The UK's only plastic-free potty? Eco potty by ‘Naty’- review
6 weeks into lockdown I committed to the thought that was flying around my head to start potty training Hephzibah. There had been no real signs that she was ready to potty train I just thought it would be worth a shot because we were at home all day with no where to go and liked the idea that there was very low-expectation so we could just see how it went.
So started the search of a potty. I was up for a second-hand one like most of the things in our life but couldn’t see anything suitable on ebay and at the same time wanted something that felt special as we were giving it to Heppy as her birthday present… (is that normal?!). I trawled the internet and struggled to see a potty that was plastic-free anywhere- if we were buying new this was a top requirement. All I could find in my research is that Babipur (a website I love) once had one but it was no longer available, and that the brand Liewood were potentially bringing one out but not until the Autumn. After some time I found that Naty had brought out an ecological potty made from 95% natural sugar cane and free of phthalates. The only thing I wasn’t wild on was the fact it came with liners/inserts, and even though biodegradable they seemed unnecessary and I didn’t want to have to be committed to buying more. After reading through the comments on Amazon I found out the liners weren’t necessary and you could just use the potty without them. And so, I purchased the potty, wrapped it up with some used tissue paper and popped a little bow on it and that’s what Heppy walked down to on her second birthday and opened with such delight.
First thoughts on the potty arriving was that it was absolutely ginormous; like a spaceship. It felt a little unnecessarily big, but at the same time felt very stable and very secure as there’s a non-slip base. Heppy seems comfortable on it and it has a high back for added comfort too. Aesthetically It looked so much more appealing than any other potty I had seen (probably because it’s a Scandinavian company) , and I loved the fact that the inside of the potty was removable for anything to be disposed of rather than having to take the whole potty to the toilet. There are two parts that come out of the potty- the basin any pee or poo goes into and then the rim that the child sits on. I think they have been made separately so the inserts can be put in- but personally i’d rather this was all one singular piece seeing as we are not using the inserts, and every time Heppy gets up from the potty this outer rim seems to have stuck to her bottom- not a huge problem however.
I appreciate Naty as a company and have used many of the products and they have a great sustainability report on their website you can check out here.
I paid £29.99 for the potty which seemed like a fair price to me for what the potty is- I usually understand that I will need to pay more for something that is made well and sustainably and believe this will last for many years and hopefully many kids and it didn’t seem too different price wise to other pottys on the market. I would however LOVE to see a plastic free potty on the market that is more affordable and perhaps more simplistic design wise meaning more portable- business op anyone?
We have been using it for over a week now and are overall happy with it, are biggest question though is why it needs to be SO big- surely they could have made it a little bit smaller. Because of the size it’s definitely not a potty to throw in the back of the car or just in the bottom of the buggy to take on a walk or pop to a friends, but as it stands we’re in lockdown anyway so we have no need to leave the house! It also has no handle so there is NO way you can pick it up with one hand which creates a bit of a faff, but overall a great purchase and for me good value for money for a sustainable approach to potty training.
Oh and potty training is going well in general…will update soon!
I bought the potty on amazon here
x
UPDATE: I wanted to check back in as we have had the potty for a over a year now, and while it worked great for us in lockdown after a while we realised how the design could be made SO much better. There is no place to carry the potty- you need to use two hands to carry it at the base - it’s pretty heavy. Because it’s not one piece, they fall out, or are left in places whilst cleaning meaning we’re usually looking round the house for one aspect of it (that’s probably my weak organisational skills). All in all it’s been a nightmare to transport and is definitely not an on the go potty. I don’t necessarily regret buying it but in hindsight there were times when I wish i’d just bought a secondhand plastic one for ease- to whack in the bottom of the buggy or pop in the boot when we needed to travel!