seats and the heat. Paige (and Charlie) get so hot in the car (and we don’t get temps near what you do). I really want to invest in remote start, since that’s my biggest problem–no garage means it’s hot when we go to the car!
I almost ordered you one as a baby gift but assumed you already had them 🙂 I heard about them when i lived out there, you would think that the Phoenix native moms would help out the transplants with that helpful info 🙂
Stacy, at least I’m not the only one who hadn’t heard of car seat coolers. Allison, you’d think it would be a popular baby gift. Too funny that you knew about them! Laura, if you go the car seat cooler route, you could always put it in Paige’s car seat in the morning when you know you’re leaving the house. That way her seat is nice and chilly by the time she needs to go.