Skip Hop Moby Smart Sling 3-Stage Tub Review: One Tub From Newborn To Sitting, If You Have The Bathroom For It

Grey Skip Hop Moby Smart Sling 3-Stage Tub with the mesh sling clipped in the upper newborn position

Product image supplied by the brand

In this guide

THE SHORT VERSION

The Moby is Skip Hop's whale-shaped infant tub, and the Smart Sling version is the one the brand sells as a three-stage product. A mesh sling clips into the tub at two heights: high, so a newborn lies supported from head to toe, and low, so a baby learning to sit is held under the knees. When the child can sit unassisted the sling comes out and what remains is a plastic basin with a drain plug and a non-slip floor. Skip Hop lists it at $40 in grey, white, blue and sage.

The pitch is that one $40 object covers the whole first year of baths, and on paper it does: 0 to 3 months and 15 lb in the upper sling, 3 to 6 months and 20 lb in the lower sling, and 6 months onward to 25 lb with no sling at all. What the pitch leaves out is the size of the thing. At 27.5 inches long it is built to sit inside an adult bathtub, and Skip Hop's warnings rule out the sink. Whether that suits your bathroom is most of the decision.

Our verdict

A sensible $40 tub for families who bathe the baby in the adult bathtub and can hang a 27.5-inch whale to dry; the three-stage pitch is real, but stage three is just a plastic basin.

A good fit for: Parents with a standard bathtub and a towel bar or shower head to hang the tub from, who want a single purchase that covers the sling months and the sitting months.
We would skip it if: You bathe the baby in a kitchen sink, live in a bathroom without a full tub, or expect the newborn sling to be the part you keep using past six months.

Reasons to consider it

Mesh sling locks into a high newborn position and a low seated position, then removes for sitters
Rated to 25 lb across three stages, with a drain plug, non-slip floor and a swivel hook for drying
Sling is machine washable on a cold gentle cycle, and a replacement sling is listed at $9

The compromises

At 27.5 by 19 inches it only belongs inside an empty adult tub; the instructions say never in a sink
Stage three is the bare basin, so the second half of year one is a plain plastic tub
The rating on the listing sits at 3.6 from 253 reviews, lower than most of its bath accessories

What we have not verified: No tub was filled or used for this review; whether the sling holds a wriggling newborn, how fast the mesh dries in a humid bathroom, and whether the clips loosen over months of use were not assessed. The tub's plastic type and its weight are not listed.

The things in this guide

A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.

For a standard bathtub and a first year of baths

Moby Smart Sling 3-Stage Tub, Grey

Two sling heights and a sling-free third stage cover newborn to sitter in one $40 tub, with a drain plug, non-slip floor and a hook so it can hang between uses.

Before you buy: It is 27.5 inches long, meant only for an empty adult tub, and the removable sling that makes it clever is also the part that stops mattering after six months.

$40 at Skip Hop

Price checked September 11, 2026. Retailer prices can change.

What the three stages actually are

Stage one is the sling clipped high. The top clips hook over the lip of the tub in notches, the bottom clips go into the upper slots, and a newborn up to 3 months and 15 lb lies on the mesh with the whole body supported. Stage two rolls the bottom of the sling one full turn, threads the bottom clips through loops and drops them into the lower slots, which turns the flat hammock into a cushioned seat that holds a 3 to 6 month old under the knees while the trunk is still learning to stay upright. The weight ceiling for that stage is 20 lb.

Stage three is the tub with nothing in it. Once the child sits unassisted, usually from 6 months, the sling comes out and the basin takes the baby up to 25 lb. Skip Hop makes a point that the floor has no molded bumps, only a non-slip texture, so an older baby is not sitting on a plastic ridge. The point to understand is that the clever part of the product is done by the half-year mark; after that you own a shapely basin with a drain plug, and the $40 has to feel worth it on that basis alone.

27.5 inches long, and the sink is off limits

The listed size is 27.5 inches long, 19 wide and 11.5 high, which is a full infant tub, not a sink insert. The instruction sheet is explicit about placement: always use it inside a larger, empty adult bathtub or on a flat and stable surface, never in a sink, and keep the adult tub's drain open while the baby is in it. The tail of the whale carries a swivel hook that turns to catch a shower head, curtain rod or towel bar, and that hook is how the tub is meant to spend its time between baths.

Those two facts decide the fit. A household with a standard bathtub and a bar to hang from gets a tub that drains, dries and stays out of the way. A household bathing in a kitchen sink, or in a shower stall with no tub, has nowhere to put it during a bath and nowhere to hang it afterward. The sheet also gives a water temperature range of 90 to 100 °F, tells you to use as little water as possible, and warns never to lift or carry the tub with the baby in it; that last one matters because a 27.5-inch tub with a few inches of water is heavy and awkward.

Machine-washable mesh, a $9 spare sling, and a hook that does the drying

The sling is quick-drying mesh with a padded comfort edge, and care is simple: rinse tub and sling after each bath, machine wash the sling in cold water on the gentle cycle, no bleach, hang to dry, and keep it away from the iron and the dry cleaner. The tub itself gets a rinse and hangs from its hook. Nothing Skip Hop publishes says anything about the plastic beyond a non-slip interior texture, so the material, the weight of the tub and whether it tolerates hot water or a dishwasher are not documented.

Skip Hop sells the grey sling on its own, listed at $9 in the site's search results, which is worth knowing for two reasons. Mesh that lives wet in a bathroom can discolor or get mildew if it is not hung properly, and a second sling lets one dry while the other is in use. It also means a used tub from a friend can be brought back to stage one for the price of a new sling, which is a reasonable way to shave $31 off the purchase if the basin is sound.

Warranty of two years with an authorized-seller clause, and a 90-day return

Skip Hop backs its products with a defects warranty running two years, but the wording narrows it quickly. It applies only to items bought from Skip Hop or an authorized US seller, it is non-transferable, and it excludes wear, misuse, damage from care that departs from the instructions, storage in damp places, and products bought abroad. The maker calls out third-party marketplace sellers on Amazon as a common source of counterfeits that fall outside coverage. A claim opens by email or phone to Carter's consumer affairs with the where and when of the purchase; if approved, you send a photo with the approval number.

Returns are Carter's returns, since skiphop.com resolves to the carters.com storefront. Items brought back with a receipt before the 90-day mark are refunded in full the way you paid; using the prepaid label costs $6 out of the refund, sending it yourself is at your own expense, and a return to a company-owned Carter's or OshKosh store is free. Standard shipping is quoted at 6 to 8 business days and is free once an order reaches $50, so the $40 tub on its own does not qualify; expedited is $18 and overnight $28, both continental US only. Skip Hop items do not ship to APO or FPO addresses.

Skip it if the sink is your bathtub

The Moby only makes sense where an adult bathtub exists to put it in. The instructions forbid the sink, the tub is 27.5 inches long, and the whole storage plan rests on hanging it from a bar or shower head. A small bathroom with a shower stall, an apartment where the baby bathes in the kitchen, or a family that travels between two homes gets more from a foldable tub or a sink bather, and Skip Hop sells a sink bather of its own for $35.

Also pass if what you want is a long-lived newborn cradle. The sling is the argument for this tub over a plain basin, and the sling is retired at roughly six months. What you are left with is a well-shaped plastic tub with a hook, which is fine, but it is fine in the way a $20 basin is fine. The 3.6 rating from 253 reviewers on the maker's listing is not damning, but it is lower than the $10 to $14 Moby accessories around it, and that gap is a reason to read the critical reviews before deciding.

How we put this together

Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.

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