Munchkin White Hot Inflatable Safety Duck Tub (guest review)

This marks the first time I’ve posted a guest review from someone who did NOT receive a product in exchange. I’ve known Susan since my early university years – we did the whole frosh week organization cult thing together.  (And may have enjoyed a beverage or two along the way. There may also have been dancing on speakers involved – that’s all I’m saying.)

Susan is a first-time mommy Down East, y’all! All of her Facebook pictures tell me that her daughter, Molly, might be the happiest baby on the block. After traipsing all over the place, she found her way back home to be with the love of her life. Awww…

Please note that even using a tub like this doesn’t mean you can let your guard down. Children can drown in as little as one inch of water – in seconds. Please be hyper-vigilant and never leave your baby unattended – not even to grab a wash cloth.

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Bathtime has been hot and cold at our house. As a newborn, our little babe despised getting bathed in the sink. So we used a Prince Lionheart WashPod starting when she was two weeks old, which we all adored; that is, until she was big enough to reach the edges and pull herself to a very shaky, slippery standing position. After almost five months of happy pod-time, she now wanted out and her dad and I wanted a solution that wouldn’t have us white-knuckled throughout the ordeal.

So I did what all good moms do – asked my trusted Mommy Gearest what tub she would suggest! She pointed me to the Munchkin White Hot Inflatable Safety Duck Tub.

THE GOOD

There’s a lot to like about this duck. I’ll start with the price: $20, including home delivery! Less than half of the cost of the seats, tubs and other options we were presented. I almost bought two, and I may yet get another.

Next, the safety. There’s a heat-sensitive dot in the bottom of the Munchkin Inflatable Safety Duck Tub to tell you when the water’s getting too hot to handle. So my meat thermometer can return to the kitchen, where it belongs.

I had been skeptical about the ridged bottom’s ability to keep Miss Molly from sliding flat onto her back, but after using it for a few months we have yet to have any slippage. Plus, the tub is just the right length, so if she does slide in the future, she’ll have to contort masterfully to get fully submerged.

The duck’s head cushions her nicely when she pitches forward, and his tail serves as a great pillow when she leans back. (And I use “his” when referring to the Munchkin duck because, like all plastic ducks in our house, he has three lovely, long, curly eyelashes on each violet eye, and we all know which gender gets unfairly bestowed with luscious lashes, don’t we?)

I blew the tub up manually in about four minutes, without bursting any blood vessels. It deflates almost as quickly.

The Munchkin Duck Tub is extremely light and fits easily in our existing tub. It also has a suction cup on it that allows us to hang it on the shower tiles to let it air dry.

It’s deep enough that Molly can be in water almost up to her armpits (for now), but we keep it filled around halfway. She seems to love bouncing her hands off the sides, moving her legs around and playing with the duck’s head. Bathtime is back to being fun again.

Oh, and it’s damn cute. I dare you to disagree with this picture:

THE GAFFE

The duck’s beak comes with a quacker device that lets out a pretty darn loud “QUACK! Quack-quack-quack-quack-quack” (count ’em, six quacks!) three times over when squeezed. Fortunately, Molly was neither freaked out nor overjoyed with this feature because it lasted all of three to four squeezes. Apparently, we’re not the only ones to experience beak failure. Given how great the tub is otherwise, I don’t see why it needs to include this feature. Heck, knock another $2 off the price and leave it out. I could just imagine having a kid who loved the noisy squawk being devastated once it wore out. [Editor’s note: we’ve owned two of these and both had “beak failure” over time, but never in as few as three or four squeezes. I’m certain we got at least eight to 10 months of noisy quacking from each. The real downside for us is that once beak failure ensues, there’s no way to change batteries and restore quacking. Our kids loved the quacking and used this as a toy long after we ceased using it as a tub.]

I’ve seen mentions of durability in other reviews. Ours has yet to get punctured, and we’ve had it on the cottage deck as well as in our clawfoot tub. It comes with a patch kit, but at this price, we’ve already gotten our money’s worth.

THE GEARS

4/5

So…where can you buy it?

• Babies ‘R Us
• Well.ca
• Amazon