The 5 Best Baby Bathtubs, Tested by Infants and Toddlers

If you’re expecting your first child, it’s hard to know what’s going to be best for your daily routine. Even if you figure it all out ahead of time, baby might come along and flip all your expectations upside down. That’s why we love simple but versatile baby gear that gives you multiple options for use without making life more complicated. The Boon SOAK 3 Stage Baby Bathtub, our Best of The Bump winner for overall best baby bathtub, is a standalone model that can sit within an adult tub or on the floor, but is also compact enough to fit in most double sinks. (See all of this year’s Best of The Bump winners.)

Personally, I much prefer bathing my baby in the sink because standing is so much easier on my back. But Daniel Carroll, associate director of e-commerce content for The Bump and dad of one, tells us, “Our daughter was a splasher. Cleanup was so much easier if we put her baby bathtub in the adult tub and just let water get everywhere. And if I’m being honest, our kitchen sink is always a mess anyway.” Whatever your own bathing preferences turn out to be, the Boon SOAK is a do-it-all option. At 2.4 pounds it’s also fairly lightweight, so lifting this one (wherever you place it) won’t strain your tired arms and back.

I tested this tub with my 7-month-old and thought it was incredibly easy to use. The tub features a contoured back wall with non-slip foam to hold baby in place, which I found both cushy and effective. The adjustable rigid bump is structured yet comfortable and keeps baby in place so your little one doesn’t slide around—the SOAK held my son securely in place the entire time. As baby grows, you can turn the bump around to create more space.

The three-stage design is built to accommodate toddlers up to 18 months old, although my 7-month-old son is already on the third stage, and I estimate it’ll last until he’s about 12 months. (Of course, every child is different—mine is around the 50th percentile.) Still, many parents begin transitioning their toddlers into the big tub when they’re around one anyway, and you’ll get good use out of the tub for that first year.

There are some nice features on this baby tub to help make bath time all the easier. The max water level is marked on the tub, which is helpful, and it drains easily—either by pulling the plug or just turning it upside down—then cleans with a soft cloth, warm water and mild soap. There weren't any hard-to-reach areas, since you can remove the adjustable rigid bump easily. The plug even changes color to let you know when the water is too hot. My one complaint about the SOAK is the lack of non-slip grips underneath the bottom of the tub. It’s not a big concern for sink use, but if you choose to use it in your bathtub or on your shower floor, be sure to do so on top of a non-slip suction mat.

All in all, the SOAK is a compact, lightweight tub that’s still packed with features—and comes at a price lower than most we tested. If you’re looking for an affordable, versatile, easy to use and aesthetically pleasing bathtub to use in the first year, this one is a winner.

Type: Convertible tub | Age rating: 0 to 18 months | Dimensions: 25.4" (L) x 15.7" (W) x 8.8" (H) | Weight: 2.4 lbs.

Over and over in our research, The Bump editors found that parents often complain about newborn babies slipping down in their infant tubs—after all, they don’t have the strength to hold themselves up yet. But the Fisher-Price 4-in-1 Sling ‘n Seat, our Best of The Bump winner for best newborn bathtub, features a mesh sling and comfy pillow that worked “perfectly” for our product tester Presley and her 7-week-old. “We were able to have him in almost the same position the whole bath instead of having to scoot him up each minute as he slipped,” she tells us. And if the occasional slip does happen, “he could slip and still not be head underwater since he more or less hovered on top of it.”

Newborn slings aren’t uncommon in baby bathtubs, but we can tell you that this one works—Presley described the cushion, which sits under the sling and below baby’s head to provide support, as a “game changer.” And she wasn’t the only parent we spoke to who loved the Sling ‘n Seat: It was the most popular infant bathtub in our survey, with a full 20 percent of respondents flagging it as their favorite tub. And praise for the newborn sling came up over and over again. As one mom told us, “The sling makes bathing easy.” The sling is also machine-washable, so you can toss it in with baby’s laundry after bath time is done. It holds babies up to 15 pounds, so Presley’s baby, who weighed 14 pounds, was on the higher end. “I was worried it wouldn’t be able to hold him high enough,” she tells us, “but it did great!”

Newborn bathing isn’t the only thing the Sling ‘n Seat does well. It goes through four stages—you start with the newborn sling, then remove it and use a reclined position for babies 3 to 6 months old. Once baby is old enough to sit upright, you put them in the Sit-Me-Up insert, a contoured chair piece that prevents slipping and helps support unsteady sitters. (Although it’s worth noting that some parents in our research found the Sit-Me-Up insert was a bit tricky to detach from the tub, which you need to do to access the drain hole.) In the fourth and final stage you remove the insert and simply sit baby in the tub, which at 4 liters is spacious enough for bathtime play, but still stores well—it has a hanger to go on a towel rack and is lightweight, but Presley was able to fit it in her bathroom linen closet.

As if that wasn't enough, the Sling 'n Seat also comes with two bath toys! More of a nice-to-have, of course, but still appreciated, and Presley says they were "fun to play with." But in the end, as Presley says, the important thing was that "my baby was comfy and safe and that made bath time so much more fun."

Type: Convertible tub | Age rating: 0 to 18 months | Dimensions: ‎31.4" (L) x 18.1" (W) x 9" (H) | Weight: 2.2 lbs.

Our community says:

A lot of baby bathtubs claim to grow with your child into toddlerhood. But as we discovered in testing, realistically kids seem to outgrow them around the one-year-old mark. The Contours Oasis makes some particularly big promises—they say it's good from the newborn stage all the way up to 2 years old. We had to find out how well it worked for ourselves, and sent it out for testing with two children of different ages: I used it with my 7-month-old infant, while our second product tester Brittany tried it out with her 19-month-old toddler. And we're pleased to report it worked well across both ages, earning it a Best of The Bump award for best baby to toddler bathtub.

