Product Spotlight Series: Bath Time

doxiemoxie212

This is a place for FTMs to ask questions and S+TMs to share the wealth of knowledge they've accumulated on baby products. Each week we'll spotlight a new category of product to help streamline and make it easier to refer back. This week it's.... bath time! Tubs, soaps, towels and anything in between. 
 
Please use the prompts below to try to share as much relevant info as you can in a format that is easy for those reading to absorb/respond to. If you'd like to recommend/ask questions about more than one product, please copy/paste the prompts as needed.  

For S+TMs: 

• Lifestyle (house, apartment, travel often, etc):
• Favorite [bath time item]:
• Link/picture:
• Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.):
• What you like about it:
• What you don't like about it, if anything:
• Is there a [bath time item] you don't have but are considering? Why?:
• Is there a [bath time item] you've tried that you absolutely hate? Why?: 
• Additional thoughts on [bath time item]?:

For FTMs:

• Lifestyle (house, apartment, travel often, etc):
• [bath time item] you're interested in:
• Link/picture:
• Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.):
• Any questions about it/them for S+TMs?:

To view past Product Spotlights or view the upcoming schedule, see here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gjNtxy2Kd2JceTYYR5wkwVcpTbU-khgazhjcZnfI1y4/edit?usp=sharing

(Also just a reminder that if anyone wants to revive old threads to ask questions as we get further along and it becomes more likely everyone is doing further research, please feel free!)

mytinc

We used the Fisher Price Whale Tub for both DS1 and DS2.  It's pretty simple and basic and did the job.  At the time we were in a one bathroom house that only had a shower, so we used this on our kitchen counter (never leaving the baby unattended in it, of course).  We used it for 5 or 6 months until we started bringing the boys into the shower with us (one parent would be in the shower, and the other would hand over the baby).  

It looks like we have an older version (in the link above) and there's a new one out now.  We still have the old one, so we'll likely use it again vs. buying anything new.

MoonOverGoldsboro

I don't think you NEED to spend the money on this thing, but we really liked the 4moms Infant Tub. We got it from our registry. I'm a freak, so I liked the temperature control and the continuous clean water flow. I also loved the convenience of just using this on the sink--you have to make sure your sink will work with it, though! Once my son got too big for that, we moved to this cheap Munchkin inflatable duck tub. It's nice that it's portable for vacations, and as a bonus, it's good to contain a sand-eating baby when you're at the beach!

sunshineandwhiskey

For S+TMs: 

• Lifestyle (house, apartment, travel often, etc): Single family house - One bathroom with a tub
• Favorite [bath time item]:  We used one of those tubs you put in a tub.  She did go through a phase where she hated the tub so we did showers too like @mytinc described.
• Link/picture: This
• Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.): <$20
• What you like about it: I didn't have to fill the entire tub.  I could easily clean it.  It had two sections - one for wobbly heads, and then another side where she sat once she had better head control. 
• What you don't like about it, if anything: I found she got cold quicker.
• Additional thoughts on [bath time item]?: Its torture at first because you can't submerse them until the belly button comes off.  DD hated it.  Showers were definitely nice too.  I always did it, and then DH let me finish showering once he grabbed DD from me.  We also had to try different bubble baths to find a kind that actually bubbled with our water.  We use this for wash/shampoo. 

mytinc

@sunshineandwhiskey - Both our boys went through phases of hating the bath and/or the shower.  Our youngest (just turned 3) asks to shower with me every day now, even though we have a tub.  i'll be ending that by the time he's 3.5 and the new baby is almost here.  The oldest (4.5) is starting to shower on his own (with a parent in the bathroom making sure he uses soap). 

krash_

FTM:

