A bathtub seat is becoming a more sought after item for bathroom safety these days.  With the population becoming older and wanting to keep their independence, an essential item to consider is bathroom safety in order to allow them to live safely on their own.

In order to find a good bathroom seat, you need to take a few things into consideration.  There are several different styles of bathtub seats to choose from.  Do you need a free standing or stand alone bathtub seat?  Should you buy a fold-down wall mounted bathtub seat?  What about a hanging bathtub seat?

There are many considerations to take into mind before choosing the best bathtub seat for yourself or a loved one.  You need to take into mind the mobility issue being addressed.  Can the person step into the tub by themselves?  Has the person had a stroke or faces paralysis issues?  What is the persons weight?

Each type of bathtub seat has been designed with specific mobility or health issues in mind.  Knowing what you are wanting to accomplish will increase your success in finding the best bathtub seat you can.

One of the more popular bathtub seats to own is the hanging or drop in style bathtub seat.  This seat comes in many styles, designs and manufacturing brands.  The seats are also variant to whether they sit down into the tub or lay across the upper rails of the tub.  In other words, the height that they have will vary depending upon the brand.

One key to these style seats is to consider the height and weight of the person that will be using it.  You want to make sure that the seat will hold them safely.  Another consideration is to make sure that the person can easily get down into or onto the seat.  You may need to add some bathtub grabrails for them as well if you don't have any.

These style seats generally are made of a metal subframe with either plastic or polymer coating on the outside.  They are pretty sturdy seats and frames and don't weigh a lot.  The downside to them is if your tub is not a standard size, either you will pay more for one to fit your tub or you will have to choose another bathtub seat option.

When someone thinks of a bathtub seat, they picture a true seat in the bathtub.  This is usually the more common style of bathtub seat that is purchased.  These style seats have many options for your use in the tub, such as handrails, height adjustment, seat backs and more.

One of the considerations that you need to think about is the height that you need for this seat.  If the person is able to sit down into the tub, then a lower style seat (seat picture to the right) might be a good option.  However, most of the time you will need a seat that has legs on it because you have the concern about sitting down into the tub in the first place.

You will want to make sure that the seat itself is sturdy and the feet are non-slip with rubber or other material so that it doesn't scratch or damage your tub surface.  Most of the seats are metal or composite frames with a plastic seat surface.  Sometimes these seats are also mounted to the wall or back of the tub depending upon the size of the person and amount of support you need.

Pediatric bathtub seats are another way to help the caregiver of children that have mobility issues.  Whether the child has cerebral palsy or another mobility issue, putting a child or teenager into a tub without a seat can be a backbreaking and unsafe challenge.

There are several pediatric bathtub chairs to choose from.  The things to look at is the adjustability that you need.  Do you need the height to be adjustable for the seat as the child grows?  What about back and/or leg adjustability?  Some seats have fixed backs and legs and you can't adjust them.

The Leckey pediatric bathtub seat is a great model to choose from as it offers a full range of motion to choose from, removable mesh seat cloth for easy cleaning and washing and secure footing to allow nonslip and safe operation.