EC Starter Kit | Pre Order - Send out January
*Due to the hurricane in the US, the Pottys are now expected to be shipped in late January. Please note that your entire order will be sent out together once the Pottys arrive.
Everything you need to begin your Elimination Communication/EC journey with your baby who is under 1 year. Follow the instructions in the how-to booklet, capture poops in the special Potty, and say see-ya to disposables with the Reusable Wet Wipes.Â
1 x Top Hat Potty (your choice of Sage, Peach or Grey)
1 x Spare Potty CoverÂ
1 x CaliBaby Introductory EC Booklet
Meet Our EC Starter Kit
We know how hard it can be to find simple-to-follow instructions on how to start EC, so we have curated a kit with all the essentials and information you need to begin your Elimination Communication journey. This kit is similar to our EC Essentials Kit but has the addition of the super handy Reusable Wet Wipes.
Learn how to be become responsive to your babies cues with the EC Basics Booklet, capture those wees and poops on the Top Hat Potty, then clean up with a Reusable Wet Wipe. The methods used in EC will help you cut down on rashes, diaper and baby wipe waste, and not to mention those costs that start to stack up each week.
EC Starter Kit Details
Frequently Asked Questions
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Top Hat Potty: Sage, Peach or Grey
Grip band
Seat cover
Mesh bag for your Potty (great for on the go)
Spare Potty Cover:
An essential so you can use one and have one in the wash
Soft cotton and made to perfectly fit the Potty
Makes the potty warm and cozy for your little one to sit on which means more success as your baby will feel more comfortable
Reusable Wet Wipes:
12 x organic cotton muslin wipes + dispensing bag
Replaces disposable wet wipes
Also perfect for face, hands, bum - wherever they're needed, a super handy tool.EC Basics Booklet:
An introductory booklet that takes you through How To's, Recommendations, and others' experiences with EC.
If the information about EC is unclear to you so far, this booklet should clear everything up and give you the information you need to get started.
Perfect to give to other carers to explain EC
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This kit provides you with the perfect tools for elimination communication. Whether you're just starting out, or are a pro, the Top Hat Potty, Cover, Reusable Wet Wipes and the EC Booklet will help you and bub along the journey. Please note that most babies will outgrow the Top Hat Potty by 1 year of age.
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Top Hat Potty
1. Place the Grip Band around the neck of the Top Hat Potty, where your legs will go.
2. Place the cotton cover on the top of the Potty.
3. Sit down and place the potty between your legs.
5. Place your baby on top of the potty. You may need to gently hold down the genital area if you have a boy.
6. Follow the EC process - when your baby has finished, you can use a Reusable Wet Wipe to clean their bottom.
7. Empty the Top Hat Potty in the toilet by removing half of the cotton cover and pouring the waste. Clean as required.
The Top Hat Potty is excellent to keep handy in the living area during the day or by the bed. It is perfect for taking out of the house or when you need to potty in the car and on-the-go. Please see more detailed instructions on the blog here.
Reusable Wet Wipes
1. Use a small spray bottle filled with water or our Wet Wipe Spray to dampen the muslin.
2. Wipe as needed.
3. Put used wipes into a bucket until you have enough to wash. Wash on a hot cycle at 60º+ if you are using the wipes for bottoms.
No microplastics will enter the waterways during washing because they are made from natural fibre. Read more about this here.
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Top Hat Potty
Potty Dimensions: 17.8cm x17.8cm x 11.4cm
Weight: 141.8 grams
Reusable Wet Wipes
25 x 25cm with rounded corners and an overlocked hem. There is a small cotton label on each Reusable Wet Wipe.
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Top Hat Potty
Recyclable, BPA-free Plastic
Top Hat Potty Cover: 100% cotton fleece
CaliBaby, under CaliWoods, is a bCorp-certified social enterprise that is woman-led, and NZ-owned.
Reusable Wet Wipes
100% GOTS-certified Organic Muslin Cotton is used in the wipes and the wet wipe dispensing bag.
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Plastic free packaging, cardboard swing tags.
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Top Hat Potty
To Clean:
For day-to-day washing of your potty, please use warm water and soap.
For additional cleaning, use boiling water and soap or a vinegar-water mixture in a spray bottle.
Machine wash the Top Hat Potty Cover on a normal, warm machine wash cycle. Line or tumble dry low.
To Care:
The Top Hat Potty is pretty low maintenance and easy to look after just please don’t put it under anything heavy.
End-Of-Life:
Donate or sell your Top Hat Potty on a second-hand marketplace. This gives it a second life and helps us to produce less and use fewer resources.
If your Top Hat Potty has reached the end of its life, remove the Grip Band and the Top Hat Potty Cover and then place it into your curbside recycling. Please landfill the grip band and the cover.