• Lifestyle (house, apartment, travel often, etc): house; main bathroom with a tub also a deep one basin sink in kitchen
• [bath time item] you're interested in: a few; 4moms Infant Tub, Blooming Bath Flower Cushion, BabyDam Bathtub Divider, or just a basic plastic bath 
• Link/picture: see above
• Cost (either actual dollar amount, or just $, $$, $$$, etc.): $20-60
• Any questions about it/them for S+TMs?: I am thinking that we will bath in the sink for the first 4-6 months we have a big stainless steel one basin sink. @MoonOverGoldsboro how do you make sure that the 4moms tub fits on your sink? Can you also use it in the tub later on? Basically I'm debating if I should get something that is specific to the sink and something that is specific for the tub or if there is something that can do it all

doxiemoxie212

I'm curious what folks would suggest for my situation:

• Only one very small bathroom. We do have a tub, but I have to like hover by the toilet, then squeeze closed the bathroom door to get to the tub. There is zero storage or floor space to store any kind of baby tub. 
• Small galley kitchen with a small sink and minimal counter space.
• Very little closet space to store anything.

(Yay NYC! Get me the eff out of here!)

But if we're still in this apt when baby arrives, what do y'all think? Should we just try the showering with baby thing? DH takes like a million showers/baths each day (okay, not actually, but at least three, and he wishes it were more) so he'd probably be into it... 

sunshineandwhiskey

@doxiemoxie212 Okay - this is going to look ridiculous, but maybe something like this can help?  That way you can inflate/deflate as needed, and you can use it when DH doesn't want to shower? Click Me!

doxiemoxie212

@sunshineandwhiskey I know myself and my husband well enough to know we would NEVER deflate that duck lol. Then DH would get frustrated one day and accidentally step on it and pop it. Guarantee. 

krash_

@sunshineandwhiskey @doxiemoxie212 while I am kind of convinced I need that now, specifically because of the Amazon review that said you can use it as a cooler floaty, I feel like it would be a pain in the ass IRL. Especially if you have to blow it up and deflate is pretty much daily. 

sunshineandwhiskey

@doxiemoxie212 haha!  I am right there with ya!   
@krashke Cooler floaty??? Hell yeah.  I now know what i'm doing in June post-pregnancy 

MoonOverGoldsboro

@krashke It works best with a single vessel sink, but we were able to make it work with a center divider--it was just a little off-center. You basically need a sink that's big enough, and a spout that's tall enough. If you have a pretty standard sink, I think it would be fine. I'd be more worried if you were in a super-small apartment with one of those mini-kitchens.

ETA: You can definitely use it in the tub, too--the issue is just that my son outgrew it, so once we moved him to the tub, we needed a bigger bath, too. I kept up with the sink bath convenience for as long as possible!!

@doxiemoxie212 This probably doesn't make a difference, but the duck does have a good suction cup on it, so it can hang from the wall in your tub (or any other tile surface in your bathroom). That way you don't have to deflate/inflate, but it doesn't take up any floor space. With a tiny enough bathroom, though, that probably still won't be useful.

doxiemoxie212

@MoonOverGoldsboro that would reduce the risk of DH stepping on it. Probably wouldn't reduce his inclination to lean his entire weight against it and pop it that way, though. Lol. 

BurlapandLace

@doxiemoxie212 ~ When we lived in our small house, we used this in the sink until we felt more secure just taking him in the shower with us (babies are slippery AF when wet and soapy, so we weren’t comfortable showering with him for at least a couple months until he felt less breakable). 

This is nice because it folds flat and can hang up to dry, so storage is literally no space at all. And then it fit into our (small) kitchen sink to hold him while we bathed him. 

https://puj.com/products/puj-tub 

doxiemoxie212

@BurlapandLace I saw that in a store here in NYC! I wasn't sure it would fit in our sink. I guess it wouldn't be the most difficult thing to return if I bought it and then it didn't work.

Semi real question - what if I just rub the baby down with wet wipes? 

BurlapandLace

@doxiemoxie212 ~ TBH, babies aren’t inherently dirty. We didn’t bathe DS until 10 days after he was born. And then maybe once a week after that? Until they start crawling around and getting into things/eating solid foods, they don’t get “dirty”. And daily bathing really isn’t great for their skin. So for the most part, wiping them down is all that is needed. 

