Baby sun shades Snoozeshade for Infant Car Seats

The Snoozeshade fits over child car seats to keep your little one's surroundings dark while they sleep, which could prove useful when you're on the move. We asked a mum and her three-month-old to try it out, to find out how – and whether – it works. 

The Snoozeshade for infant car seats helps babies nap wherever they are

When we tested the original Snoozeshade for pushchairs last year, our tester successfully managed to get her baby to sleep in the middle of a noisy toddler group. Now the same idea has been applied specifically to a shade for child car seats, so we were keen to see if it could achieve similar sleeping success. 

We asked a mum, who said she liked the concept, to test it out with her three-month-old daughter.

Snoozeshade for car seats

According to Snoozeshade, its product is the 'simpler, safer, lightweight and secure alternative to draping coats or blankets' over your baby's car seat to help them get to sleep.

Like the original Snoozeshade, it's made from a dark, double-layered breathable fabric designed to keep babies cool, and is claimed to provide UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) 50+ protection. UPF ratings are applied to clothing that gives protection from the sun. UPF ratings measure both UVA and UVB protection.

The product is designed for use specifically with rigid carry-handled Group 0 and 0+ infant car seats, which can be used from birth to about 11 months (boys) or 14 months (girls), or birth to about 15 months, respectively.

Fitting the Snoozeshade

You can watch Snoozeshade's video explaining how to fit the product here:

To fit the Snoozeshade, it needs to be positioned on the back of the seat and pulled forwards, then tucked over the front of the car seat. It comes with bright green velcro straps which attach to the handle and secure the shade in place. 

While our tester found it easy to fit the shade, she struggled to pull it over the seat without inadvertently draping the fabric of the shade over the baby while attaching it – which could disturb a napping baby.

Once the Snoozeshade is in place, though, you can keep an eye on your baby while they're sleeping via the 'sneak-a-peek' zip on the front of the shade. Our tester thought this feature was 'a good idea', and said: 'I was able to check on my little girl without disturbing her.'

Using the Snoozeshade while out and about

The Snoozeshade proved a useful aid to settle and help send our tester's baby to sleep, but she didn't feel that it was any more useful than her alternative tactic of draping a blanket over the car seat - though a cellular blanket doesn't offer the same level of sun protection.

Even when the shade is on, you can continue to use the handle to carry and move your baby around.

Our tester's three-month old occasionally became 'distressed quite quickly' after waking up from a nap when the shade was attached. Our tester thought this might have been because her baby couldn't see her surroundings while under the dark shade.

In the car with the Snoozeshade

The Snoozeshade is only compatible with rigid-handled car seats when they're in an upright position. 

This proved problematic when our tester, who has a Silver Cross Ventura Plus car seat, wanted to use the Snoozeshade in the car. Despite this model of infant car seat having a rigid carry handle, it doesn't sit in an upright position when attached to a pushchair or fitted in a car, meaning that the fabric was 'almost laying on top of the baby's face' when attempting to use it. 

Our tester felt that, even though the small print pointed out the need for the car seat's handle to be upright, the packaging could have made this clearer, particularly as elsewhere it's mentioned that the product is 'universal fit'.

This design of car seat isn't common, though, so we don't think this will be an issue for most parents. 

Following our tester's trial, we tried the shade on two popular child car seat models, the Maxi Cosi Cabriofix and Britax Baby-Safe, both of which have upright handles when they're fitted in the car. In both cases, the shade fitted easily and snugly, with a comfortable amount of space between shade and baby.

The Snoozeshade folds up compactly and comes with a small drawstring storage bag. It costs £19.99 and is available through Amazon, the National Childbirth Trust's online shop, and directly from Snoozeshade.com.

Pros: Easy to use, transport and store, creates a shaded environment for sleeping babies.

Cons: Difficult to fit without draping over a baby's head, our tester's baby became distressed with the shade on after waking - so might not suit all babies' temperaments.