The Oasis goes through four modes for different ages. At 0 to 3 months, a seat insert with a cushioned pad holds baby in a supportive and reclined position. The seat moves up to a slightly steeper recline for 3 to 6 months, then comes out for 6 to 9 months, leaving just the cushioned pad in the floor of the tub for comfort. I liked that the surface of the tub felt smooth and comfortable for my baby. At 9 months and onward, the cushioned pad comes out as well, leaving a spacious basin tub with a slightly wider side for toddlers to splash in as they grow. “It had the perfect amount of room for [my daughter’s] legs to fit comfortably, without being so large that she could wiggle around,” Brittany says. “I was able to bathe her just as easily as within a normal sized tub, but it definitely helped me feel less anxious than if she were in the full-sized (slippery) tub.”

This high-quality bathtub feels robust and features slip-resistant feet on the bottom, preventing it from sliding around the floor of the grownup tub when baby moves and splashes about—definitely something you want to think about as baby grows and develops more strength. It also boasts an innovative double drain plug that cycles in fresh water to keep baby warm, although I found that it was a bit difficult to operate: It took a few attempts and some real muscle to get it properly plugged up. But the tub is easy to clean: You can remove the comfort pad to hang it up to dry using the hanging loop, or toss the pad in the washing machine and dryer.

If you’re looking for a bathtub that adapts well to your growing child, the Contours Oasis 4-in-1 Comfort Cushion Bathtub is built for bath time well beyond the baby days. “It’s a great size for my daughter (at 19 months) and there is still room for her to grow,” Brittany enthuses.

Type: Convertible tub | Age rating: 0 to 24 months | Dimensions: 29” (L) x 16.5” (W) x 9.5” (H) | Weight: 3.5 lbs.

As a parent, there’s constantly something that needs cleaning—baby’s bottles, bibs, onesies, the list goes on—so it should come as no surprise that 51% of parents in our survey flagged “easy to clean” as a vital quality to look for in a baby bathtub. Products that are hard to drain and have little nooks and crannies where water can pool draw mildew, and that’s no good for you or baby.

The wildly popular Angelcare Baby Bath Support—chosen as favorite by 16 percent of our survey respondents—is a little different from other products on our list in that it’s not a traditional tub. It’s a reclining support for babies that sits in a sink or adult bathtub, and works similarly to the newborn slings and seats in convertible tubs by holding baby's lower body in the water while their head and chest are well above the water line. As a single piece of plastic with a perforated surface to let water through, there’s no need to drain anything and it couldn’t be easier to clean. As our tester Shawna says, “After the bath, all I did was rinse it off and leave it to hang dry.” That’s the kind of effort-saving performance that earns a product a Best of The Bump award for best easy-to-clean baby bath product!

The Angelcare is only intended for use up to 6 months old, so if you want to keep using a baby bathtub after your little one is able to sit up unassisted, you’ll need to purchase an additional tub. But if your child is the right age for it, Shawna reports that “washing my 4-month-old in this was very easy.” She praises the grips on the bottom of the tub to keep it from slipping around, and adds, “This curvature of the baby bath works great. It keeps him comfortable and in an upright sitting position during his bath.” And at only $20, the price can’t be beaten. “I definitely feel like this was a steal,” says Shawna.

Type: Bath support | Age rating: 0 to 6 months | Dimensions: 22" (L) x 10.5" (W) x 8.75" (H) | Weight: 0.9 lbs.

Our community says:

For all the benefits that infant tubs offer, one of the major pain points we came across in our research is the issue of storage: Sometimes parents don’t know where to put these things when they’re not in use! In fact, 35 percent of parents in our survey wanted a tub that was easy to store. Some options come with hanging hooks, but they still take up precious real estate for parents who are low on space. If you don’t want your house overrun by baby gear, the Stokke Flexi Bath has a unique space-saving design—when you’re done using it, it folds up flat and tucks away nicely for storage.

This is such a special design that we decided to really put it through its paces and sent it on a trip to Europe with our product tester Janelle, who was on vacation with her 8-month-old daughter. She reports that it was “really easy to set up! I just popped it open and filled it using the flexible arm of the shower.” The fold is simple, done in one quick motion and doesn’t come at the cost of the tub’s integrity—Janelle says there were no leaks while she used it.

Now before you start buying a plane ticket, Janelle didn’t think it was the best choice for travel. It’s a large tub, which in some ways was great—“I was surprised at how much space [my daughter] had in this tub,” she tells us. “There was plenty of room to splash and play, but not so much that she was slipping and sliding around.” But the tradeoff is that even when collapsed, she had a tough time fitting it in her suitcase—it’s flat when folded, but still 25 inches long. This makes the folding design better-suited to storage in cramped living spaces (under beds or in closets) than to fitting in luggage. Although it made the trip with her to Switzerland, Janelle says, “I probably wouldn't repurchase this bath for travel, but I think it would be a great value for those living in small apartments.”

The Flexi Bath drains easily with a removable plug, or you can just turn it upside down to empty, as Janelle did. “The tub was dry by morning when we had to pack it up again,” she says. There’s an infant insert for younger babies, a color-changing plug to gauge water temperature,a non-slip base and a design that’s built for use up to the age of four. “All in all it was a positive, low-stress bathing experience, and I’m glad this tub is roomy enough to grow with her.”

Type: Basin tub | Age rating: 0 to 48 months | Dimensions: 25.2" (L) x 13.4" (W) x 9.4" (H) | Weight: 3.7 lbs.

Our community says: