First Years Infant to Toddler Tub review

The First Years Infant to Toddler Tub was showcased a bit by Kim last week, but after some more use we’ve got some more insight into it and my take on the thing, so here you go.

As an infant bathtub, the thing is ok. Some things you should know before you stick your newborn in it.

• If their head starts slipping toward the water in the hammock, you need to shorten the leg-straps of the hammock or extend the head straps a bit.
• The minitub portion at the feet is for putting fresh water in. Don’t put soap there, you’ll need clean water when you accidentally soap your baby’s face.
• You should have a cleared-out space to place the baby in when something happens such as a poocano.
• Don’t expect to use the drain.

Ok, at four weeks of use I’ve finally got the straps right (took four or five washing attempts,) to keep Maggie’s head from slipping in without keeping her entirely out of the water.

I have a few problems I’ve noticed with the newborn hammock implementation. The drain plug is supposed to alert you if the water is too hot. If your tub has the faucet on the right hand side, the plug is obscured by baby, hammock, etc unless you have it turned the wrong way to put water in.

The plug itself doesn’t allow much water to drain out. It’s too small and too close to the ground/tub. It becomes easier faster to take the child out of the tub and flip it over rather than to wait for the water to drain out. If you’re attempting to rinse off your baby, it’s annoying.

On my particular version of the product, there’s a black strip on the other side of the plug which would allow you to see what the temp is. It’s got a sun, a ladybug, and a snowflake for telling what the water temperature is.

Unfortunately on mine it doesn’t do very much and with water near scalding I barely see the sun lit up.

If you’ve got an odd-shaped tub, getting water to the mini tub can be a pain. It’s a bit too large for kitchen sinks and doesn’t provide an easy way to sanitarily drain the water into anything other than a tub.

I’m not too terribly impressed with the newborn level of the thing, but we’ll see how it translates to toddler age soon enough.

The First Years Infant to Toddler Tub is available from Amazon for $28.69