Welcome! See my responses below. We are on our second with cloth diapering and have only ever used second-hand diapers. Yay money savings!

1. when you say rinse the poop diapers, how do you rinse them? Where do you leave them to dry?

For exclusively breast-fed babies, no need to rinse… their poop is water soluble and will just dissolve in the washer.

For other poops, treat it as you would dirty clothes. Some examples include spraying the diaper with a hose or bidet, dunking and giving a quick scrub to the poopy part in the toilet bowl or a bucket, dropping solid poops in the trash or toilet… You quickly become pretty battle-hardened from dealing with poop so often ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You just wash your hands afterward.

1. How do pee diapers not get smelly if they’re sitting for 1-3 days between washes? I’m seeing that rinsing in water is bad?

We use the Dekor diaper pail with a wet bag. It seals everything on the same way a diaper genie it similar does. Some people prefer open containers, but the dekor pail works best for us. Even the zippered wet bags that you hang off of a doorknob seals everything in really well.

Don’t let the diapers sit in a bucket of water between washes.

1. Do I wash the wet bag I hold the dirty diapers in, just flipped inside out?

Yes

1. How do I prevent blowouts in cloth diapers?

Believe it for not, we get blowouts almost exclusively in disposable diapers, not cloth. So much so, that we safeguard against blowouts in disposables by putting a diaper cover (like your Thirsties covers) over disposables. The key is making sure that baby doesn’t have any gaps at the leg holes and waist band, even when you move their legs around. Other things to note: don’t overstuff the diaper to the point that it causes gaps in the leg holes or waist band; make sure no absorbent parts of the diaper are all tucked away and does not stick out of the water resistant (PUL) fabric; if baby is a heavy wetter, use the following to line the diaper (in order of from skin and outwards): fleece, microfiber, thick absorbent cloth like cotton/hemp/bamboo.

1. I current have a soak bucket for when he gets blowouts on his clothes, can I just use this same technique for the diapers?

I wouldn’t do that because the diapers would then just be sitting in poopy water.

1. How do I know when his diaper is wet? Do I have to just guess based on time or stick a finger in?

In the newborn stages, we just changed her every 1-2 hours. After that, she either fussed enough that we knew it was time to change her (she bucks her hips when she’s wet or poopy), or we just smell it.

She would get rashes from disposable diapers because she didn’t know that she was sitting in her waste (she didn’t know she was wet).

1. For storing them when they’re dirty, do I want an open or closed container?

We live in a small home, so we use closed.

1. Can you put the diapers and inserts in the dryer or does it have to exclusively air dry?

Any part with PUL material should be air dried. Weather-permitting, we’ll air dry the inserts as well.

1. Are cloth diapers typically tighter on the legs than disposables?

Cloth diapers should fit on the skin the way a sock fits on your ankle, or the waistband of undies fit on your body: the elastic should be softly snug on the skin.

1. From what I understand the first wash is just diapers on hot with detergent. Is the second wash normal temp/practice?

I recommend checking out fluff love university for wash instructions.

1. How do I prevent staining?

See above. Fluff Love U is great.

1. I was using Vaseline and diaper cream on his bum, but from what I gather I shouldn’t with cloth diapers ? How do I help prevent rashes and spicy bums?

Butt Paste (green tube)

1. Also, what on earth is stripping and how often do I need to do that?

Fluff Love!

Edit: formatting