Last updated: Oct 25, 2022
Do you want to learn how to take care of those nasty urine stains in your mattresses?
If so, you are just in the right place. Bedwetting or nighttime enuresis is a common thing that happens to almost all kids at some point.
While there are various things you can do to help them stop wetting the bed in their sleep, you will also need to learn how to deal with urine stains and smell on the mattress. Urine not only makes the mattress look ugly but also makes the bed uncomfortable for your little ones due to the odor.
So what can you do about it?
Before you start stressing over that new mattress that your little ones or pets have ruined with urine, you should know that you can get rid of almost any stain and odor.
With a few cleaning agents and a few minutes to spare you can restore your expensive mattress to its original look in no time and make it more comfortable for your loved ones. And once you learn how to clean urine from a mattress you can concentrate on more important things instead of always worrying that your kids will wet the bed.
If you have toddlers and pets in the house, the chances are that you already have favorite products that you use to clean urine for mattresses and carpets. Good for you if you already have the urine cleaning agents.
But, how effective are they at removing the stains and odors?
For what it is worth you should know that you do not always need to buy expensive cleaning agents to clean urine from mattresses. Also, you can use cleaning agents that you already have at home. Here is a list of what you will need to clean both dry and wet urine from your mattresses.
When it comes to cleaning urine from mattresses, there are two situations that you might need to tackle. They are wet and dry stains, and they will call for different cleaning methods and using various agents.
While the right idea is always to clean the urine when it is still fresh, this cannot always be possible, and sometimes you will realize that the mattress has a urine stain a week or even much later. But here is how to deal with both wet and dry urine stains.
With a fresh urine stain, the first thing should always be to remove the linens from the bed. And when doing this, you should avoid the temptation to try and wipe out some of the urine with the sheets.
Doing this will only spread the urine, and it can even help it sink deeper into the mattress. You would hate for this to happen.
After removing everything from the mattress, the next step is to blot up the urine and make sure you soak up as much as possible. You can use a sponge to do this or your cotton towel if you do not have any sponge. As you do this, it is essential to go over the entire area as many times as possible, and if your towel or sponge gets saturated, you should use a new one or wring it if you can.
The next step after soaking up as much urine as possible is to dampen the area. Doing this dilutes the urine and helps to get rid of the odor. You can use rubbing alcohol for this because it will also kill the bacteria in the urine.
So what if you do not have rubbing alcohol?
Vinegar too does an excellent job at this stage. After dampening as much as possible, you should then blot out as much of the liquid as possible. Repeat the dampening and blotting up as many times as possible or until the urine odor vanishes completely. Simple, isn’t it? But, you still need to dry the mattress.
The last step is to dry the mattress, and it is as important as all the others. For this, you can open the windows or turn on the fan. If possible, you can even dry it out in the sun because the fresh air outside will also help to dampen the smell of the urine and cleaning agents.
For dry stains, the first step is to dampen the area to make it possible to clean. But when doing this make sure that you do not saturate it with water because the wetness will spread the urine. And what’s worse than this? The idea should only be to dampen it enough to reduce the strength of the stain and dissipate some of the odor.
Covering the stained area with borax helps to neutralize the odor. And so you should make sure that you sprinkle the stain with lots of borax and spread it out well.
But, as you do this you should make sure that you do not leave it on your skin as it can irritate it. You should then rub it into the stain. If you do not have borax, you can use baking soda but also make sure you rub it into the stain.
Allow the mattress to dry completely out in the sun, but if this is not possible, you should keep it in a well-ventilated room without a lot of moisture. Note that this might take the entire day. Even so, you can still speed up things by turning on the fan and opening all the windows and doors in the room
If you were using baking soda, you might not need to vacuum it because keeping some between the sheets and mattress will trap any odors in there. But, if you used a lot of borax or baking soda you need to vacuum it and once you do this, the mattress should be clean again free from urine stains and smell.
What else would you wish for?
Now that you know how to clean urine from a mattress everything should be okay.
But, is there more you need to know?
Yes, you still need to understand how to prevent and protect it from getting urine. Sealed protectors are one of the best ways to protect your mattress from urine and are also very useful for keeping dust mites out.
You can get these waterproof protectors in different styles including ones with zippers, and they are also very breathable. But what do you do if you do not want to invest in an expensive mattress cover? In such a situation a traditional waterproof mattress cover will save you some cash but still work well.
If your toddler is the bed wetter, he/she will outgrow the problem in time. But there are also some steps that you can take to train your child to stop bed wetting. Cutting down their fluid intake past four in the evening is one thing that works for most kids.
Borax will be available in most grocery stores in the laundry section.
It is not always necessary to sterilize the mattress because normal urine is sterile and will not contain any organisms or bacteria. But, you can still use a sterilizing agent like alcohol to neutralize the microorganisms that might be present in the water you are using and the surrounding air.
Yes, some store-bought solutions have a specific formulation just for cleaning urine from mattresses. You can get them in most stores for pet supplies.
It depends on the size of the area that you clean. For a small patch, it takes less than 4 hours to dry depending on the drying method you use. But, large areas can take up to 24 hours to dry completely.
Hydrogen peroxide also works well. Sadly like borax, it can be toxic if you inhale or ingest it.
Hopefully, you will never have to clean your mattress, but in case you need to, there are various things that you can use. Also, it does not take up a lot of your time, and it is possible to get your mattress back to its original look and eliminate the urine odor entirely.
But, the bottom line is that despite the fact that the mattress can be easy to clean, it is always a good idea to prevent and protect it from getting the urine. Protection and prevention will save you a lot of time. Using a mattress protector and training your kids to stop bedwetting are the most effective prevention and protection techniques that you can use.
Are you now ready to take care of all those nasty urine stains in your mattresses? With all the information above you should be.
