When my daughter was born, we didn’t have a bath tub for her. I can’t even remember now if we’d registered for one, but we hadn’t received one as a gift and hadn’t purchased one. Honestly, I wasn’t too worried. Newborns do well with the occasional sponge bath, and after that a sink works quite well for a time. That, and baby baths are always available second hand at consignment and thrift stores.

After a week or two, though, I wanted a real baby bath tub, since our sink wasn’t well suited to the purpose. A quick browse of Craigslist led me to pick up a Primo EuroBath at a screaming deal. I went with it because the reviews on Amazon were fantastic and that it offered the ability to grow with baby. It has two sides, one a molded support like a cradle for young babies and the other a more open end for once baby sits unassisted. I liked that it allowed baby to really be in contact with the water, and that it didn’t have any mesh parts to worry about drying properly or growing mildew.

Let me tell you, those 5-star reviews aren’t lying. That tub was one of the best investments we ever made when it came to baby items. When she was teeny tiny, it supported her in a safe way that allowed me to have both hands free. At first, just because she was so light, I would first lay a towel in the cradle area to give it a little grip so that she wouldn’t slip. In a matter of weeks, that wasn’t necessary. I always felt safe with the way it positioned her and she must have as well, because she absolutely loved bath time. She would lie there and splash for just as long as we’d let her. The open end was a great place for us to entertain her with bath toys, and by having a self-contained tub, we saved having to fill the whole bath tub with a layer of water.

Once she was sitting fairly well on her own, we moved her to the more open end of the tub. If we thought she’d enjoyed splashing before, nothing compared to the new found freedom of the “deep end”! I enjoyed that I still wasn’t filling a full sized bath tub while still allowing her a full bath experience, and that it still kept her well supported without my assistance. She enjoyed all of the water and the fact that her toys were always close at hand, since they couldn’t float away! (Of course, we were always immediately next to her the entire time. Never leave a baby unattended in a bath or anywhere near water).

Draining is simple, thanks to the plug drain in the bottom. Cleaning was easy too. We just wiped it down after each use, tilted it on end inside the shower until it dried, and then moved it into our master bedroom closet. I should mention that this is billed as the largest baby bath tub on the market, and for good reason. It is, essentially, a miniature version of a full-size bath tub. For people with space/storage concerns, this may take the Primo out of the running for you, and something like the Puj, which hangs flat, may be a better fit. But if you have a spare bathroom where you could just leave it inside the big bath tub, this thing is awesome!

So, in short, I loved our baby bath tub. Yes, it’s big and harder to store. But the memories that I created with my daughter during the year that we used it are priceless, and I highly recommend it to everyone I know.

Kate Cunha is a Pacific NW mama who also happens to be a huge fan of a nice, deep bath.