This was one of the items on my baby registry. Despite being told by my mother and others that I could just use the kitchen sink to bathe my newborn, I decided I needed something especially for my little one. I hate scrubbing my sink so there was no way I could see myself doing that every time I washed my baby. Plus, who knows what sort of food residue and chemical traces would still be there? The final reason I wanted a baby tub was that our kitchen is drafty and I knew I’d be washing my daughter in our bathroom tub. This model seemed simple and affordable and I liked the idea behind the newborn sling it comes with.

THE BASICS
The First Years Sure Comfort Deluxe Newborn/Toddler Tub is a one-piece, solid-construction blue plastic tub that can be placed over a sink, used in a tub, or used on its own. It is designed with a bump in the middle to create a little seat for little ones. It comes with a netted and padded bath cradle (looks like a sling) to be used for newborns who cannot support their own weight. The cradle hooks over the edges (there are guide ridges) of the tub and sits under the surface of the water once baby is inside. The tub itself can be used in two different positions. There is a reclining side for infants who do not yet sit up and a vertically backed side for older infants and toddlers. Both sides have slip-guard foam padding—the reclining side has foam all along the back where as the vertical side only has padding where the child’s bottom sits. There is a heat-sensitive, color-changing plug at the bottom of the tub for drainage. A cupped soap holder is designed into the vertically backed side.

USAGE
The first time I used this, I was home alone and still very uncomfortable from labor. So I didn’t want to bend down and use it in our bathroom. Instead, I set it up over the kitchen sink. It fit perfectly. The legs and notches on the base of the tub fit inside the sink while the overhanging edges of the tub sat up on the counter. My daughter shivered and squirmed and pretty much hated being dunked in water but the tub didn’t budge. I didn’t use the netted cradle that time because I was holding my daughter in one arm and didn’t think I could click the hooks into place. From then on, though, I used the tub in the bathroom after running our electric heater for at least 15 minutes.

We’ve never used the netted bath cradle in the way it’s intended. Either I was holding my daughter and didn’t want to try hooking it up or it just seemed like it would block me from cleaning her bottom, which, come on, that’s pretty much the only reason you wash a baby as often as you do. It is a good idea, and maybe for the next child I will use it, but it just didn’t come in handy as a bathing tool. What I have done with it is lay it on top of our bath rug for a little added padding for her head when I’m drying her off and diapering her. For that purpose, it’s worked great.

For about the first 10 months, I exclusively used the tub in the reclining position. My daughter started sitting up long before that, but it just seemed easier to wash her that way. She was still able to sit up despite the recline, and the foam toward her lower back kept her in place. I was able to fill up the soap holder with slightly warmer soapy water, far away from her reach, and use it to soak up her washcloth and wash her face, hands, etc. I’ve always used a more accurate bath thermometer (I got a neat dolphin-shaped one at my baby shower) to check the temperature of the water instead of waiting for the plug to change color (it goes from dark green to an almost white pale green), which seems more like a fail-safe measure than an accurate way to gauge bath readiness. It’s still a good feature but it’s hard to decipher whether the green shade is “too pale” or just pale enough.

I think we got about 2 or 3 months of use after that using the vertical-sided position. My daughter still physically fit into the tub, but it seemed like it was restricting her play. By then she was about 23 lbs. (the packaging says the tub holds babies 0-25 lbs.) and was much more interested in playing with her bath water. So we’ve moved on to simply using the adult tub where she can spread out and play with her rubber duckies.

STORAGE AND CLEAN UP
We have a stackable washer/dryer in our bathroom and I stick this right on top. If we didn’t, it might be a nuisance to store since it’s about two feet long and just over a foot wide. I probably would just keep it in our tub and then move it to the bathroom floor when me or my husband need to shower.

The tub can be cleaned with warm water and mild soap. The bath cradle is machine washable (warm, gentle cycle; tumble dry).

BABY’S VERDICT
Other than that first squirming, uncomfortable experience, my daughter has loved bath time. It has always relaxed her and given her the chance to play. Even as she got older, I was still able to fit a few small bath toys in the tub with her. There was enough room for her to splash around a bit without me having to worry that she’d slip.

MOMMY’S VERDICT
I’m happy with this tub. Its simple design makes it easy to use and easy to clean. The foam padding kept my daughter from slipping around and made washing her less of a challenge and the color-changing plug served as a backup temperature gauge in case I was having a hectic mommy day. I’ve always liked the built-in soap holder, which I used to store our bath thermometer, a sponge, a washcloth, and my daughter’s little rubber duckies. The netted bath cradle didn’t get much use in the conventional sense, but I did utilize its padded headrest during post-bath cleanup.

At first, the tub seemed a little heavy. Since I stored it way up on top of the dryer and I’m only 5ֹ”, it was hard to get it down while clutching a baby under one arm. A lot of times I’d just tip it off of the dryer and let it fall while I stepped back. But carrying a baby around will build up muscle and by the time my daughter was about six months old, I had absolutely no problem taking it down with one hand while holding her with the other.

For use with babies 0-25 lbs.
www.thefirstyears.com


Recommended: Yes