Every parent has a different way of cleaning their cloth diapers, and many different brands of cloth diapers come with specific instructions, as well. This is how I clean my diapers, and thus far, it is working for me. For parents who are new to cloth diapers, I hope these tips will be helpful. I also HIGHLY recommend you check out The Diaper Jungle's website. I don't agree with everything she says, but it's all useful!
I keep a bucket in my child's bedroom, next to the changing table for soiled diapers. When my kids were eating breast milk exclusively, I would even toss poopy diapers in the bucket, because breast-milk waste breaks down in water. My daughter is now taking some solids, though, and my son is entirely on solids, and so poopy diapers go inside out into a bucket filled with water (my daughter) or the poop gets dumped (along with a flushable insert) into the toilet and then the diaper gets tossed in the bucket with everything else (my son).
Flushable diaper liners are a wonderful invention. They make cleaning up poopy diapers so much easier, since all you have to do is dump and flush, often leaving diapers clean enough to toss into the regular diaper pail! They also enable parents to use Desitin and other diaper-rash creams with cloth diapers, since zinc-oxide-based creams RUIN the absorbency of cloth diapers. But a diaper liner protects the diaper from the cream while you protect your baby's bum with the cream. As an added bonus, they're biodegradable! There are lots of brands to choose from, but my favorites are the Real Nappies brand.
When it is time to do laundry, dump the dry pail of soiled diapers right in, and pull the poopy diapers out of the wet pail (do not dump the poopy water into your washer - dump it into your toilet). I use tongs to pull the poopy diapers out of the water, because I'm wussy about getting my hands dirty, but you don't have to. Then, spray Bac-Out or sprinkle Baking Soda in the bucket to deodorize and prepare for the next batch of dirty diapers. Try to stay away from chemicals like Lysol or bleach, which can irritate your child's skin and break-down the diaper fibers.
I prefer run a rinse load first, to get the dirty out of the diapers so that stuff isn't in the water when I start washing. Then, run your regular load of laundry, making sure to use diaper-safe detergent. Standard laundry detergents such as Tide carry several risks for cloth diapers. The first and most obvious is chemicals and fragrances, which may be what you are trying to escape by using cloth. If this is your only concern, then Free & Clear options may seem like a good choice, but beware. The petroleum found in these detergents (that's right, Tide and other detergents are made of oil) gives clothing a protective coating, and so over time it "seals" the diaper, making it less absorbent. Petroleum-free detergents are not only better for the environment, but also better for your cloth diapers (which are better for the environment!)[*]#5 There are detergents that are plant-based and petroleum-free like Seventh Generation and Method detergents (available at Target and Babies R Us), detergents that are highly recommended for cloth diapers, such as Charlie's Soap, and there are even detergents designed specifically for cloth diapers, such as Rockin Green or Bum Genius Diaper Detergent. I love Charlie's Soap because I can use it on my children's clothes as well as diapers, and it is much less expensive than the detergents designed specifically for cloth diapers.
During the wash cycle or the final rinse, I add 1-2 cups of regular white vinegar. Standard white vinegar (Kroger and Walmart both sell it by the gallon) is the cloth diaperer's secret weapon. Add it to the wash or rinse cycle, and add some to the poop bucket when you have a diaper soaking in it. It works as a natural fabric softener and deodorizer, without any harsh chemicals or fragrance. I have never had a problem with my washer or diapers smelling, and I credit this trick! NEVER use chemical fabric softener on your cloth diapers.
Many cloth diaper brands, such as Bum Genius and FuzzBunz, instruct you to wash their diapers in hot water. Hot water can help to expand the fibers in cloth diapers, so I always recommend running your first couple of loads with new diapers on hot. You do not, however, have to wash your diapers on hot continuously, as modern detergents do not clean any more efficiently in hot water, and washers do not normally get hot enough to kill off dangerous germs or bacteria, anyway (160-170 degrees Fahrenheit is considered the standard temperature needed to kill E. Coli, for example, and energy and baby experts both recommend you keep your water-heater set around 120 degrees). Most dirty diapers do not carry harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, and so disinfecting isn't a concern (more on that below) unless you know your child has a serious bacterial infection. I do not like to encourage the use of bleach, but if you know your child has a bacterial infection or a very serious case of food poisoning, you may want to consider running a bleach rinse of your washing machine after washing cloth diapers in order to clean out the tub of your washer before the next load goes in. Do not mix bleach with the cloth load, as it will break down the fibers in your diapers.
I am a particularly cautious Mama, and so I always run a secondary rinse on my children's clothes and cloth diapers after the wash cycle (which includes its own rinse cycle) has completed. This makes certain that all of the detergent is rinsed out of the diapers, because even environmentally-safe detergents can be irritating to the skin.
Finally, it is time to dry the diapers. Both a dryer or hanging the diapers in sunlight will not only dry the diapers, but also disinfect them. Sunlight is the natural world's bleach, as it removes staining and smells and also has antibacterial properties, and the dryer DOES get hot enough to kill off most germs and bacteria, so either method will sanitize your diapers for Baby's bum. If you use the dryer but discover that your diapers are stained, set them out in the sun for a day, anyway, and they'll clear right up. If you decide to hang-dry your diapers, you may want to run them through the dryer briefly on air-fluff afterward just to soften them up a bit. This will use less energy than drying them entirely in the dryer, with the same results!
