In search of an eco-friendly car seat, I ran across the latest must-have baby accessory: organic car seat covers. That’s right—you simply take the horrible polyester cover that came with your car seat, throw it away, and buy your baby a bamboo infant car seat liner ($40). Too cheap for your precious bundle? You may be interested in the Itzy Ritzy Baby Ritzy Rider in Organic Baby Bamboo Infant Car Seat Cover ($110) or perhaps the organic wool car seat cover ($99.95). Never mind that they cost just as much as the car seat itself!
All right, to be fair, some babies may be especially sensitive to toxins in the fabric of regular car seat covers. And it wouldn’t be a bad idea for car seat manufacturers to use natural materials in their products. But we’ll save our money for a car seat made out recycled milk jugs!
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January 28th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Rebecca,
Thanks so much for your great scouting! We too love our bamboo velour car seat liner and it’s on sale for $30 at http://www.satsumadesigns.com. We’ve had a great response to the cozy, full coverage liner that makes riding in style easy and green.
Enjoy!
Jen from Satsuma Designs
January 28th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
While those covers do seem nice, people should remember that after-market car seat accessories have not been crash tested by the manufacturer of your car seat and can even pose a potential risk in an accident. They can also void your warranty.
February 6th, 2010 at 11:13 pm
what’s wrong with a thin blanket draped across the seat? You can even cut slits for the straps.
June 8th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Eileen, I think the idea is to reduce the amount of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that off-gas directly into the air your baby breathes. While covering the nasty, new plastic cover that comes with a seat with a blanket is better than nothing, it seems that removing and replacing the cover would be far more effective at reducing the off-gassing. The VOCs in vinyls and plastics have been linked to all sorts of diseases and disorders in children, including SIDS.
Mari, your comment about the crash test safety of replacement covers is important. It probably depends on the design of the individual seat and cover, but I would hope that in most cases that a flat cover is not an important aspect of the seat’s safety. However, if it has a more complicated design, especially for infants, it might be important to leave it be and try Eilieen’s blanket idea, even if that doesn’t cut back much on the VOCs.