Multi-purpose! I love any product for babies that serves more than one purposes, and serves those purposes well. When it’s cold out, you’ve basically got three places where you need to keep baby warm: the car seat, the stroller and the baby carrier. What if there were a cover that could keep out the cold for all three?
Pookie Poncho Review: How does it work?
The Pookie Poncho has three parts: the shell, and two removable hoods.
Here’s my handy dandy diagram:
So let’s examine how the product performs in all three situations:
When you are using the Pookie Poncho over your baby carrier, you use the two elastic straps to secure the shell around the straps of the carrier. You attach the smaller of the two hoods using snaps. You can then tighten the shell as needed using the three toggles (indicated by the “targets” on my graphic). You can warm up your hands, too, by unbuttoning the pockets.
The one improvement I’d love to see to make the Pookie Poncho even better for covering a carrier is a strap that would secure the shell around the wearer’s waist. The strap could be removable, since it might get in the way in the stroller or car seat, but it would help keep the cover snug around both baby and the babywearer. Since Little Miss Cub’s legs don’t dangle out of the carrier yet, there’s nothing to tuck the bottom of the shell up around to keep it in place.
2 – A Stroller Cover
I’d say that of all three uses, the Pookie Poncho does “stroller cover” the best. You attach the larger of the two hoods using zippers, so it looks like this:
Then, you install it in your stroller, feeding the straps through the slits in the back of the hood.
Here’s how it looks in the stroller:
I can snug up the bottom of the shell using the toggle so that Little Miss isn’t totally swallowed up in her Pookie Poncho. It’s good to see that there’s a lot of room to grow!
Depending on how you dress baby underneath, you can use the Pookie Poncho for varying levels of winter chill!
3 – A Car Seat Cover
Note that you do not use either of the hoods when using the Pookie Poncho on a car seat. You put the Pookie Poncho over the car seat, like a blanket, so there is nothing that goes behind baby’s back. You could easily use this on top of a convertible car seat, too. The toggles at the sides and base help you snug the Pookie Poncho up around the edges of any car seat.
Bottom Line:
On a recent walk to the park, I loved that, if I tossed the babywearing hood in the stroller basket, I could move Little Miss Cub from the stroller to the carrier and still use the same product to keep her warm. (I had to push Cub home in the stroller.) I’m not planning on using it much on the car seat, as we have a full “shower cap” style that offers more coverage around the head, however, it would totally do the trick! As a stroller blanket, it’s perfection. As a carrier cover, it works very well, but the addition of a waist strap would make it even better. When we went for a hike at Fish Creek, it also worked as a nice, warm nursing cover!
At $150, getting a product that you can use in all three of your “baby transporation” devices is pretty darn awesome. It will grow well with your child, as a toddler or preschooler could easily use the Pookie Poncho in the stroller, and it could go over their legs in a convertible car seat.
Update, September 2018
Oh look, I have four kids now! It’s already chilly on our morning walks to the school bus, so I’ve been able to use our Pookie Poncho for one twin in our Valco double stroller!
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