This Baby Bath Tub Was One of My Favorite Baby Shower Gifts

I had a lot of anxiety when I was pregnant and down countless rabbit holes researching products for my baby registry. One such rabbit hole had to do with bathtime. Did I want a baby tub or a bath seat? How long did I want to be able to use it? Which was better: Hard plastic or soft fabric? How did I really know my baby would be safe?

I want to go back in time and give my pregnant self a hug, but I also want to give her a high-five for picking such a great bath seat. You never really know how something is going to work out until you try it, but the Angelcare Baby Bath Support — which is also a favorite of parents and Cubby editors — ended up being one of my favorite gifts I got at my shower.

These were my non-negotiables when I was looking for a bath seat.

• It has to actually be mold-resistant. Things like bath toys and bottles seem to grow mold so easily, which both frustrates me and freaks me out. There’s so much to worry about when you have a baby and I didn’t want to add a moldy bath support to the list.
• It has to be easy to clean. See above. I’d heard of some products that were mold-resistant as long as you did XYZ, and that just wasn’t going to cut it for me.
• It has to be easy to store. We didn’t have a ton of space to begin with, and once you added in all the baby gear, we had even less. Having a bath seat or tub take up the entirety of our bathroom cabinet simply wasn’t an option.
• It has to be extremely safe. As a young new mom, I felt incredibly paranoid about my daughter being at risk while in the bath. The products in this category obviously have to reach certain standards before going to market, but still! I wanted to look at it and automatically understand how it’d keep my baby safe.

• Name: Angelcare Baby Bath Support
• Price: $19.78

I used this bath seat with my daughter almost every day for six months straight, keeping an eagle eye on her (and it) at all times. We brought it with us to visit friends and family, and it made appearances in all of their tubs. This bath seat got about as much use as it could out of a single child, only stopping when she started trying to sit up as recommended by the company.

On paper, this bath seat checked all the boxes — and it checked them IRL, too. It might sound dramatic, but the Angelcare Bath Support actually made me feel more confident as a first-time mom. Plus, my daughter really loved it, which is what matters, right? Here’s why I recommend it to everyone I know:

• It has a handle to pick it up and a loop to hang it up. When bath time was over, I could pick it up by the handle (with one hand!) and hook it onto our shower shower caddy. It didn’t even lean much because the bath seat is so lightweight.
• It never got moldy. Given that mold was my biggest stressor, this fact alone earned it my stamp of approval. The holes helped the bath seat dry quicker, while the lack of any fabric discouraged mold growth.
• My daughter was actually comfortable — and she had fun. You can’t tell, but the seat is softer than typical plastic. From my daughter’s first bath, she was more than happy to just lounge. As she got older, she began to kick and splash in the bath seat, which was a delight for both of us.
• The seat contours: The seat has a little bit of flexibility, kind of like a rubber, which helped it contour to my daughter’s body as she grew. I felt like this “hugged” her into the bath seat and made her more secure without resorting to a fabric sling.
• The bottom is anti-slip:The bottom of the bath seat is made out of the same rubber-like material as the seat. This created some friction between the bottom and the actual tub, so it didn’t slip around.
• The design is very simple. I want to be someone who embraces bright colors and youthful characters, but I’m just not. The bath seat comes in three soft, low-sensory colors: gray, aqua, and pink. The rest is just plain old white — aka not at all an eyesore.

Ultimately, there’s only one thing I would change about this bath seat if I could. (And even then, I appreciate why it’s built the way it is.)

• It doesn’t collapse. Unlike the OXO Splash and Store baby bath tub, the Angelcare tub does not collapse. The hook is definitely useful, but if the bath seat could somehow become more compact, that would be a game-changer — especially for small bathrooms, where storage is scarce. Because it’s only intended for babies up to six months old or 20 pounds, I decided we could deal. The bulk feels like a fair tradeoff.

Buy it: Angelcare Baby Bath Support, $19.78 at Walmart