Skip Hop Moby Bath Essentials Review: Months of Real Daily Use

I have given our baby a bath almost every single night since she was about three weeks old. That is a lot of baths. And for most of those nights, the Skip Hop Moby Bath Essentials set has been sitting right there on the edge of the tub, doing the job without me thinking much about it. That is actually the highest compliment I can give baby gear: I stopped noticing it. It just worked.

Before I get into the details, here is the short version. The Skip Hop Moby Bath Essentials set includes a whale-shaped bath tub, a whale-shaped rinse cup, and a whale-shaped bath toy. We have used all three nearly every day for months. The tub is sturdy, the rinse cup is genuinely useful, and the toy is the one thing our baby will actually sit still for. It is not perfect, and I will tell you exactly where it falls short.

How I've Used It

Our baby is eight months old now, and she has been in this tub since she was a newborn. For the first few weeks, we used it in the kitchen sink area, because the tub is compact enough to sit on a counter. Once she got bigger and steadier, we moved it into the big family tub upstairs. That flexibility is the main reason we picked this set over a basic baby bath tub.

Our routine looks like this: I fill the tub with about two inches of warm water, test it with my wrist, and set the whale toy floating in the water. Our baby reaches for the toy immediately, which gives me a few minutes to actually wash her instead of wrestling her. I use the rinse cup to pour warm water over her hair and body, then lift her out and wrap her in a hooded towel. The whole thing takes about twelve minutes now. In the early weeks, it took closer to twenty-five.

I want to be clear about one thing: no baby bath product replaces an adult's eyes and hands. I never leave our baby alone in the tub, even for a second. The Skip Hop Moby tub has a sling for newborns, and we used it until she could sit up on her own. After that, we removed the sling and let her sit directly in the tub. The tub has a non-slip surface on the bottom, which I appreciate more now that she is wiggly.

The setup has changed as she has grown, and that is part of why the set has lasted. In the newborn weeks the sling did most of the work, and I could keep one hand under her head and the other free for the washcloth. Around four months she started kicking hard enough to splash the whole counter, so we moved the tub into the big bathtub and I started kneeling on a folded towel beside it. That move made bath time calmer for both of us, because there was nothing for her to knock off a counter and nowhere for the water to go but back into the tub.

Our son Eli, who is five, likes to help, and the Skip Hop Moby set makes that easy to allow without giving up control. His job is the rinse cup. I fill it, hand it to him, and he pours it slowly over her back while I hold her. He takes the job very seriously. It turned bath night from something I rushed through into something the whole family looks forward to, and Mike usually joins us for the last few minutes with a towel warmed on the radiator.

What Comes in the Set

The Skip Hop Moby Bath Essentials set comes with three pieces. The first is the whale-shaped tub itself. It is made of a thick, sturdy plastic that has held up to months of daily use, including being dragged across a counter and dropped once or twice. The second piece is a whale-shaped rinse cup with a handle. The third is a small whale toy that floats in the water.

The tub has a few design details worth mentioning. There is a built-in sling for newborns, which keeps a tiny baby in a safe, reclined position. There is a non-slip surface on the bottom, so a sitting baby does not slide around. There is also a drain plug at the bottom, which sounds like a small thing but makes emptying the tub much easier. You just pull the plug and let the water drain into the big tub or sink.

The rinse cup is the piece I did not expect to love. It has a handle that fits an adult hand comfortably, and the spout is shaped so the water pours in a gentle stream rather than a splash. Our baby does not love having water poured over her head, but the gentle stream from this cup makes it much more tolerable for both of us. I have used other cups that just dump water, and they made bath time a fight.

The fact that all three pieces match matters more than I thought it would. Everything lives in one spot, hung on a single suction hook above the tub, and nothing has gone missing in months. With our first baby we had a random cup from the kitchen, a mismatched toy from a baby shower, and a tub that lived in the garage. Bath time always started with a five minute hunt. Now I reach up, grab the set, and the water is running before she has finished fussing about her diaper coming off.

