Turn your bath tub into a baby bath with a BabyDam

Product name: BabyDam (http://www.babydam.com/)

What is it?This is a good idea that I want to promote although it did not work well for us in our current bath tub. It is a dam made of a blue rubber material that in theory ‘blocks off’ part of your large ordinary bath tub to become a baby bath – saving water and making it quicker to fill up the bath for your little one

Why did it catch my attention?Having spent time with an impatient baby waiting for the bath to get ready and having struggled to make a baby bath work well in a relatively small bath room, I saw the BabyDam at a competing baby gadget blog and thought it might be the answer to our challenge

How old was my baby when I bought it?A little bit more than 7 months, but this product is relevant from when you start bathing your little one for real (we started at approximately 2 weeks, but I would have waited until he was stable enough to sit on a bath support rather than a ‘floating cushion’ that we used until he was ~4 kilos heavy before I tried the BabyDam in our tub)

What value does it add for us?If it worked it would have saved water and waiting time

What does it replace?Using the whole big bath tub or one of the various baby baths on the market

How did my baby respond to it?He thinks it is a toy and turns around to try to chew it!

How much does it cost?£27,50 with free shipping in mainland UK

Can I see any drawbacks?For us it did not work as the water leaked through the dam – but I am hoping that it was because of our bath tub and not the BabyDam itself. The intense blue colour turned out to be distracting for my son, who turned around and got more difficult to clean than before we got the BabyDam

Dinos for the bath

Product name: Cuckoo Bath Squirters Dinos (Bath Squirters - Dinos In Bag)

What is it?Bright-coloured bath squirters shaped as dinosaurs

Why did it catch my attention?I needed something to make bath time more interesting for a very small and somewhat reluctant little boy

How old was my baby when I bought it?5 weeks

What value does it add for us?Together with the Spöket Laban squirters and the Rub a Dub mirror, they keep my baby entertained and happily kicking when in the bath. Now when he is teething he also likes chewing them to ease the pain of his itching gums. They come in a nice solid plastic bag that makes them handy to bring along when travelling

What does it replace?They complement other bath toys and to some extent replace other teething toys, such as Sophie the Giraffe

How did my baby respond to it?At first, the yellow dino was his favorite one to stare at – during the period of his life when he only was able to see strong contrasts (black-white, yellow-brown). He then went on to punching them around in the bath and at last started grabbing and chewing them around 5 months of age

How much does it cost?£7,50 at Amazon UK

Can I see any drawbacks?Not that I can think of

There are bubbles in the air, in the air...

Product name: Gymboree Bubble Ooodles (http://www.inspiremetoys.co.uk/)

What is it?What is special with these bubble oodles is the ‘multi-pipe’ wand that allows you to blow loads of bubbles at a time. The producer also claims that there is something very secretive with the formula – and it is true that these bubbles tend to stay for longer in the air and leave less traces when they dissolve than home-made formula made up of water and washing liquid. Because it is used in music classes for very small children the formula is chemical free – e.g. not harmful on fragile baby skin or even in their months!

Why did it catch my attention?Like with all Gymboree toys, they are used in the Play&Music classes – the perfect display window for gullible parents! My son loved the ‘bubbles in the air’ exercise so much that I just had to bring them home

How old was my baby when I bought it?He was 4-5 months old, but loved bubbles from his debut at Gymboree at 11 weeks old

What value does it add for us?This is an additional game we can play, and I have in particular used it to cheer up the waiting time for the bath to get ready over the last few, frozen weeks when we have been struggling to get enough hot water here in London. We also blow bubbles in the bath, which he loves!

What does it replace?Other games or toys that makes my son laugh

How did my baby respond to it?Laughing, kicking, intensely waiving his arms, gurgling very happily

How much does it cost?£7 at our local Gymboree branch

Can I see any drawbacks?The solution tray gets sticky of you forget to wash it after use. In true colour-printer-business-model style you can buy refills for the soap – but only at Gymboree!

Take a bath with Laban the Ghost

Product name: Lilla Spöket Laban badleksak (www.dunderbutiken.se/art/laban-badleksak.php)

What is it?A floating bath toy with popular Swedish fairy-tale character Laban the Ghost

Why did it catch my attention?This was a present from my mother to her grandchild, knowing how much he loved the Spöket Laban outfit he bought when on holiday at her place

How old was my baby when I bought it?He was 5,5 months

What value does it add for us?They are fun to play with in the bath, obviously more interesting than the colorful dinosaurs he had before, maybe because they have big black-and-white faces on them. Because of the little hole underneath you can also use them to squirt water to make bath time more fun. They are light and therefore easy to bring along in the luggage when travelling

What does it replace?Any other bath toys such as ducks, boats and squirting octopuses

How did my baby respond to it?Grabbed them and started chewing them

How much does it cost?SEK 29 at Dunderbutiken

Can I see any drawbacks?Not that I can think of

What do babies wear when baby swimming?

