Keeping baby safely warm in her bucket seat: if you have a winter baby, this is your eternal quest. No puffy snow suits. No bunting bags that go behind baby’s back. Blankets get kicked off and don’t protect baby’s face.
Never fear, Petit Coulou is here!
Yes, it’s an insulating, shower-cap-style cover that is dome-shaped! Inside the cover are “ribs,” which maintain the dome shape, allowing air circulation and freedom of movement for baby.
Your child is totally protected from the elements, and needs only be dressed in her pajamas!
The Petit Coulou stays in place using an elastic toggle around the car seat’s handles, and its elasticized base hugs the car seat like a shower cap.
The zipper is heavyweight and sturdy, and unzips completely, making it very easy to get baby in and out.
Every time we get to the car, I have to figure out which kid to get in first. Thanks to the protection of the Petit Coulou, I can get Cub buckled into his car seat without worrying that his sister is freezing on the side walk. For the car ride, I unzip the cover so she doesn’t overheat.
It really does keep the inside of her car seat warm. I can feel the heat when I pull her out after being outside. 
Here’s how the Petit Coulou works:
The Petit Coulou also comes with extra back padding, meant ONLY to be used when your bucket seat is in the stroller.
The label does specify not to use it for car rides:
But I do worry that many parents miss that detail and use it all the time, especially because the box’s instructions look like this:
The thing is, if you put it in for a ride in the stroller, often times you switch baby directly into the car, so you’d have to then remove the insert from behind baby.
If you buy a Petit Coulou, remember not to use the back padding in the car!
What I love about the Petit Coulou:
- Baby truly doesn’t need to be in her snowsuit in her car seat, so it makes it easy to buckle her nice and tight without fear of her being too cold.
- The dome shape means baby can kick and play with toys inside her car seat easily.
- Baby is shielded from wind and snow.
- The sturdy zipper makes it easy to get baby in and out of the car seat.
What I love less about the Petit Coulou:
- I worry that parents will not realize they cannot use the back padding for car rides.
- It is awkward, at least with our car seat model, to put the handle back when installed in the car (as recommended in our Peg Perego’s instructions) when the Petit Coulou is on. (But if you want the awesome dome shape, you have to be willing to wrestle a bit with your handle, depending on your car seat model.)
- If you need to install your bucket seat without its base, you will have to totally remove the cover,
Bottom Line:
Whether or not you want to invest in a Petit Coulou (they retail for $130 CAD) will depend on how often you need to take baby out in her bucket seat in the freezing cold. Live in Vancouver? No, you probably don’t need it (Although, their mid-season model would be perfect!). Don’t own a car? We didn’t when Cub was this small, which is why I didn’t buy a Petit Coulou the first time around. But if your baby will be in a bucket seat during the coldest months of the year, and the coldest months of the year where you live are DARN COLD, then ya, I’d get a Petit Coulou and forget the hassle of layering blankets and thin fleece coats. Particularly if you have older kids, it’s nice to at least not have to dress one member of your family before leaving the house!
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