Car seat foot muff

[Emiliasa]

I have recently ordered a universal foot muff for the car seat to keep baby warm. The newborn insert that is to be used does that stay in the car seat with the foot muff as well? New mum and have no idea!

Unfortunately you can't really use a universal footmuff safely on a car seat at any age, but especially for a newborn - the newborn insert does need to be used to support baby's head and keep them in the right position for breathing, but as you'll probably see if you try to combine it with the footmuff, there's no way to make this work. If you put the newborn insert over the top of the footmuff it would move around everywhere and not stay in place, and if you put the footmuff over the top, the insert won't be snug around the baby. Both ways you run the risk of the baby not being properly supported and getting into a poor position for their airways.

In addition to this they do actually create bulk between the baby and the straps, which is a problem because the straps need to be really snug on the baby's body with no gaps, otherwise there is a chance that in an accident the violent forces could cause them to come out of the seat. The best/most practical thing to keep babies warm in the car seat is a blanket tucked in over the done-up straps, with them wearing normal indoor clothing, no coats/snowsuits.

Sorry There will probably be a line buried in the safety warnings in the car seat manual saying that no accessories are to be added to the seat except (sometimes) for the specific, same-branded items which are designed and tested to work safely with that exact car seat. It's frustrating the "universal" ones are even sold - I think the makers of them maybe don't know about the safety issues because they aren't car seat manufacturers. If you've bought it online, it's likely you can send it back within 14 days of receiving it, under the distance selling act. Or possibly it would be suitable to use in your pram while baby is small enough that a normal footmuff would drown them?

A universal foot muff won't have been crash tested with your seat so it isn't safe to use. If there is a part that goes under the baby or anything that goes under the staps then that will compress in the event of a crash and mean the straps are too loose to properly hold the baby in the seat. That is the same reason coats shouldn't be worn in car seats.

Put a blanket over the straps or if the car seat manufacturer make a foot muff specifically for that seat they will have crash tested it and it will just consist of material over the straps.