Product name: Huggies Little Swimmers Disposable Swimpants (Huggies Little Swimmers) and Splash About Swim Shorts (http://www.splashabout.net/)

What is it?The answer to a question asked by one of my fellow new mums here in West London today: when attending our baby swimming course the little ones are required to use double layers so I dress my son up in a combination of Huggies Little Swimmers with a Splash About Swim Short on top

Why did it catch my attention?My more experienced friend who for the moment is following her third baby swimming course advised me to buy these outfits

How old was my baby when I bought it?He was allowed to start baby swimming at the age of 10 weeks, when most babies’ necks are strong enough for the underwater exercises. They come in sizes from newborn to toddler

What value does it add for us?The important point is that in order to avoid any leakage, the pool requires babies to wear double layers while in the pool. It is very important that the innermost layer is a swimming nappy and not a regular nappy as it will expand in water, which can cause drowning accidents as this will cause the baby to float bottom-up – same effect as when a dry-suit diver gets air bubbles in the feet of the suit

What does it replace?My son also has an integrated, reusable swimnappy from Swimpy (www.hikmet.se/Product.aspx?pk_prodid=11506) and a Surfit Kids wetsuit with UV protection (www.jakabel.com) but they are not allowed in our baby swimming pool. The wetsuit was phenomenal when we went to Spain and had a swim with him in a pool where the water was around 25 degrees, as opposite to the 34 degrees of the baby swimming pool

How did my baby respond to it?He prefers the other 2 as they are more comfortable than the Splash About

How much does it cost?Little Swimmers are around £5 for 10 in any supermarket or drugstore and I paid around £12 for the Splash About in a local baby boutique close to where we Iive

Can I see any drawbacks?For my chubby little baby the close-fitting Splash About are very squeezy around his waist, which does not seem very comfortable  

Sticky mirror that makes bath time much more fun!

Product name: Rub A Dub Mirror for the Tub (www.cuckoo.ltd.uk)

What is it?A floating mirror that sticks to the tub side when wet

Why did it catch my attention?I found this one at Harrods, as I was walking around looking for items that could make bath time more interesting for my baby

How old was my baby when I bought it?He was 3,5 months, but seen in retrospect I should have bought it as soon as he was old enough to keep his head up properly in the bath (around 5 weeks)

What value does it add for us?My son enjoys looking at himself in the mirror while taking a bath, which keeps him calm so that his mother more easily can clean him

What does it replace?It can be seen as either a substitute or complement to other bath toys, such as ducks and floating books, but this one has a calming rather than an exciting effect

How did my baby respond to it?He loves it!

How much does it cost?£7 at Amazon UK, a little bit more expensive at Harrods

Can I see any drawbacks?Unless you move the mirror to the opposite side of the tub halfway through the bath you only get to wash one side of the baby – at least if he/she is as found of it as my son is! J

Reasonable and lightweight bath support suitable from birth to 6 months

*WRITTEN BY GUEST AUTHOR WITH 2 CHILDREN FROM WEST LONDON*

Product name: John Lewis Bath Support, product code 3133129 (www.johnlewis.com)

What is it?It is a wire bath frame with a terry toweling cloth cover. The cloth cover is removable and washable, also dries very easily after a bath

Why did it catch my attention?It was very reasonable (£9), lightweight and easy to take on holidays (which was important as we travelled a lot when my daughter was born)

How old was my baby when I bought it?I bought this before my daughter was born as it was recommended by a friend, and it was by far the most used “gadget”, and lived to be used daily for baby number 2 as well!

What value does it add for us?It has been used since birth. As it is cloth, the baby doesn’t slip/slide around while in the bath. It also could be used in the kitchen sink when baby was really small

What does it replace?Enormous plastic baby baths that take up a lot of space and only get used for a short period of time. With this, you don’t have to support your baby ALL the time (you still have your hand on them all the time, but aren’t trying to wash and hold at the same time)!

How did my baby respond to it?Very happy in it from birth until they are trying to sit up (so between 5 – 6 months)

How much does it cost?It was £8 when I bought it 3 years ago, and has now gone up to £9!

Can I see any drawbacks?
Apart from having somewhere to hang it after a bath, none! So long as you wring the cloth out after each bath, and wash it monthly or so, it seems to last!

The floating bath and room thermometer that looks like a toy

Product name: Philips Avent Baby Bath and Room Thermometer (Philips Avent Baby Bath and Room Thermometer Sch550/20)

What is it?A flower-shaped digital thermometer coated with rubber that floats when you put it in water

Why did it catch my attention?This was something that my husband thought sounded like a clever idea and invested in during the days before our baby’s birth

How old was my baby when I bought it?We bought it before he was born, but this thermometer is suitable from birth

What value does it add for us?This is a non-fragile all-in-one thermometer that is easy to bring along anywhere. We use it both as a bath and room thermometer (to ensure we keep within the 18-20 degrees recommended in the room a baby is sleeping according to the SIDS guidelines) and found it very handy to bring along when we recently went to Spain with our son. While on holiday, it was useful both to check if the air condition worked properly (it did not, and by making a picture of the thermometer showing 27 degrees in our room we had evidence when complaining to the hotel) and to check the pool temperature to decide what swimming suit to use for the baby

What does it replace?There are many different bath and room thermometers on the market, but this is the only combined one I have seen

How did my baby respond to it?He thinks it is a toy and likes playing with it in the bath! J

How much does it cost?£15 on Amazon UK if bought standalone. Boots sells this product in a bundle together with a fever thermometer from Philips Avent

Can I see any drawbacks?None that we have discovered so far