I am a little late responding to your posts, but I couldn't resist! The tummy tub was one of the very few things we actually bought for our girl (we managed to get by with a lot of hand me downs and avoided buying too much paraphernalia due to lack of space) and we are soooooo happy we did! She just loves it!

Both my husband and I were intrigued by the idea of bathing in a tub to simulate the sensations in the womb (all wrapped up in the fetal position and submerged in water) but we were slightly sceptical about it living up to the testimonials. However, when we found one on ebay for a more reasonable price than than a new one we decided to get it as we have a very small house and are trying (!) to keep the clutter down to a minimum. The tub has certainly lived up to expectations.

All I can say is that it was worth every penny. Although we didn't use it for the first few weeks of her life (babies just feel so fragile at the beginning, and we had baths with her on the days we decided to wash her), once we began to use it, at about 3 weeks, we were hooked.

She is now 3 1/2 months and although she is a big girl for her age (8kg?) she still fits in easily. I can imagine her fitting into it for a lot longer to, but I am not 100% sure of the recommended limit.

The main things I love are:
- it uses much less water than a regular bath, because of the size of the tub you only need a few inches to cover them once they are in great to reduce guilt in times of drought and much easier on your back if you need to carry it full of water
- when going away for the night, the bath can come with you easily to retain a sense of normality in routine
- she becomes really calmed as soon as she is in it which allows her to focus on other things really easily in her surroundings. We have had the most delightful times watching her watching us, chatting to us, cooing, open eyed and interested in everything for the entire bath time, and much more than at any other time of the day when she can so easily become over excited or easily distracted.
- I have found washing her is really easy as I don't need to focus so much on holding onto a slippery baby
- on many occasions, she has been in the bath, happily sitting there, chatting, playing and bathing for 45 min to 1 hour!!

+ she always seems to go down to bed really easily after the bath and I think this is due to the fantastic stimulation it has given her - one last feed then play before sleep.

so many of my friends have been convinced of the tummy tub after seeing my girl enjoying herself in it!

We also have the stand/step, mainly because it came as a set on our ebay purchase, but I don't necessarily think you need it... however, it is better for your back to bath the baby at chair height.

Hope this info comes in time to help you make a decision, without sounding too over the top!