Sun Shade for the Car

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Sun shining in through front window

May 2006

Any suggestions as to how to block the light from the front car window while driving? It beems in my daughter's 18-month old face on the way back from grandmas when we want her to go to sleep. Instead she screams because she is tired and the sun is in her face. When there is a front passenger, that person can hold up a blanket. But what do I do when I'm driving alone with her back from granny's? Ideally it would be something she could see through but I know that's a long shot. Help! Mama desperately seeking front carshade

We used to keep a floppy canvas hat in the car, which we taught our daughter to hold over her face when the sun was bothering her. When that wasn't available, we taught her to turn away and/or cover her face with her hands (which she still does). I think she liked having some control over the situation - the sun eventually bothered her less and less. Not sure that solves the problem of getting your daughter to sleep at the same time, but if it calms her down enough, she might nod off. I doubt there's any safe way to permanently block the sun Jean Cheng

How about turning her carseat around to face the back? Even though she meets the minimum requirements for forward-facing, it is safer to keep her backward-facing for as long as possible anyway. Then you can use those sun blocker shades in the back windows and let her sleep.

Here are some links that someone sent me when I was expressing concern about my son's legs being too long to stay rear- facing. After reading this stuff and looking at the pictures I decided to keep him rear-facing for as long as the carseat model allows.
http://www.car-safety.org/rearface.html http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum.aspx
Driving mama

Consider putting your daughter Rear-facing again. Rear-facing is actually the safest position for children and many convertible carseats provide for extended rear- facing. Check out the weight limits on your car-seat. Many children actually like it quite a bit HTH

We put toddler-sized sunglasses on our son and that seemed to help with the sun in the car thing, although I know not every kid will keep them on. You might try sunglasses before you go to a more complicated solution JP

Car sunshade for the rear window

Feb 2003

Does anyone use a rear window sunshade? We will be imminently moving our 9-month old from a Graco seat (good only up to 20 lbs) to a rear-facing convertible seat, but the new seat does not have a canopy. Our Jetta's rear window does not have tinted windows, so I was wondering what to do about shading the kid's eyes. Wearing a hat or sunglasses all the time seems silly. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you. Corina

Onestepahead.com has a canopy ($15) that is supposed to attach to most infant/toddler seats. I can't personally vouch for the product -- baby #2 doesn't have this problem in our new vehicle - - but it looks like exactly what we needed for baby #1. Loralee

I found a rear window car shade made by The First Years at Babies R Us or Walmart, can't remember which, in Union City. It is a big mesh screen which attaches by suction cups at the top and stretches down to the top of the back seat. It has worked great for me! shady in back