Cooling Mat for Children’s Car Seat. You Can Make It Yourself for a Few Bucks

Carrying children in a hot car in the summer can be a serious problem. A cooling mat for the car seat helps a lot here. It is not necessary to spend a fortune on it. In this article we will show you how to make it yourself.

Cooling mat is usually a car seat-sized fabric overlay that usually has six small pockets for ice packs. They usually fit the size of infant and toddler seats. First, you keep such a mat before a car trip in the refrigerator, from which you take it out before setting off. You place it on the infant's or child's car seat while shopping or running errands. You remove the mat just before putting the baby in its seat.

Usually it is enough to keep such a mat on a child's seat for about 10 minutes for the child to feel a significant difference in comfort. Of course, the longer the trip, the less effectively the car seat cooling mat will work. But for a typical shopping trip with a child of even a few hours, it is perfect.

• 59 inches of fabric (39 in. for the main part of the mat and 19 in. for the pockets);
• thread to match the fabric;
• 29.5 in. of Velcro;
• 6 typical foil ice packs;

• Wash and dry the fabric before starting.
• Then print the pattern, glue the paper together in a vertical line and cut along the line.
• Fold the fabric in half and align the folded edge with the indicated side of the pattern. Trace and cut out two of the patterns.
• For the pocket, you will need to cut 2 pieces of fabric at 29.5 in x 9 in.
• Place the 29.5 in x 9 in. cm pieces right sides together and sew along the edge, leaving a small opening to turn the right sides inside out. Turn the right sides inside out, then sew.
• Then pin one strip of Velcro to the edge of the 29.5 in x 9 in. fabric. Staple this area.
• This piece will form 6 pockets in the middle of the mat. Pin the bottom side of the pockets (the Velcro side) in the middle of one of the pieces cut earlier from the die-cut, but do not pin the Velcro side.

• Then pin the second Velcro strip just below the unattached Velcro edge. Now sew the bottom Velcro strip in place.
• After sewing the Velcro, you can sew the other three sides of the pocket. Make sure you don't topstitch the Velcro side.
• Now you should have one large pocket, but before making six smaller pockets, we need to sew the two larger pieces that were cut from the template. One piece should have a large pocket on it. Place the right sides together (so that the pocket is in the middle, since we will be turning it inside out) and sew along the edges. Stitch together, leaving the bottom open. Turn the right side inside out, then sew the bottom.
• Now, to make the pockets, you need to measure them so that they are about 5.11 in wide. This will make six pockets to accommodate the ice packs.
• Sew straight lines down and across the Velcro strip to make each pocket about 5.11 in wide.
• And that's it, your mat is ready!

The shortest answer is yes. The effect of the ice here is not as extreme that it may be harmful. Baby is also not in direct contact with the ice. So it's not dangerous for anyone. Of course, this is all under the assumption that you use such a mat in hot weather, and not, for example, in fall. Everything must be done cautiously.