BurlapandLace

I’ve also seen people with small spaces really like the “bloom bath” 

mytinc

@doxiemoxie212 - The whale tub I posted we just used on the kitchen counter (although you could also lay it across the sink as well).  We set it in our bathtub when we weren't using it.  We had a huge space issue as well.  Pictures of DS1 in the tub show the oven surface and a coffee pot next to him.  LOL.  By 4-5 months you should be able to shower with them.  I would recommend the other parent hand them to you and takes them from you.  And I agree with @BurlapandLace that they get super slippery.  

You could also seat yourself in the regular bathtub and hold the baby with one arm/wash with the other, but that would likely make it tricky to wash the backside (I always had DH help turn the baby over to really wash the butt).  

tammy574

Sink baths all the way. I hate leaning over the tub. I wish their were better sink bathers for better deals on the market. The blooming bath looks soggy and looks like a pain to transfer from sink to shower for storage. I think most bathers just look like freakin pain in the necks. The nice sink non soggy mold forming options (one option pictured)  
are so darn expensive for just a bather. They are the best ever though. A friend had one like this and literally the easiest fastest bath situation and just store it by hanging it in the shower. Or anywhere but if you bathe them somewhat daily it’s nice to have it sort of out and accessible. 

Edited to change photo so it showed brand. 

mytinc

Oh, and as an FYI - We didn't bathe our kids daily as infants.  It was more like every 2-3 days.  We didn't want to over dry their skin.  They weren't crawling/getting into things and it just wasn't necessary for a daily bath.  Now that they're older that's a different story.

marcus7676

Posting and running:

@doxiemoxie212 We bathed DS in the sink in the kitchen, using the basic blue tub: https://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Comfort-Newborn-Toddler/dp/B000067EH7 

I would have not felt confident enough to shower / bathe with him when he was super young.

@MoonOverGoldsboro recommended the inflatable duck tub. That thing was the thing of nightmares for DS.  He HATED it.  Plus, you can't use it for a NB (you need something that can support them).
 

doxiemoxie212

I have been dreaming of a farmhouse style sink ever since Fixer Upper started airing many moons ago, but NEVER HAVE I WANTED ONE MORE THAN NOW! 

bkrahn

@doxiemoxie212 ugh yesss to the farmhouse sink baths! I'm hoping we have one by the time this babe arrives!

i can't think of the brand right now, but they do make collapsible bath tubs that you can fit either beside your toilet/vanity, etc. That could be a good space saver.

we just used the whale tub and will be using it again! It's small enough that I can fit it upright beside the tub and nice for newborns/ baby's that can't sit up on their own yet because of the built in seat. My daughter used it until she was 6-7 months.

catlady1215

We had an older version of this. We registered for something else but someone bought us this one.

I don't recommend it. The spa part really didn't work good. And as he got bigger and kicked more, he slid down the mesh seat. Which was really annoying when he was to big for the tub it came with (and we used the mesh in the big tub)... yet couldn't sit up by himself yet.


https://www.target.com/p/summer-infant-174-lil-luxuries-174-whirlpool-bubbling-spa-shower-blue/-/A-14403921?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&CPNG=PLA_Baby+Shopping&adgroup=SC_Baby&LID=700000001170770pgs&network=g&device=m&location=9005889&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIron4-6XO1wIVDylpCh0hJA4OEAQYASABEgIDqvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

fantasticmrsfox

Third time mom here
We live in a house with one bathtub. 
I threw away our baby tub because we never used it. We do a few different things:
1) I like to lay a towel on the bottom of the tub then add a little bit of warm water to the tub for baby. Then place a wet warm cloth over their tummy so they don’t get cold. 

2) we have a curved sink in our bathroom where I can again lay a towel down and put baby on top of it then leave the water running over him so he stays warm. 

3) when baby gets older I love putting the Bumbo in our kitchen sink and letting them sit in there and have the water run over them. The sprayer makes it easier to direct water and get baby clean. 

