How to Clean Urine from Mattress?

An all too common scenario; you wake up in the morning and get your toddler out of bed and your heart sinks when you see the telltale wet spot in the middle of their mattress.

Since they’re not fully toilet trained just yet, it’s just something you learn to deal with until they are. The best and only way to deal with it is just to learn how to clean it out of the mattress.

So with that in mind, here are eight steps on how to clean urine from mattress. So read on and hopefully, the next time you’re forced to act fast to save yours or your child’s mattress from stinking to high heaven, you’ll find yourself fairly prepared for it the second time around

Act Fast

The very second you discover the accident if at all possible. Your window of opportunity shrinks with every second you don’t do anything about it.

Every minute counts when you’re dealing with such a powerful and offensive substance. All you can do is your best with what you’ve got. Urine is made from crystals of uric acid, so you need to work fast to get it all out.

Before you do anything else, use a dry towel or cloth and blot the patch dry-ish before removing all the bedding.

You won’t want to rub at it because that just pushes it deeper into the fabric of the mattress, which is the last thing you want. If you have a wet/dry vacuum handy, that’s even better.

Use Baby Powder to Mask the Smell

This stuff is truly heaven sent. It has so many uses from removing grease stains and preventing chafing to eliminating odors in shoes. The second one comes in most handy when it comes to how to clean urine from mattress.

Once you’ve got the stain fully blotted up, assuming it’s still fresh, sprinkle a generous helping of baby powder over it to help it dry up. If the stain isn’t fresh, do this step anyway. It’ll help mask the odor while you prepare a stronger solution.

Detergent or Vinegar Solution

We’re sure you always have some of this handy, especially if you’re a parent dealing with a leaky three-year-old. Once you’ve finished blotting up the mess, stir a couple of tablespoons of detergent with a cup of warm water and distribute in whatever necessary fashion you can over the stain.

If for some reason you don’t have detergent around, then use a solution made of one part warm water and one part vinegar to handle the job. Warning; this method stinks to high heaven.

Spray Generously

Once you’ve got your solution mixed, it’s time to spray it. We recommend spraying instead of pouring, especially if you make use of the vinegar treatment.

Too much can over-saturate the mattress and the odor will last for weeks. Once you’ve applied your solution, whatever materials you used, let it sit for about five to ten minutes to fully absorb. If you caught the stain right after the fact, then your initial blotting likely removed most of the liquid.

However, if the stain is older, then this method will help you more than you know, as well as remove the smell for the most part. The vinegar is strong and will work wonders against the odor. When it comes to how to clean urine from mattress, it never hurts to have a bottle of vinegar handy.

Repeat the First Step

Blot again with more dry towels or paper towels. This one is especially important because not only does it help to remove excess urine and vinegar, but it also works to prevent mold from forming inside the mattress itself, so pay close attention to this step to make sure you leave very little behind.

Sprinkle Some Baking Soda

It’s generally a good idea to have this stuff lying around at all times. As for its use in how to clean urine from mattress, baking soda is the way to go. Sprinkle it liberally across the former urine blot and then let it sit.

It needs a little time to get its work done, so make sure to give it at least a full night to do its job.

We recommend maybe arranging other sleeping setups in the meantime. Maybe this is the night for that sleepover your kid has been begging for for months now. By the next day, the spot should be dry.

Vacuum Up the Excess and Ventilate Mattress

Use a vacuum and suck up the remaining baking soda. Then, if possible, take the mattress either outside or else somewhere a little better ventilated for proper air circulation to allow it to dry inside and out.

In this manner, whatever liquid still remains should breeze right out of it in no time flat and your mattress will be ready for its next accident the following evening.

Prevention Tips

In order to help prevent future accidents with your mattress, be it your child or even your own, depending on your circumstances, it’s probably a good idea to invest in a good mattress protector.

They won’t stop every accident you’ll likely encounter in your life, but for the many, they will stop — they’re a good investment in protecting your mattress.

It saves the amount of cleaning you have to do and most of them are washable.

It’s also worth pointing out that any cleaning you do to your mattress during such mishaps carries the risk of voiding out your warranty, so it’s generally a good idea to check your mattress warranty before diving into any red alert cleaning binges.

Bed-wetting is just something that comes with life, especially if you’re a parent of a young child learning to control their bladder in those formative years.

Sometimes it takes longer than others, sometimes shorter. The most important thing to remember is that it does happen and there are measures you can take to make the ordeal a little easier on everyone.