How It Holds Up Over Time

After months of daily use, I can report that the Skip Hop Moby Bath Essentials set has held up very well. The plastic has not cracked, warped, or developed any rough edges. The colors have not faded, even though the tub sits in a sunny bathroom for most of the day. The drain plug still fits snugly and does not leak. The whale toy still floats and has not developed any holes or mold.

The one thing I have to mention is cleaning. The tub is easy to rinse out, but the whale toy needs attention. It has a small hole in the bottom, which is how it fills with water and sinks slowly, like a real whale. That is a cute feature, but it means water gets inside the toy. I squeeze it out after every bath and let it air dry on the edge of the tub. If you do not do that, you will eventually get that musty smell that comes from water sitting inside a toy. I have not had that problem, but only because I am diligent about it.

The tub itself is also easy to clean. I rinse it with warm water after every bath and give it a deeper clean with a mild soap once a week. The non-slip surface has not worn down or gotten grimy, which I was worried about. I have seen other bath tubs where the non-slip texture starts peeling after a few months. That has not happened here.

Here is my exact weekly routine, since cleaning is the part most reviews skip. Every Sunday night after her bath, I squeeze the whale toy until it stops dripping, then stand it upside down on the windowsill to dry overnight. Once a month I soak the toy and the rinse cup in a sink of warm water with a splash of white vinegar for about twenty minutes, then rinse them well and air dry them. The tub gets a wipe with a soft cloth and mild dish soap. That small routine has kept everything looking close to new after eight months of nightly use.

I also want to mention storage, because our house is not huge. The tub is light enough that I can lift it out of the big bathtub with one hand when Mike wants a shower, and it hangs flat on the back of the bathroom door. We have a yellow Lab named Biscuit who investigates everything new in the house, and the tub hanging off the floor means it never becomes his water bowl or his chew toy. Small detail, but it is the kind of thing that decides whether gear stays in use or ends up in a closet.

The highest compliment I can give baby gear is that I stopped noticing it. The Skip Hop Moby set just worked, night after night, for months.

What I Like and What I Don't

Who This Is For

The Skip Hop Moby Bath Essentials set is for parents who want a bath tub that does more than hold water. If you are a first-time parent and you are nervous about bath time, the newborn sling and the non-slip bottom give you one less thing to worry about. If you are a second-time parent like me, you will appreciate the rinse cup and the toy, because you know that a distracted baby is a cooperative baby.

It is also for parents with limited space. The tub is compact enough to sit on a counter or in a small bathroom, and it is easy to store on a hook or a shelf between baths. If you are planning to use it in the kitchen sink for the first few months, this is a good option.

It is also a good fit for parents who want bath time to feel less stressful. I remember how tense I felt bathing our first baby, holding my breath the whole time. With the Skip Hop Moby set, the reclined sling and the textured surface give you a little more support, so your attention can go where it belongs, on your baby. It does not do the job for you, and nothing should, but it makes the job easier to do well.

Who Should Skip It

If you already have a baby bath tub that works for you, you do not need this set. The rinse cup and toy are nice, but they are not worth buying a whole new tub for. If you are on a tight budget, a basic baby bath tub will do the job. The Skip Hop Moby set is a step up in design and convenience, but it is not a necessity.

If you have a toddler, this is not the tub for you. It is designed for babies who cannot sit up on their own yet, or who are just learning to sit. Once your baby is pulling up and trying to stand, you will want a bigger tub or a bath seat. We are already starting to think about what comes next for our baby, and I do not expect this tub to last past her first birthday.

And if you are tight on budget, you can absolutely get by with a basic plastic tub and a cup from your kitchen. That is how plenty of families manage, and their babies get clean just fine. What the Skip Hop Moby set adds is comfort and a bit of order: a gentler rinse, a toy that keeps a squirmy baby busy, and a tub shaped for the age it is meant for. For us that was worth it, but it is a nice to have, not a must have.

My final word after eight months is simple. This is the piece of baby gear I would buy again without thinking twice. It has handled newborn baths, the splashy months, and now a baby who wants to grab the rinse cup herself. Before every bath I still check the water with my wrist, keep one hand on her the whole time, and read the age guidance on the box, and I would encourage you to do the same. Used that way, the Skip Hop Moby set has made our nightly bath one of the best parts of the day.