TLDR For us storing an actual baby tub was a pain so we go minimalist and make do with the tub and sinks. 

lovesclimbing

fantasticmrsfox said:

Third time mom here
We live in a house with one bathtub. 
I threw away our baby tub because we never used it. We do a few different things:
1) I like to lay a towel on the bottom of the tub then add a little bit of warm water to the tub for baby. Then place a wet warm cloth over their tummy so they don’t get cold. 

2) we have a curved sink in our bathroom where I can again lay a towel down and put baby on top of it then leave the water running over him so he stays warm. 

3) when baby gets older I love putting the Bumbo in our kitchen sink and letting them sit in there and have the water run over them. The sprayer makes it easier to direct water and get baby clean. 

TLDR For us storing an actual baby tub was a pain so we go minimalist and make do with the tub and sinks. 

*lurker*

+1 to all of this! (Except the bumbo because I have no experience with that) Laying a towel on the bottom of the tub helps keep them from sliding around. 

For the first few times, we washed her in the sink. Then we switched to the tub. Don't fill it very full and just watch them so they don't turn their head and suck in water. We showered with her on occasion starting at two months. 

We didn't wash our daughter until her stump fell off at about two weeks old. Then it was only once a week or so. At about four months, we started doing twice a week baths because she really started to smell toward the middle of the week. Like her neck folds and her hands and her under arms and feet especially. She needed a bath! And, (grossness alert), lift their arms high above their head and really get in the folds of their armpits because after a week or so, they'll have this white stuff in the folds of their pits. I guess it's a combo of sweat, skin oils, shedded skin cells and possibly spit up that's run down there. 

jsl82

We have the same tubs at @MoonOverGoldsboro.  The 4moms was the one we used everyday and the duck is at my in- laws (we would have used it if we traveled more for travel- but in laws is the most traveling we do).  I love the water temp. gauge for the tub and we used our in the sink until DD was 4-5 months old.  At 4-5 we were getting water all over the counters so I moved the tub into our bathtub (we also only have 1 tub in our teeny tiny bathroom).  My husband would take the tub out of the bathtub everyday while he showered, but I typically left it in the tub at the far end while I showered (sometimes I would put DD in 4moms tub on the far end of the bathtub while I showered... and quickly wiper her down when I was done). 

DD was born with a full head of hair- so she needed her hair washed pretty frequently... I think bald babies don't need to be bathed as often.  Bathtime is part of our bedtime routine and has been since she was about 2 months old.    

dinodna3

We used a basic tub similar to the one @sunshineandwhiskey posted. I don’t love it but it’s what I have and will use it again. 

I just wanted to add, DD needed baths more frequently than DS.  She had the stinkiest neck cheese and bad cradle cap. 

murraydog2008

We have always bathed our kiddos in the kitchen sink no matter where lived.  The only exception to that was when we lived in a small basement apartment for 5 months and didn't have a kitchen sink and then they both went in the tub together. It was not ideal and my back hurt like crazy from leaning over and holding the baby, but we didn't bathe every day. Maybe twice a week.

No one has talked much about soap, but I absolutely LOVE the smell of mustella soap. It's a little spending $18-$20 for a bottle of it, but this might be one of the things I'm most looking forward to with this baby. I can't wait to smell that freshly bathed babe in that soap. Even DH was really funny the other night asking when we get to buy that soap for the baby.   We currently use the Honest Company Body Wash/Shampoo on our older kids - and us actually. It's gentle and doesn't bother our super sensitive skin.

May14th2011

We use the sink mostly, until they're bigger.
I also wanna say, some babies hate baths! My DD was a fish, and loved them, but DS has always, since the day he was born, hated water. Until he was 18months, it sounded like we were torturing him. Seriously, my aunt thought her neighbors were going to call the police.. now he's 2 and tolerates them, but he hates water, he won't even get in the pool.
So if baby doesn't like baths, sometimes it's not your fault.