Giveaway: EcaPants from EcaWare Baby **CLOSED**

***This giveaway is now closed. Stay tuned for an announcement of the winner!*** 

This is a joint giveaway with The New Mommy Files: Memories, Milestones and Missteps and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked "Win it!" for the mandatory main entry and optional bonus entries.

Having blogged for over a year, I have never written a proper review - until now. When I thought about what I'd like to review first, EcaPants were on my mind. I have been using them since my daughter was a wee newborn and I absolutely love them, so I was thrilled when Lisa, the Work-at-Home-Mama behind EcaWare Baby agreed to give a pair away to one of our readers.

"Blueberry" EcaPants worn by our daughter at 4 months

EcaPants are a unique, patent pending solution for families practicing Elimination Communication (EC), or for anyone who needs an easy to change diapering solution. These trainers come in waterproof and non-waterproof varieties and are designed to hold one pee for a short period of time. My husband and I have practiced EC with our daughter since she came home from the hospital, and EcaPants have made that so much easier!

What we love about EcaPants

I ordered our first pair of EcaPants when my daughter Annabelle was ten days old. Within the month, I had placed another order, and as time went on I placed several more. I was hooked! These trainers have become the most used item in our diaper stash. We love them for a few reasons:


Ease of use: Our daughter has never been one for sitting still to have her diaper changed. The design of EcaPants makes them easy to put on a child who is standing, squirming, or even walking away from you. They were created with squirmy babies in mind, which makes them ideal for us!

Practicality for EC: EcaPants have an elastic waist band that attaches with a snap closure and holds the trainer securely in place around the waist. A separate Aplix or snap closure fastens the front panel of the trainer to the back. These allow the front panel to be opened for easy pottying, while keeping the trainer securely fastened around the child's waist. When finished, the front panel is closed once again by quickly reattaching the velcro or fastening the snaps. No need to re-position the trainer around your child! Without an insert, they are just absorbent enough to hold one missed pee, but not so absorbent that we can carry on without realizing that we've had a miss.

The trim fit of EcaPants makes them easy
to use under clothing.

Trim Fit and Adjustability: EcaPants are by far the trimmest waterproof trainer we have found. Even when stuffed with two inserts, they fit beautifully under clothing with no bulk at all. Their trim design also makes them the perfect thing to toss in my purse when we go out.

The elastic waist band fits snugly, but never leaves a mark on my daughter's skin and has two settings for adjustability. There are several settings for the snaps or aplix, allowing for a highly customized fit.

I tend to be rather frugal, and being able to get a lot of use out of a product is important to me. I typically order diapers and trainers a size larger than I actually need and just fasten them snugly so that we can use them for as long as possible. While I have done this with EcaPants, it really has not been necessary. My daughter is still able to wear every pair that she owns, in sizes small, medium, and large. Designed to fit 11-17 pounds, the smalls are getting a bit, well, small for my 20 pound toddler, but they still do the job and don't seem to be uncomfortable for her at all. The large, designed to fit 20-30 pounds has worked fine for months on the smallest setting, and the mediums are just right. I love that I still have not had to rotate any of our EcaPants out and that we'll be able to use them with our next baby.

Adjustable Absorbency: I absolutely love that the absorbency of EcaPants can easily be increased by adding an insert or two, and even with this added bulk, the pants are super trim. As my daughter has gotten a bit older, she has started waiting longer between pees and become what many parents would call a "super soaker." A few times, when she was particularly well hydrated, Annabelle satured her EcaPants in a matter of moments, leaking onto the ground beneath her. With the addition of an insert or two when we think we'll need it, we no longer have any problem with containing a miss. Another beautiful thing is that the inserts come out on their own during the wash, so there's no need to fuss with them after a miss.

15 Months old in "Popsicle Orange" EcaPants - our favorite!

While EcaPants were by far our favorite thing when Annabelle was tiny, I'll admit that I find myself gravitating more toward trainers that pull up and down now that she's an increasingly independent toddler. The only drawback to EcaPants I have found is that they are not designed to be unfastened without the help of a caregiver. Of course this isn't an issue with ECing babies, since their motor development doesn't allow them to remove their own pants anyway, and toddlers really can learn to do anything. It's a small issue, really, but something to be aware of.

The only other thing I have noticed is that the aplix on EcaPants seems to wear out rather quickly. I purchased a couple of pairs with aplix closures early in our relationship with EcaPants, but quickly decided to switch to snaps. It's no secret that aplix and velcro wear out after awhile on any diaper or trainer, so this is to be expected and can be avoided by simply ordering snaps.