Reusable Wet Wipes
To Clean:
Put any used wipes into a bucket until you have enough to wash.
Wash on a hot cycle at 60º+ if you use the wipes for bottoms or on a normal cycle with the rest of your laundry if they are used for faces and hands.Wash as often as required. Line or tumble dry low.
Care:
These wipes are pretty low maintenance. Try to avoid bleach or harsh detergents to keep them silky soft.
End of Life:
The Reusable Wet Wipes are compostable at the end of their product life. Just cut them into pieces and add them to your home compost.
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Top Hat Potty
Tiny Undies, USA, in their China factory
Reusable Wet Wipes
Ethically made in India in our GOTS/okeo-Tex/Fair-Trade/SA8000 certified factory.
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Shipping costs, shipping materials, carbon offsets, and estimates for delivery times can be found: HERE.
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EC is an option for families to potty babies by responding to their signals, natural rhythms, and parent/caregiver intuition. Their pees and poops are 'captured' in a potty, toilet, or out in nature, as opposed to relying solely on nappies. Nappies are used as a backup as there will be 'misses'.
To learn more about this have a read of the blogs HERE or join our Sustainable Babies in NZ support group HERE.
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Once you understand the basic techniques, EC is easy and slips into your daily routine. The hardest thing is overcoming our notions (and society’s!) of what the newborn and toddler period looks like. In Western culture, EC isn’t the norm, so there isn’t the family and cultural support that you would find in the East.
EC is an option that can be so rewarding for you and your baby! You will likely have nappy freedom earlier, less mess to clean, little to no nappy rash, and could even benefit from a less grizzly baby.
Each baby is different, and so is each parenting journey - commit to learning and have patience and compassion for you and your baby.
Resources:
1. The EC Basics Booklet has everything you need in hard copy to start. It’s an easy read for partners or family members to get them up to speed.
2. The Sustainable Babies in NZ Facebook group is a supportive community we created that has every question and EC-related topic we could think of to help you on your way.
3. The CaliBaby Blog has different posts that will help you get started with EC and the Top Hat Potty.
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From birth to 12 months old.
Some babies will be able to use the potty after 12 months but this will depend on size. Often the behavioural patterns will change too and your toddler could prefer to use a floor potty or toilet.
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You can certainly do EC without a Top Hat Potty, the first year just won’t be as easy. There’s something magic about not having to get down onto the floor each time or being able to easily do EC in the car.
We did EC from birth and for the first few months we had no Top Hat Potty because we had to ship the potty from the States. We knew nobody who did EC before, and we weren’t sure it was actually a thing that would work. Let’s just say it worked really well and having the Top Hat Potty in the first few months would have been really helpful - and we relished it from 3 months onwards to about 12 months!
If you aren’t sure you could use a DIY version to try EC, like an ice cream container to trying holds over the sink or toilet, first.
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The Top Hat Potty is easily emptied when your baby has finished. It’s just a matter of lifting the cover and then emptying the waste into the toilet. Rinse or clean with warm water and soap if required.
You will find that it’s a lot less cleaning than changing a soiled nappy. Please see the detailed cleaning instructions above.
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The booklet gives an all-round view of EC as a technique and is perfect for beginners. It is also useful if you are practising EC but still are confused about some of the processes, want more insight, or are troubleshooting. Please remember that there is also online support in our FB Group ‘Sustainable Babies In NZ’ for any specific issues that you are coming across that aren’t covered in the booklet.
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When designing the topics, layout, and graphics in the booklet we tried our best to give a solid foundation to the techniques and theory of elimination communication. It is such as big topic with lots of information, I found it hard to get a clear and concise summary when I was learning about it before our little boy was born. This is the probem I wanted to solve for parents that are completely new to EC.
Since the process varies wildly from child to child (even parents that have done EC with multiple children have said how different each baby was!) we can’t guarantee that you will find all the answers in the booklet but that is why we have online support for all those unique little things that will come up.
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EC is an option for families to potty babies by responding to their signals, natural rhythms, and parent/caregiver intuition. Their pees and poops are 'captured' in a potty, toilet, or out in nature, as opposed to relying solely on nappies. Nappies are used as a backup as there will be 'misses'.
To learn more about this have a read of the blogs HERE or join our Sustainable Babies in NZ support group HERE.
New to EC?
Read our Intro To Elimination Communication blog HERE
Or our EC FAQs - The Basics blog HERE
Our Story, Our Promise
We are an NZ-owned, woman-led social enterprise. This means that we are for-profit, but the main thing we wake up for in the morning is our purpose; to reduce waste and stand up for Mama Earth. We are a certified bCorp.
