Tuesday, December 15, 2009

The Puj Tub: simple and convenient


I wanted a Puj Tub when Ivey was smaller but we never got one, so I was excited when I got an email saying I'd been chosen as a product tester and would be getting one to try out!

There are only so many ways you can bathe a little baby, and they are nearly all aggravating. The first thing we tried (with Suzi) was a big oval tub, which was extremely heavy when full, nearly impossible to drain, and took up a bunch of space.

We also have a deep, round tub like this, and it's nice, but still heavy when full of water. It's a bit of a pain to clean and, like the oval tub before it, is cluttering up our bathroom. We have hardly any storage space. Consignment sale, here it comes.


Our old standby is this mesh "bath sling" in our kitchen sink. It works okay, but Ivey slips and slides around on it. I also have to leave it out to dry for a couple of hours after a bath before I can put it back in the closet.


For all these reasons, I eagerly awaited the arrival of our Puj Tub. When I came home to find it on our doorstep a few days ago, I quickly unwrapped it and put it in the sink--and that brings me to the main issue we had with it. I thought we had standard sinks. They have always worked fine for us, so I never gave it a second thought, but apparently they are much larger and shallower than most. All three of our bathroom sinks are similar in size, and here is the fit:


I still bathed Ivey in it (with the tub leaned back) and it did work, but it wasn't ideal. It worked better with a folded hand towel placed under the foot of the tub. To be sure it was just our sink, I took the tub over to my parents' house and tried out theirs. Sure enough, it fit like a glove.




I gave Ivey a bath in it at my parents' house, and it went pretty well. Here are my favorite things about the Puj Tub:

1) Perfect for travel. We are visiting our in-laws over Christmas, and our Puj Tub will be going with us. It's so lightweight, easy to clean and dry, and hardly takes up any room in the car! Just throw it in on top of your luggage.
2) Snaps together with magnets. This is one of the first things I noticed. You don't have to line it up just right; it falls into place easily. You can set up the tub while holding baby in your other arm.
3) Doesn't take much water. Other tubs take a lot more water than this one. It gets the bath underway faster and saves a little water, too.
4) Baby doesn't slide. This was a problem with our bath sling, but the Puj Tub cradles Ivey perfectly.
5) No need to lift a heavy, water-filled tub. You just take baby out, then tilt the tub forward so the water runs out the hole. Then it's ready to unfold.
6) Doesn't get mildewy. I hate mildew! Because this tub hangs flat against a door or wall, water won't pool in it. It's also anti-fungal and anti-bacterial.
7) Soft for baby. The material is not only smooth, it also has a little squish. It cushions baby and retains warmth far better than any other bathing item we've tried.
8) One-handed cleanup. Don't you hate reaching down into cold, forgotten bath water to pull the plug? I do. Cleanup only takes a few seconds with the Puj Tub, and you can do it while holding your baby.
9) It's simple. A simple design is almost always the best way to go. With a simple product, there are fewer things that can go wrong! The Puj Tub is a simple (but great) idea.

There are also a couple of things I think could be improved upon:

1) I wish it fit our sinks. It'd be nice if there were a Puj 2 for bigger sinks or kitchen sinks. However, we can still use this one during travel and, as I said before, with a folded towel to improve the fit.
2) If it held just a bit more water, rinsing would be easier. I seriously doubt this would be an issue with a newborn, but Ivey is a chubby little 4-month-old and when I put her in the tub, a lot of the water came out :-)

Ivey loved the Puj Tub, though. I could tell she was comfortable in it. See?



I think this is a cool product and I would recommend it, but it'd be best to get it while you're still pregnant or right after your baby's birth so you'll have it for the brand-new baby days. Once Ivey can sit up for a bath, we'll be tucking our Puj Tub away for our next baby. I bet it'll make newborn bathing a ton easier!



Check out the Puj Tub for yourself at the new web site exclusively for baby bath tubs!


(And in case I didn't say this clearly, I was sent a free Puj Tub to review.)

1 comments:

Kristin said...

Wow! I've never heard of this, but it looks great. I ended up giving away our baby bathtub because it just took up space and never was much help.