Hi all:
My 5 yr old has been trying to wear underware to bed instead of pull-ups but has been wetting the bed. When I went to change sheets his mattress was nasty. Does anyone have ideas on how to clean urine out of a mattress. I have heard of vinegar but how do you use it?
thanks for all your great advice!
I have just put the sheets back on, I just let it air dry,but now with your ideas I will get one of the enzyme removers and try the sun method.Did I mention it was a bottom mattress on a bunk bed so a pain in the butt to make this bed. I will try soon. I also really like the plastic cover for the mattress. I think since this is a problem while we try night time potty training I will invest in the plastic cover. Thank You all so much for great advice!! You mom's rock!!!
If you take and remoisten the mattress with a disenfectin and spray lightly on. Then take corn starch and apply to the moistend area and let it completely dry. Once completely dried then brush off access and run the vaccum over it and it should be stain free and odor free from the disenfect.
I know vinegar will work, but I have never used it on a mattress. I would think you could use it with a carpet cleaner by mixing vinegar with water instead of using the chemical cleaners. Vinegar is a great disinfectant and it gets rid of the urine smell. Good luck!
Make it a GREAT day!
S.
I know that "chemicals" are often not a first choice, but if vinegar doesn't work, I suggest Fabreeze. If you can, take the mattress outdoors on a sunny, hot day, and spray the Fabreeze on it, then leave the mattress in the sun a long as possible. Fabreeze got the smell of vomit out of my car after I puked in it while pregnant.
Good luck.
There's an enzymatic cleaner available called Kids 'n' Pets which you can find at places like Walmart that works pretty well. You simply saturate the affected area and let it air dry. It actually took care of cat urine on carpet for us, as well as pee on a mattress. Good luck!
M.,
There is a wonderful product called Nature's Miracle. It is available at pet stores since it is designed to remove urine stains and odor. I think it will take care of the matress!
E.
Along the lines of Nature's miracle, which someone mentioned below, there's another product called Mother's Miracle (or something like that!). It's also enzyme-based. I used Mother's Miracle when my girls were younger and that's the best thing I have found, although I'm not sure where to get it in this part of the country (we were out east then). It took urine (and vomit and other nasty smells) out of everything we used it on.
Good luck.
Borax works great and the instructions are right on the side of the box. Also, you can buy a plastic mattress cover at WalMart or Target. I put ours under the mattress pad so the plastic isn't directly under the sheet (I figured that would be uncomfortable). I figure the mattress pad can easily be washed but cleaning the mattress itself is a pain.
Just another note, it is really ok for a 5-year-old to still wear pull-ups to bed. With my son, I decided I would start putting him in underwear at night when he started consistently waking up with a dry diaper. I expected it to be when he was 5 or 6 but he surprised me and started doing it about a month ago (he's 3 1/2). I waited until he'd been waking up dry for a couple of weeks straight, then I switched him to underwear at night and he's been doing great! So my point is, maybe you should hold off on night training until your child is already waking up dry. To help him get there, try not to let him drink anything within an hour of bedtime and make him go pee right before he gets into bed.
If you really want to go forward with the training, though, I second the idea of the plastic mattress cover. I keep one on my son's bed in case he does have an accident.
You've already posted a resolution but I pour vinegar on the spot(I keep pouring til the stain is covered-if it's really bad, I let it soak through the mattress), suck as much out as I can w/the steam cleaner & let it air dry for a few days (bonus fun, sleeping bag or pile of blankets on the floor til it's dry). I have plastic fitted sheets on all of our kids' beds-even the 13 YO-because my dog likes to pee when she's mad at us. On top of that, I put a decently thick quilted mattress cover. Nobody complains about the plastic.
I've always been told that mattresses that have been peed on should be just tossed and replaced. We have waterproof covers on all of our--under a regular mattress pad--so there is not plactic feeling while sleeping on it. If it were me, I would replace it and protect my new one (and any others in the house) with a cover that is water proof. It works great to help with things like vomit, urine, breast milk, etc... that come along with having little ones. Once mattress material is wet, I don't really think there is anything you can do to fix it--you will always have problems with molds and chemical off-gassing after that.
Walmart has a urine clean in the PET (for dog urine) section that works really well.
Also, get a mattress pad to put under the sheet so you have a little more protection.
I have an 8yr old with "issues." We just use the carpet cleaner with the hand attachment so we not we're not just scrubbing off the top layer and leaving pee in the foam. Good luck!
Not sure how to clean the mattress, but after you've knocked that out you might consider buying a plastic matress cover. We got one at Target, I think. It has saved me from ugly messes on more than one occassion. Good luck!
