Baby Bathtubs

Monday, January 12, 2009

Posted by Dana

You can spend countless hours pouring over all of the baby tub reviews like I did or you can come to terms with the simple fact that there really isn't a comfortable or easy way to bathe a small infant and one tub is pretty much as useful as the rest. Soap and water will clean a baby just as effectively in a $10 tub as a $40 one regardless of what the ads say.

There are new tubs out that will do fancy things like tell you the water temperature, circulate the water and add bubbles, and there are tubs with fancy slings and attachments. Each style of tub or bathing apparatus works best during certain stages. I personally tried the Fisher Price Rainforest Bathtub and the Mother's Touch Comfort Bather.

When my son was a newborn I found the easiest way to bathe him was lying on a thick folded bath towel next to the sink with a baby towel over him. This prevented him from getting cold and kept his cord stump dry. I found that using the newborn sling caused him to get cold and not enjoy his bath time as much. Now that he is older, the rainforest tub works well for both a baby that can and can not sit up. My only wish for the rainforest tub is that they pad the back of the slanted seat. My son tended to slide sideways.

As for the comfort bather, I am not overly fond. Not only does my son slide down in the seat but he is high enough out of the water that he gets a bit cold.

I have since purchased the Aquababy Bath Ring. The downside is that his little hiney slides around a lot. I solved that problem by using a thick rubber kitchen drawer liner. Once the sliding debacle was address he splashed, played and had a grand time.

Aqua Baby Bath Ring

Mother's Touch Comfort Bather

FP Rainforest Tub

So which tub is for you? It really boils down to preference. I personally think that the Rainforest tub (and those like it) was the best transitional tub. It will easily work for an infant up to 12 months (or older) depending on the size of the child. For both the tub and bath seat, rubber drawer liner solved the slipping problem.