I have been doing a combination of Elimination Communication (EC) since two weeks, and cloth diapers since 1 month. I have 27 bumgenius 4.0s and 6 Alvababies. Generally he gets a disposable for overnight from 12-8am.

He is exclusively breastfed so we always just left the poop in there. We used to wash about 2 or 3 times a week at the laundromat (front loading). Sometimes I do them at my moms house (top loading) to get more water and an extra rinse through them.

At 6 months old he no longer poops in his diaper (thanks to EC) and goes exclusively on his potty. I am SO thankful for that because I really don’t want to deal with solid poops. Sounds like a lot of work!

And for a diaper pail with a lid, go to Target and buy a kitchen trash can. We’ve been cloth-diapering for about 10 months now, and we love it.

Before DD started solids, we just threw the poopy diapers straight into the wash with the wet ones as well. Now that she eats solids, we use a flushable diaper liner to catch the poop. It’s an added expense, but not nearly as expensive as disposable diapers, and if your baby poops reliably at certain times of the day, you don’t even need to use a liner with each diaper.

1) We use all BumGenius 4.0 snap pocket diapers. We have 26 of them now, collected over 1.5 years via gifts and sales at cottonbabies.com. I didn’t do a ton of research, I just saw that several people liked them, and it’s nice to be able to change how much stuffing you put in each diaper (we triple-stuff for overnight, and it lasts 12 hours). I like them and they’ve held up well to many many washings.

2) Our “diaper pail” is a giant painter’s bucket from the hardware store with a lid. Cheapo and sturdy. We fill it about a third full with a solution of water and Borax to soak soiled diapers. (ETA: I know everyone says we shouldn’t leave them soaking… we haven’t had issues from this yet but we wash fairly frequently. YMMV).

3) We tried a sprayer on our toilet, but then we moved and never installed one in the new place… and don’t really miss it.

4) When PB poops, we change him on the floor of the bathroom (it’s where his changing station lives… the changing table is too dangerous for our little acrobat!). Clean him up with disposable wipes (we used cloth wipes when he was still EBF, but once he was eating solids the poops got… well, like actual poop.) Wipes go in lidded trash can. Clean baby gets briefly stashed across hall in his crib where he plays with a toy. Diaper liners get pulled out and thrown in to bucket. Diaper gets swished in toilet. I generally flush while swishing, it helps. Wet, de-pooped diaper goes in to bucket. Lid on. Scrub hands! Done.

5) Every two days or so we wash the diapers. Since they’ve pre-soaked in Borax solution, we just wash hot in Charlie’s soap (I always throw a bit of baking soda in, too – maybe 1/2 cup per load), then extra rinse. Every month or 6 weeks we put in a splash of bleach… if we don’t do this PB starts to get a mild rash. Never had stains or crustiness issues.

Over the holidays we traveled a lot and used disposables for almost two weeks. I forgot how expensive those things are!!

Scribble is a super cutie in those diapers. :-)

Just a couple of thoughts for you, I’ll list them out to make it easier to read:
1. Don’t leave them in a “wet” pail – as in you don’t need them to remain moist. It can cause the PUL to breakdown faster to be wet all the time and you never want to have standing water anywhere when you have a baby (albeit a slightly more mobile one!) Just rinsing and squeezing all the water out and throwing in the pail will suffice.
2. I find throwing EBF poops in my washing machine without rinsing disgusting. That poop cannot possibly wash totally clean from the machine (in my mind anyway) and I also wash my clothes…and sheets in there. Mmmm snuggly poop. Plus, before you know it 6 months will be here and he’ll no longer be EBF, so you may as well just rinse now.
3. I find it easier to rinse in the toilet. We hooked up a sprayer and that gets it really clean. Plus, when the poops get solid, you can just plop them in, totally easy! If you don’t want to invest in a sprayer, just swishing them around in the toilet works (it’s clean water if you’ve flushed, ya know) and that keeps you from getting poop all up in where you wash your hands and brush your teeth….
4. In our house breaking up the duties helps – I rinse and wash diapers, DH stuffs. Equal enough for me
5. You don’t have to rinse your diaps as they happen. I leave my folded in half on the back of the toilet and then deal with them at the end of the day. So much easier to do it once a day than 8 times a day. Although when M was little I used to have him do his tummy time while I rinsed every diap.
6. I called BumGenius the other day re: stinky diaps and she suggested that in a front loader I add a soaking wet towel to trick the washer into adding more water. I haven’t had a problem for a year, so I think they really did just need a strip, but I like the trick, so I’m using it. A cold wash with a little detergent then a hot wash with a little detergent and an extra rinse should be all you need.
7. When you go to give them back just hang them to dry in the direct sun and 95% of the stains will disappear. Magic
8. If you have a BuyBuyBaby near you, they sell BG4.0 diapers (pockets like you have, they’re my favorite and the most popular) and you can use a 20% off or $5 off $15 coupon on them. They come out to be about $12, which is a great savings.

I use Charlie’s laundry soap and so far I have not had to soak, prerinse, etc.

Here’s a cloth diaper savings calculator if you’ve got a lot of free time (haha) on your hands: http://www.diaperpin.com/calculator/calculator.asp