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If stains and odors are taking over the mattress in your child’s room, use this simple 3-step method to clean pee out of a mattress!
This is the very best way to clean pee out of a mattress. This easy process will remove those nasty odors and stains from wetting the bed will quickly become your best friend.
How to Clean Pee Odors and Stains From A Mattress
This may be an odd topic to discuss on a food blog, but it’s a real life issue that we deal with on a weekly basis when my son was younger. Years ago I talked about my son’s bedwetting issues and I had a lot of feedback from moms dealing with the same thing. I figured maybe you could use some cleaning tips like this as well.
I would clean it as best I could but nothing worked. Febreze and other cleaners simply masked the urine odors, and some cleaning solutions that I’d found online would remove the odor but didn’t work well on the stains.
So I created my own method with a mattress cleaner based on items in my pantry, and it’s been working great! This method of removing odors from your mattress is really simple and doesn’t require any fancy scented oils or kitchen utensils. I also like that the products I use aren’t harmful and my son can help with the clean-up.
Follow these easy tips for how to clean your mattress with my easy, all-natural mattress cleaner.
Here’s What You Need:
There are only a few ingredients and tools that you need to clean pee out of a mattress.
- A roll of paper towels (or lots of rags that you don’t mind washing)
- Baking Soda
- Distilled White Vinegar
- An empty spray bottle
- Vacuum Cleaner
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Step-by-Step Instructions
Step One: Blot the pee as dry as possible with paper towels or rags. If it’s already dry, move on to step 2.
Step Two: Saturate the stain with distilled white vinegar. I highly recommend using a spray bottle as pouring the vinegar directly on the stain could over-saturate the mattress. If you’re concerned about a heavy vinegar smell, you can dilute the vinegar with water, which a lot of methods call for, but that just didn’t seem to work as well. The straight vinegar is very strong and really helps to pull out that nasty urine odor.
Step Three: Let the vinegar sit for 5-10 minutes. If you have a ceiling fan, turn it on, or run a stand alone fan if you can. At the very least open the windows. The increased air flow helps to speed up the process.
Step Four: Blot with paper towels or rags to soak up the vinegar. Press several layers of paper towels into the mattress for this step. You want to soak up as much of the vinegar as possible.
Step Five: Sprinkle baking soda all over and around the stain. You can get real fancy and use a sieve or a sifter for this step, but I don’t think it’s necessary. If there are a lot of clumps just break them up with your fingers. Let the baking soda sit for several hours. The longer the better. After a couple of hours, you’ll begin to see the baking soda caking as it soadks up the vinegar (and takes that nasty odor with it!).
Step Six: Vacuum up the baking soda from the mattress. Make sure to go over the crevices several times. It makes me kinda happy making those lines in the powder with the vacuum cleaner.
That’s it! If the stains and odors are really bad, you may have to repeat this process, but it really does work! And it doesn’t just get pee out of a mattress. Readers have used this method to remove blood stains, wine and more from their mattress. Be sure to read all of the tips readers have shared below.
Pro Tips
- If you have some really difficult stains, use an old toothbrush to rub the vinegar into them vigorously.
- I highly recommend using a spray bottle for the vinegar. However if you just don’t have one, saturate a rag with vinegar and lay it over the stain to pull the odor out.
- Some methods online tell you to dilute the vinegar. You can do that, and it will help with the vinegar smell. But it also dilutes the effectiveness in my experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
I recommend Distilled White Vinegar. I keep it on hand in the gallon bottles because it is amazing with so many different household cleaning tasks like this mattress cleaner, and it’s super cheap.
Other vinegars are for cooking and are more expensive, and really just won’t work as well. However I did have a reader mention that she used apple cider vinegar and it worked great. The vinegar is just a strong acid that breaks down the odor causing proteins.
We do – I actually have 3 of THIS ONE. It works really well, except for that time you are so tired that you forget to put it on, or it rips and you didn’t know, or your son makes his own bed and forgets to put it on, or it slips off the corner because he thrashes around too much at night, or he just doesn’t like the sound/feel of it so he takes it off without telling you, or he wets more than once in a night and you don’t have a back-up, or sometimes, they just fail.
It’s not for lack of trying, believe me. Sometimes these accidents just happen and are totally random and it’s always good to have a great mattress cleaner method ready to go.
Reader Tips
Here are some tips from readers who have tried this method.
Set your mattress in the sun.
Jim says, “Vinegar and baking soda do an excellent job for cleaning a mattress. It has always worked for me. If there is too much odor, you may have to put the mattress out in the sun.” (editor’s note – this is great for freshening pillows, too!).
Works on pet stains and odors, too.
Hadley says, “This method works wonderfully on urine odor and stains from pets, too! Last weekend, my sister’s dog had an accident on the end of my bed, and there was a large, yellow urine stain. I was going to purchase some fancy expensive pet stain remover, but I found your website, and read about your method, instead. Ingenious!
I saturated the stain with distilled white vinegar, let it set for about ten minutes, blotted the vinegar with some paper towels, sprinkled a generous amount of baking soda on the stain. I let the baking soda sit for about three hours, and I literally just finished vacuuming the baking soda up, and the stain and smell is completely gone! Thank you so much for telling folks about this method! Your mattress cleaner saved me time and money!”
