Hi Moms!
I was talking to my mother-n-law that I wanted to move my daughter form the toddler bed to a twin bed. She said that I could have the twin bed in her spare bed room it’s only a couple years old. I was very excited to save the money! Well long story short my in-laws are heavy smokers. When my husband brought the mattress home whew…you can smell that stale smoke bad. My husband of course could not smell it but he smokes also (OUTSIDE only). My question is does any body have any suggestions on maybe getting the smell out or will I just need to buy a new mattress? If so how do I do it with out hurting my mother-n-laws feelings?
With this nice weather maybe try putting it outside in the backyard to air it out. It might make it not so strong.
Do you have a steam cleaner? Or a carpet cleaner with an upholstery attachment? Those things are WONDERFUL! If you don't have one, you can rent them. They really work and are far cheaper then buying a new mattress. If it can take cat urine out of my couch, I'm sure it can clean a mattress.
You could try scrubing it with bleach water or a product called Odor X-it (it's not misspelled) which works very well and is money back if not satisfied. I under stand it's available on line and at Big Bob's Used Carpets. It does work in houses where there has been a fire so It should work for cig smoke.
My parents used to be big smokers and my mother would take the mattresses out and wash them with bleach water and turn them so the sun and air could freshen them. It sure helped but I bet odor x-it is better.
When my daughter got old enough to go into a big girls bed my in-laws gave me my husbands old bed which smelt like smoke because his dad was a heavy smoker. I found that Febreze or store brand fabric refresher (extra strenght) works great. Good Luck.
I'd get rid of it. I don't think there's any way to get the smell out. There's no reason your child should sleep on a matress that smells like smoke. I'm not a doctor or a nurse, but I would think that it could be hazardous for her to breath in that smell all night long while she sleeps.
I would just get rid of it without telling your mother in law. If she asks, just be honost.
Good luck.
Get rid of it!!!
Even if you get the smell out, the bacteria still remains and that is obiously not good for your daughter.
L.,
Unfortunately, the mattress cannot be fixed. Throw it out.
I wouldn't use it either. I know it sucks because I love free stuff too, but when my kids were younger, like ages 1-3, they had asthma issues and my doctor told me that if anyone we know even smokes outside, to make sure they wash their hands before they touch or come close to the kids, because even the smell of stale smoke can cause asthma symptoms. Now my kids are 4 and 5 and have outgrown the asthma thing, but I truly believe that kids are very susceptible to smoke when they're young, and if your child were to start showing signs of breathing difficulty, you'd feel awful. I went to a mattress store when I was going to buy my son's first twim mattress, walked in and said "I would like to buy your cheapest twin mattress you have. It's for my son who will probably ruin it anyway." The guy was really cool about it, didn't try to upsell me, and showed me a mattress that I was able to buy for dirt cheap. If I were you, I would even scrub down the bed frame really good. If it's wooden, use old english or something.
