Find a garbage can with a lid and foot pedal. You don't want to be fiddling with a lid when your hands are full of a dirty diaper. Most standard pail liners fit a 13 or 14 gallon can. I have one similar to
this at target, although mine is slightly smaller and has a foot pedal not the infrared sensor. You can also use something like
this plastic can.
Buy two liners. One for the pail, one for laundry. You don't want to have dirty diapers piling up while you wait for your one liner to dry.
When you change a diaper, have all supplies ready, get your wipe wet if you need it, have the next diaper on hand and ready to go. Remove soiled diaper. For newborns who are breastfed, the poop will come out in the wash, so don't worry about removing poop from the diaper. Toss the whole thing in the diaper pail. For older babies, if the bm is solid, dump it into the toilet (it is really helpful to have your changing table near the toilet- if your bathroom is too small, take the diaper off, set it aside and put a new one on the baby, then take care of the diaper) if the bm is runny, you may want to consider using flushable liners. Liners that are not flushed down the toilet with poop on them can go in the laundry and be reused until they fall apart. Diaper sprayers attach directly to the plumbing of the toilet and work like a kitchen sink sprayer, they can be useful for spraying poop of the diaper and into the toilet. I have not used them, because the liners work for me, and I have concerns about overspray. Many cloth diapering moms swear by them, so they are something to look into.
After the poop is removed from the diaper, place the diaper inside the diaper pail. If the cover is mess free, set it on your changing table to air out for use at the next change. Covers can be rotated several times before they need to be washed (unless they get poop on them).
When the diaper pail is full (or full enough to really start smelling (my pail is quite a bit smaller than those I recommended, which was purposeful- it holds just the right amount of diapers for one load)) take the liner full of diapers and empty it into the washing machine. Do a quick wash, a short presoak, or a rinse. No soap, on cold. If the diapers are especially poopy, you might want to go with the wash cycle. Next, add 1/4 the amount of detergent- you can see the diaper jungle link below for a chart on detergents. I use Tide, even though it is not recommended on the diaper jungle chart. It gets the diapers clean and I've never had a problem with rashes. If you find a detergent that works for you, stick with it. There are lots of detergents and you never know how your baby will react to them.
If your diapers are especially smelly, add a little baking powder. If you have hard water, put a little vinegar in the fabric softener spot in your washer. Do not use fabric softener, it will coat your diapers and lead to leaking problems.
If the load is small enough, I add the rest of the family's whites to help cut down on water use.
Wash on hot. With an extra rinse and spin and the end. The extra spin helps get more water out so that they will dry faster.
Hang to dry. The sun works wonders to keep diapers stain free- if outdoors is not an option, air drying inside works just fine. If you don't like the hardness of the diapers after air drying, put them in the dryer for 5 minutes to soften them up.
Don't use dryer sheets, they can affect the absorbency of the diapers and lead to leaks.
Helpful cloth diaper laundering links:Thirsties Cloth Diaper CareDiaper PagesDiaper Jungle Wash TipsDiaper Jungle Detergent Chart
