Meeno Babies "Cool Mee" Seat Liner - Review and Giveaway! (Closed)

Our 7-month-old daughter S is a hot li'l thing! Whether she's nursing, rolling around on her playmat or riding to the grocery store with Mommy, she's bound to work up a good sweat when the temperature is up even a little bit! (More than once, we've noticed a wet patch on the head rest of her car seat following a long drive - poor li'l thing!) So when I first learned about the company Meeno Babies and their "Cool Mee" seat liner collection designed to keep babies cool and comfortable when travelling, I thought, "Wow - this product was made for my daughter!!" and knew I had to try one out. Therefore, I was thrilled when I contacted the company and they were eager to team up for a review and giveaway! 

Meeno Babies offers three different types of "Cool Mee" liners - one for infant car seats (or "bucket seats"), one for baby/toddler car seats and one for strollers.

The collection aims to improve upon existing seat liners in today's market. As per the marketing video posted on their website:

"Cool Mee" is a breathable, universally-fitting machine-washable seat liner that wicks away moisture from your baby's skin. "Cool Mee" seat liners have a patented design to fit your every day car seat and stroller, and keep your seats clean to reduce stains on your investments.

The following illustration shows how a "Cool Mee" liner is constructed to help keep your baby cool, dry and comfortable and your seat protected:

In terms of safety, the liners are CPSIA compliant and crash tested, which is reassuring! Furthermore, I've come across words of caution about placing thick materials between the car seat and baby (due to the fact that they would compress in an accident, adding slack and possibly causing injury or even ejection) however "Cool Mee" liners are very thin so they do not elicit the same concerns.

I had a bit of a hard time deciding between the bucket seat and stroller liners for the review. However, I ended up choosing the bucket seat liner as our family will be travelling quite a bit this summer (including an 8 hour trip, both ways) so S will be spending a lot of time in her car seat. I picked the Quick Silver colour to match the material in her seat.

My "Cool Mee" arrived very promptly. Here it is in its super cute box - hello Mr. Penguin!

Out of the box, the liner felt very light-weight and I had the immediate impression that the materials and construction are of an extremely high quality.

Now product installation is most certainly not my forte, however I found it quite easy to attach the liner to S's Graco SnugRide car seat. The shoulders sit under the seat belt straps, the top part is secured via a strap attached to a velcro sticker placed on the back of the head rest and the seat belt comes through a slit at the bottom. Three slits are available, presumably to accommodate slight size differences in car seats. This was the one part I wasn't 100% sure about as I ended up trying a couple of the slits before deciding on the one which seemed to fit the best. On this note, it would be helpful if the installation instructions (which are otherwise very clear) included guidelines to assist the user in determining which slit to use.

Once installed, the liner sat nice & snug against her seat!

Alright - time to get our little tester in there to try it out!

First of all, we noticed that the alignment was bang on. Look how her head rests right in the middle of the top section. (Oh, and she's smiling - that's a good sign too, right?)

Today was perfect for testing out our new "Cool Mee"! It was about 25 degrees Celsius (77 F) and I had a whole slew of events and errands planned out. I'd normally put on the AC in the van to help S stay cool, however she took one for the team and endured the heat in order to help Mommy with the review. :) So how did our new liner perform? Well, in lieu of the ability to obtain a direct report from S (such is the challenge we Mommy review bloggers face ;) I deduced that it worked as intended, based on the following clues:

• As usual, S got sweaty. However the liner material against her skin felt dry to the touch and the hair at the back of her head wasn't nearly as wet as it usually gets under similar conditions. It appeared that a lot of the moisture was indeed wicking away.
• Each time we started driving, she fell asleep within minutes! While she does sleep fairly often in the car, it's unusual for her to nod off so quickly and frequently. She must have been really comfy in there!

On the topic of sleeping babies, however, I found one issue with the liner's design. Many babies (S included) sleep with their head tilted to the side. Unfortunately, when this happens, Baby's head is no longer on the liner. I found myself wondering if the design could be altered slightly to include a wider head piece to solve this problem. Not sure if this is feasible given the liner needs to fit all bucket seats, but I think this adjustment would make the product even more effective.

Another (fairly minor) constructive criticism is that the liner can shift fairly easily, especially when Baby gets squirmy!! However it's quick and easy to smooth it back down into its proper position so it's ready for the next excursion.

All in all, I really like this product and I'm confident it will help our daughter be much more comfortable on all the long drives we have planned this summer! I would definitely recommend it to parents who are looking for ways to make travel more comfortable for their own little ones. 

Buy It!

You can purchase your own "Cool Mee" liner directly from the Meeno Babies website or locate a retailer near you that sells Meeno Babies products.


Win It!

One lucky Manager to Mom reader will win their own Meeno Babies "Cool Mee" seat liner, in their choice of type and colour!

To enter, please leave a separate comment for each entry, and include your email address with each one. The number beside each action denotes how many entries it is worth, so make sure to leave the corresponding number of comments if you complete that action. I'll be checking each entry for validity, so please ensure that you complete all actions as indicated.

Mandatory entry:

• Visit Meeno Babies and let me know which type and colour of "Cool Mee" liner you would select if you won!

Additional Entries:

• Like MeenoBabies on Facebook; include your Facebook first name and last initial. It would be nice to thank them for the giveaway as well (although not mandatory). (+1)
• Follow @meenobabies on Twitter; include your Twitter username (+1)
• Follow "Manager to Mom" publically via Google Friend Connect (see right sidebar); include your first name and last initial (+1)
• Like "Manager to Mom" on Facebook; include your Facebook first name and last initial (+1)
• Follow @managertomom on Twitter; include your Twitter username (+1)
• Subscribe via email (see right sidebar) (+1)
• Subscribe via RSS (see right sidebar) (+1)
• Grab my button for your blog and leave the link where it can be found (see left sidebar) (+3)
• Blog about this giveaway and leave the link to your post (+3)
• Add this giveaway to a Linky List and leave the URL so I can find it (+1 per list)
• Vote for me on Picket Fence Blogs; can be done once daily. (+1 each)
• Tweet this giveaway; can be done once daily. (+1 each) Please use the following tweet or create your own; must contain @managertomom, @meenobabies and a link to this giveaway post: 

Keep Baby cool & comfy on the go! #Win a "Cool Mee" seat liner from @managertomom and @meenobabies ! http://tinyurl.com/3kcz7ne CAN/US 7/05

Open to residents of Canada and the US.  This giveaway will end on July 5, 2011 at 11:59pm EST. Winner will be chosen by Random.org, emailed, and announced on my blog shortly after giveaway ends. The winner will have 72 hours to respond to my email before a new winner is chosen.

Disclosure:  The prize is being provided and shipped to the winner by Meeno Babies.  I received no financial compensation for writing my review or offering this giveaway, although I did receive the sample item free of charge.  This is my completely honest opinion above and may be different from yours.