Bathtub Help

Hi,

Once my son could sit up in the tub, I put him in a laundry basket. It was wide enough not to tip over and had holes to let the water in.

A.

Try sticking him in the "big boy bathtub" without a seat. That's how I've been bathing my daughter since she was about 7 months old.

J.,

We did the same as Rachael. My son loves laying on his back. But, if Mason isn't sitting up on his own yet you might want to stick with the baby bath. It is a lot easier to give them a bath in the big boy tub once they can sit up on their own. My son has been sitting up for quite sometime and that is when we moved him to the big bathtub. But, we do lay him down to rinse him off and he does really love it! Remember, no need to spend unnecessary money if you don't have to. I am a stay at home mom and this is a big thing for me.

We had the same problem. We did lot's of searching and have found the inflatable tub works best and saves water! we read all kind of reviews at babiesrus.com, epinions, etc.
We got the snug tub deluxe.

Pro's: uses less water, soft sides and bottom, has a suction cup to hand it on the shower wall to dry, baby feels more secture in a smaller space, you can use it until your child is 2yrs or more, no problems with mildew, deflatable for easy travel, fairly inexpensive (about $12.00- $20.00)

cons: you will have an inflatable tub hanging in your shower for a while, sometimes hard to find in stores.
I think kmart and walmart have them. I got mine online from one of the many places that sells them. Check out the link attached.

http://www.google.com/products?hl=en&q=inflatable+tub...

My two year old now uses the big tub and we use it for our 4 month old )with a little mesh rack to hold her up). My two year old occasionally pulls it out to play in it (when it is dry) or to sit and watch tv in it. Good luck.

Hi J., I have a 14 month old son and had issues with the big boy tub also. I ended up bathing him in the sink until he was able to sit on his own and then started him in the tub with a blow up duck that I bought at Target. It's like a blow up pool that fits in the tub and my son, Jaxon, absolutely loves it, honestly the best $10 I ever spent. I also work at Beaumont, the Royal Oak campus.

I used the Walmart Safety 1st - tubside bath seat. It worked very well. Most of the time, however, it was just easier to put my son in our deep kitchen sink. He was kind of small, so really it was easier on my back to clean the sink out, put a towel in the bottom and he had a blast splashing mommy.
I hope you find something soon!!

I too, like the Eurobath. I bought it for $25 at Babies 'R Us. Works great for us, and will grow with him!

A friend of mine at work loves the Bumbo (sp?)! She said it works great in the tub. When they get older though, she said you need to watch them because when their legs grow longer, they could push themselves over. Good luck!

My soultion:Ducky inflatable tub - it doubled as a pool in the summer for my son. I got it Babies-R-Us. I absolutely loved it, as did my son. He was in it up until 13/14 months. Then I got the suction cup mat that is almost the length of a 5' tub.

I hope this helps.

It makes me laugh, but we used a milk crate! Kept the toys close, couldn't get out or fall over.

Personally, I hated the bath seat I had. I couldn't get to her to really clean her. We instead went with a duck blow up tub that we would put in the tub. It contained her and was small enough she could hold onto the sides and be nice and steady.

We used this one that I got at Target.
http://www.babyant.com/bh013022.html

I used this seat for my daughter and I really liked it.
It was very sturdy and never tipped over. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7977227

I never used a bath seat. I just took baths with her until she was able to sit up really good on her own. Now (and for a few months since she's now 11 months old) I just sit on the side of the tub or on the toilet seat. If she were to fall over, I'm right there within arms reach (though that hasn't happened yet) to pick her back up, but I'm not all hunched over the tub the whole time. I'd say as long as the bottom is non-skid (not slippery) you're fine to let him play as long as you stay there for safety reasons.

There are small bath tubs for babies that you can buy (not real expensive) that you set inside the tub. My daughter is almost two and still bathes in it. I just put more water in the big tub than I did when she was smaller. There usually is also tub seats that have suction cups on the bottom so it stays put. Hope that helps!

We moved when my daughter was 4 months old and the baby bath was lost in a box...the sink was full of cleaning supplies and she needed a bath pronto! I started freaking out, but thankfully my mom didn't see it as a problem. She put barely an inch of water in the bath and laid her on her back...she loved it! A friend of mine adapted it by placing her child's head on a pool noodle she cut in half. Anyway, from 4 months on we stopped using a baby bath and we have never used a bath seat. Obviously we can't leave her unattended in the bathroom, but she's fine laying on her back and sitting up. At some point she even started flipping to her belly (probably closer to a year)...she learned fast she didn't like her face in the water and even started blowing bubbles. It worked great for us!