The price seemed a bit much to me at first and almost deterred me from buying that first pair of EcaPants altogether. Now that I see how long they last and how well they work, however, I'm happy to pay full price, especially knowing that my money is supporting another mother.

I can enthusiastically recommend EcaPants to anyone who practices, or plans to practice EC and would like a trim-fitting, easy to use diapering system for back-up. EcaPants need to be changed right away when wet, so I do not recommend them for families who aren't concerned with changing their child immediately with each and every wet. That said, they would also be a great choice for children who have trouble with persistent rashes or highly sensitive skin. Since they encourage caregivers to change the child right away and become wet enough to alert the child when he or she has peed, they would also work wonderfully for families trying to avoid skin issues, whether practicing EC or not.

BUY IT!

You can purchase EcaPants from the company's online store, as well as from several different online retailers. The full list of retailers is available on EcaWare Baby's website.

WIN IT!

For your chance to win a pair of EcaPants from EcaWare Baby, enter in the comments below! The winner can select their preferred size, color, and closure based on what's in stock. Contest is open to readers worldwide.

MAIN ENTRY: Visit EcaWare Baby and tell us one thing you learned about the company.

Leave a valid email address in at least one of your comments so we can contact you if you win. You can write them like this to foil spambots: mail {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com.

This is a joint giveaway with The New Mommy Files and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only, and we'll be recording IP addresses to ensure that there are no duplicate entries. That said, please do visit and enjoy both sites!

BONUS ENTRIES: enter for more chances to win using the bonus entries after completing the mandatory entry above (leave a separate comment for each so we can count them all):

• Visit EcaWare Baby's online store and tell us which of their colors or patterns you like most.
• Subscribe to The New Mommy Files in a reader or by email (1 entry for each).
• Subscribe to Natural Parents Network in a reader or by email (1 entry for each).
• Leave a relevant comment on a non-giveaway article at Natural Parents Network and tell us which post (comment on separate posts for up to 3 entries total).
• Like EcaWare Baby on Facebook.
• Like The New Mommy Files on Facebook.
• Like Natural Parents Network on Facebook.
• Post this giveaway on your Facebook page or wall and leave the link (1 entry). You can use this status update: Enter to win a pair of EcaPants from EcaWare Baby @The New Mommy Files: Memories, Milestones and Missteps and @Natural Parents Network. Contest ends August 9 and is open worldwide.
  Be sure to attach the contest URL to your update! (http://naturalparentsnetwork.com/giveaway-ecapants/)
• Follow @NewMommyFiles on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
• Follow @NatParNet on Twitter and leave your Twitter name in the comment.
• Tweet about this giveaway (up to 5 times total, at least 24 hours apart). You can tweet this text: #Win a pair of EcaPants by EcaWare Baby from @NewMommyFiles & @NatParNet! #giveaway #FreedomofCloth http://bit.ly/m340Re {8.9; Worldwide}
• Enter another of the giveaways on Natural Parents Network (1 extra entry per giveaway — check back for more).
• Put The Freedom of Cloth Carnival badge on your website. The HTML code is on the bottom of page at the previous link. Leave your site URL in the comment.
• Put the Natural Parents Network badge on your website or add http://NaturalParentsNetwork.com to your text blogroll for 2 extra entries each. The HTML code for the badge is in the right sidebar. Leave your site URL in the comment.

RULES:

• Contest open worldwide.
• Contestants may enter at either The New Mommy Files or Natural Parents Network but not both. Entries will be combined for the drawing of a single winner.
• Leave each entry as a separate comment so we can count them all.
• For actions like following and subscribing, if you already follow or subscribe, just let us know in your comment.
• For tasks that garner you multiple entries, you can copy and paste the comment with a #1, #2, etc.
• You don't have to do any of the bonus entries, but you do have to complete the first mandatory one.
• We will pick the winner through Random.org after the contest closes and send an email notification. Leave a valid email address as you comment so we can contact you if you win. If we can't reach a winner or don't hear back within a couple days, we'll draw a new name.
• Any questions, let our interim giveaway coordinator know: ShannonR {at} NaturalParentsNetwork {dot} com
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Contest closes August 9 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Disclosure: Our reviewer used EcaPants she purchased and owned prior to planning this review. We try to seek out only products we think you would find relevant and useful to your life as a natural parent. If we don't like a product, we won't be recommending it to you. See our full disclosure policy here.

Photo Credits: Author