There is no way that eating a placenta (or eating anything) could possibly stop bleeding that fast- even taking tranexamic acid (used for stopping/relieving heavy periods) doesn't work that fast. I suspect she just had a stonking breastfeeding reflex (breastfeeding clamps down the uterus faster and so could stop the lochia bleeding a little faster in theory). Some women don't get periods at all when they breastfeed, other women drop one feed and then start ovulating again (so don't rely on BFing for your contraception, laydeez!)
Real nappy wise, I cloth bottomed my DDs (and for a "glorious" 6 months had two in nappies at once!) we used motherease birth to potty nappies alongside tots bots and many others: with no drier, I found 24 nappies worked very well: you use about 8 in 24 hours, wash every second day, and then on day 3 you use the spare eight while the other 16 are drying. Pm me if you want any info about cloth, we found that while some other types dry quicker then Motherease and Tots bots, it's having good absorbancy and good leakproofness that wins out over quick drying time. If you already have b-t-p nappies it may be worth trying a few size 1 little lambs/totsbots from Clothnappytree (preloved nappy forum) as they are dinky for newborns until they fit the onesize nappies, and are fairly cheap to pick up from there.
I am feeling a lot better after 10 hours sleep last night: need to cut myself se slack and stop trying to do so much! (I have No idea how you girls are managing to move house, it's all I can do to tidy the lounge!)
Ooh, and mat leave starts at 36.5 weeks for me despite DD2 being term+7: I'm going to be totally ready to stop then, and can't reduce my workload even a little, so it's better to stop then for me.