They have a seat at Babies 'R' Us that actually clings onto the side of the tub. I love it. it has an arm rest for you and the chair actual swivels back and forth. and it wasn't that expensive.

If he is sitting on his own, try the sink. I did that with my kids until they started to climb out while being bathed! :) At that point, I started to use the tub.I found something to sit on near the tub stayed put until I KNEW they were able to sit themselves up if they fell over. (That was about 3 yrs old and they were able to swim). I only put enough water in the tub to basically get them wet and had LOTS of bubbles. When they got to the point that mom wasn't "needed" the entire time ( about 4 yrs old), I would check on them to make sure they were OK when they got quiet. I was never far when they were in the tub and never let them stay in too long. It is a "feeling" I guess as each child is different.

Good Luck and have fun with it!

K.

Get in with him. Wear a bathing suit if you're modest. Babies *love* floating in a hot bath, and are no more at risk of overheating than you are...

Hands down the Safety 1st swivel bathtun seat(blue and white). It hooks on the side of the tub very easily and has a padded arm rest for Mom. We love it and my daughter still uses it at 15 months old. She doesn't have too because she's big enough now to where she soesn't need it. But she never really was a baby who loved to play for a long time in the bath tub either. Look into it, its the best

I also have the safety seat. It hooks onto the side of the tub and stays in place while they play. It worked really well for both of my daughters. It is available at babys-r-us.

They have tub seats w/ suction cups, ck any baby store.
A.

Hi J.,
I like some of the products that the moms have talked about here.I was not aware of many of them.I have a 13 month old and sometimes she takes a shower with me. I hold her to wash her and then she will sit at the back of the shower while I wash myself. I put here there with her toys and that seems to work.
In the book What To Expect the First Year they recommend you not let your child take a bath by them self until they are 5. That seems like good advice.
L.

We had the same problem with our first daughter (we have two now - 4 1/2 and 3). After trying multiple seats and having the same problem, we finally gave up. The end result - I always got in the tub with them to do it. What I would usually do is just put either the car seat or bouncy seat in the bathroom with me and them in it. After I finished washing up (and the water had cooled down), I would strip her down and bring her in. I would have lined the seat with her towel, so that she could be replaced when we were done. The girls loved to lay and splash in the water and it was great bonding time. By the time they were 18 months (and realized body parts) they were able to stand steady enough in the bath tub to go in on their own and be washed up while they stood up for me. I still don't leave them unsupervised in the tub for more than a minute or so even at their age. Because they're close in age, and "best friends" they still love to take baths together.

I have a safety first infant tub, it changes to a bath seat when they are done with it as a tub. The seat clamps on to the side of the tub. It has worked very well for us.

I personally like the Eurobath. They sell it at babies R Us and Toys R Us. I think it is $20 - $25. It grows with your child from age 0 - 3 years. It does not suction though. It is a miniature plastic tub. Half of it has an incline for infants and the other half is for children who can sit up. My kids have all used it. When it isn't in the bath tub they play with it and say it's a "boat". It's pretty indestructable. It fits under the crib so you don't waste space in the bathroom.

here is a link:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2404856

Unfortunately suction cup products will not work on tubs that have a non-skid surface (as you mentioned).

I had also tried the bathtub seats but they are always scratched my daughter's leg and seemed so dangerous. I tried it a few times and took it right back and replaced it with an inflatable tub that fit snugly inside our bathtub so it didn't budge once it was in. I bought it at Babies R Us. It is the white one with a blue bottom and sea creatures all around it. It was wonderful to use. She has always been small so we used it up until about her 1st birthday and then made the switch to the big tub. I highly recommend it.

J. - I agree with all the replies in that there was never a suitable infant/toddler tub on the market then (my kids are 10 and 7) or now. While it is more an inconvenience for you, have you tried bathing with your child? You can wear a bathing suit and sit with him on your lap or between your legs with his back resting against your stomach. This is a wonderful bonding time, although an inconvenience since you get all wet too....but do you really stay dry when you are on the outside of the tub? While it isn't always practical to do (works best if bath is a scheduled event), whenever you can do it you will find that it is more fun for both of you and will strengthen the bond you already have with your child. Be very careful though, I always lined the bathroom floor next to the tub with towels and set my child on them before I stood up to exit the tub (or had my husband take my child to dry them before I stood up in the tub myself).