The best bath towel for babies and kids

This is a guide to what you need to consider when choosing a great towel for your baby or young kids. You can check out our ultimate guid on how to bath your baby here.

What size should a towel be for my baby? 

Typically newborn baby towels are square, rather than rectangle like adult towels and usually measure about 1 metre by 1 metre. A square shape is great as long as it cover the whole baby, and it allows you to swaddle them more easily. The key with size though is to make sure the towel will cover the baby entirely, so you need to allow plenty of fabric for wrapping them up. It’s not dissimilar to swaddling, although you’ll want to think most about having enough towel to dry their hair (more on this below).

If you’re thinking about how you stay dry as the person giving them the towel, you might want to find something bigger so that you can easily lay them in your lap when you get your baby out of the bath. A bigger towel will give you more coverage and make it easier to swaddle, cuddle and dry them without leaving any wet legs or arms hanging out of the towel.

Should I use a hooded towel for my baby?

Hooded towels are a great design feature for baby and kids towels. We would say they’re pretty essential as they make life a lot easier when keeping your baby dry and the towel attached to little kids.

We all know the warnings of having wet hair and catching colds, and for little babies who have a bigger surface area of skin relative to adults, they lose a lot of heat through their head. Making sure your baby’s head is covered when getting out of the bath is essential. You can do that with a regular towel, but it gets awkward pretty quickly. Using a hood towel keeps the towel secured, makes sure they stay covered even when they’re wriggling around and is a handy extra bit of towel to dry their hair with, fuss-free. 

What fabric should my baby’s towel be made from?

Traditionally 100% cotton has been the mainstay of baby towels. Natural, breathable fibres like cotton give a lot of comfort to parents who want to make sure what they put on their baby’s skin is free of potential allergens or irritants that might cause them problems. Cotton is also soft and absorbs moisture fairly well with good wicking properties so you can be sure rubbing your baby dry will be straightforward.

However, cotton is not the only option. In fact, there are better, more sustainable materials now available. Bamboo has become popular as a fabric for babies because it’s incredibly soft, natural and grown far more sustainably than cotton. Bamboo also has better wicking properties – the ability to carry moisture away from your skin and into the fabric – than cotton so it’s ideal for drying your baby’s fast. 

Bamboo is quite slinky, so a blend of cotton and bamboo could be a great baby towel fabric to consider.

How easy is it to use the towel

There’s a lot of fuss and potentially mess that comes with bath time. You can do yourself a big favour by find the right bath time products that take the stress out of the bathtime routine. A towel with a hood is a great place to start, but you can also try poncho towels that keep your kid’s warm, keep their dignity and allow them to roam without you carrying them wrapped in a towel.

For newborns and pre-toddler babies, you might want to try using a towel like this from Cuddle dry that helps you hold your baby while staying dry yourself. Rather than having to lay down a towel and put your baby down, it allows you to keep cuddling your baby post-bath.

What are great swimming towels for kids?

As your baby grows up, one consideration is what towel will work best for swimming. Regular bathroom towels aren’t always the right solution. They tend to be bulky, stay damp for a long time and their oversized nature will inevitably mean soaking up a litre of pool water home with you as the towel is dragged through the changing rooms. Yuck!

Better options are lighter weight, fast drying towels that remove surface water from your baby or kid’s skin quickly and efficiently. They should be small enough to avoid them dragging around the changing room floor, but big enough to be able to drape around your kid to keep them warm as you get changed. 

Microfibre towels are a great solution – lightweight, durable and very fast drying. Alternatively a poncho style towel that keep your kids dignity in the changing rooms while keeping them warm is a great idea.

Help us design the GRASP hooded towels

We’re designing our own range of bath towels for kids. They’re sustainable, plush and all about helping kids learn to take care of their own health and hygiene by giving them the tools they need to get dry. Our kids’ towels have uniquely beautiful designs, hoods and pouches for hands to be able to get kids dry fuss-free.

Interested in what we’re designing? Fill out our survey and you might win yourself a free one when it launches.

Submit form for feedback – link.

The 10 best baby and kids towels for every occasion 

Best cotton bath towel

This White Company hydrocotton towel has shorter twirls of fabric which makes it much softer as a cotton towel for babies.

Best newborn bath towel

An ideal solution to a newborn baby towel where you need to make sure baby is not getting cold is to swaddle them. This That’s Mine swaddle towel, does exactly this.

Best luxury baby towel 

My 1st Years make beautifully giftable towels that you can personalise. It takes an ordinary hooded towel and turns it into a keepsake.

Best hooded bath towel

Mori hooded towels are super cute and their range runs from newborn up to much older kids. They have a range of colours and styles, including animal inspired themes and are made from organic micro cotton.

Best poncho towel

Perfect for getting dry when in public – at the beach or the pool – or when you don’t have enough hands to get your kid dry immediately. A poncho towel keeps kids covered, warm and these poncho towel designs from H&M make super cute animal costumes.

Best bamboo towel

Bamboo towels are super soft and are great at drying you. They’re also fast drying.  These bamboo hooded towels are a great baby friendly bamboo blend.

Softest baby towel

These super soft hooded towels are available in sizes for little and big kids. Hooded Owl towels are made with double thick hoods to absorb the water from wet hair as well.

Best kids bathrobe

A great alternative to a towel is a bathrobe. These excellent muslin bathrobes from Laessig come in amazing colours and will allow your toddlers to be active while drying. 

Best lightweight swim towel for kids 

A great towelling solution for the swimming pool is something super lightweight and fast drying. These microfibre towels from Decathlon are perfect at absorbing moisture and are easy to pack.

Easiest baby towel to use

Cuddledry have innovated a towel for newborn babies that doubles up as an apron. Rather than faffing with wrapping a towel around your baby, the cuddledry towel allows you to pick up and wrap your baby easily.