Bridget says, “I just had to tell you I wish I could give you the biggest hug! I have a tempurpedic mattress and my cat decided to pee on it! I almost had it out my door to throw away and I was so angry that I knew I would NEVER get that smell out! Yes it had ALL the appropriate waterproof covers too! Still soaked through! Well something told me google it before you throw it. I did and I saw this. Well I did it and oh my god! It worked!!! No smell at all!!!! Thank you!”
Add vinegar to really smelly laundry.
Cassie says, “Thank you! I am going to try this! Why didn’t I think of vinegar before? It’s the best to use on any odors, and I’ve even used to get odors out of clothes and bedding. I tried the baking soda [but] didn’t try vinegar! Genius – I will be doing this today. FYI, they do make vinegar for laundry [too].”
Worried about the strong smell of vinegar? Add scented oils.
Katie says, “I have found that adding a few drops of essential oil (lemon works well) to the vinegar in the spray bottle works wonders to mask the strong smell of the vinegar.”
Don’t have vinegar? Try…vodka?
Sheridan says, “I also have another remedy that is great for getting rid of smells… Vodka! I tried it once to get mildew smell out of a hat and have used it for smelly fabric issues ever since. Same principle, put it in a spray bottle, spray the fabric object down with it until it’s pretty moist to the touch, but for best results put it in a warm sunny spot to evaporate. You can’t really do that with a mattress but alcohol evaporates fairly quickly anyway, and using a fan helps. It doesn’t do much for stains, but works wonders on smells, including mildew!”
*Editor’s note: Basic rubbing alcohol would work the same way, similar to how hand sanitizer works.
Works on vomit, too.
Laura says, “I tried it today on vomit as my son got sick on my bed this morning. It worked great, and luckily there weren’t any stains. I also used a hot iron and damp cloth to get the stains up (to soak up the vinegar & stain), before the baking soda. It’s not great on the iron, but the stains come up so much easier. It’s the same trick used to get (pet) urine stains out of carpet.”
All-Natural Mattress Cleaner
Equipment
- Spray bottle
- Paper towels and/or rags
- Vaccuum cleaner
- Fan optional
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Distilled white vinegar
Instructions
- Blot the pee as dry as possible with paper towels or rags. If it’s already dry, move on to step 2.
- Pour vinegar into the spray bottle and spray all over the stain to saturate. Let sit for 10 minutes. Run your ceiling fan or open window so air can circulate.
- Blot with paper towels or rags to soak up the vinegar.
- Sprinkle baking soda liberally all over and around the stain. Let sit for 3-4 hours.
- Vacuum up the baking soda from the mattress.
Notes
- If you have some really difficult stains, use an old toothbrush to rub the vinegar into them vigorously.
- I highly recommend using a spray bottle for the vinegar. However if you just don’t have one, saturate a rag with vinegar and lay it over the stain to pull the odor out.
- Some methods online tell you to dilute the vinegar. You can do that, and it will help with the vinegar smell. But it also dilutes the effectiveness in my experience.
- For really stubborn stains and odors, you may need to repeat the process.
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of “Yellow Bliss Road” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Would this work for carpet as well ? We have a one bathroom and if someone is in there my daughter doesn’t say anything and has twice now just went and peed in her room. I’ve cleaned it but I still smell it help me.
It should work on carpet. Folex carpet cleaner also works well.
Can I use this method on my couch? My puppy has had accidents on it and I cannot get the stains or smell to go away.
Yes you could try it on your couch.
I sprayed my mattress and put the baking soda on it yesterday but it’s still not dry. I don’t know what to do.
I’ve left the baking soda for 4 hours now and as I was vacuuming the mattress still appears to be wet/ damp, what can I do to fix this ?
I don’t mean to sound snarky, but you just have to let it dry.
Hello! Thanks for the step by step. I tried this method but the vinegar itself seems to leave a yellow stain… I know it’s the mixture because the more I try to cover those yellow lines with vinegar, the farther the line extends! Any tips?
Unfortunately this method won’t remove every but of stain, but it does greatly reduce it. I don’t worry about it personally because I just cover the mattress anyway. I’m more concerned with the smell, and this method totally removes it.
My son has really strong body odoour, I do this method with his bed and will put mattress out over night in really cold frost or if summer In the sun. both work miracles
Kristin, my daughter had the same issue as your son. When she was 8 I took her to a urologist to chase it checked out. Her uretha tube was really small. It was stretched and clipped a bit. Just an overnight stay in hospital. She had a few accidents after that, but eventually it stopped.
Thanks for the reassurance! Vinegar works well. I am thankful that it is so simple Going from project to project it easy to forget how I started this journey. I appreciate you and the article.
Thank you for taking the time to share this! Much appreciated.
You are so welcome Sharon! Thanks for stopping by.
I’ve tried this today on my mattress as my little ones have a had a few accidents in our bed and I just seem to get the smell out – followed all the steps and left all day but hoovered it up and got into bed and my bed smells terrible ! It’s like sitting in a pack of salt and vinegar crisps! What did I do wrong?!?
Thank you for this sharing.. Its works out amazing..
You are so welcome Devid! Thanks for stopping by.
This worked out great, thanks!
hi, my son has saturated his mattress, the smell is coming through from the underside as well. Any ideas how to sort this? He has a wooden frame so seems to have soaked into the slants as well. He doesnt tell us he has done it even though I have always said I wouldnt be mad.
Thank you! Will try this!
help!! I tried this with apple cider vinegar as the post had mentioned it could be used as a substitute, but it’s left a huge yellow stain that I can’t get rid of, what can I do?
Hi, I’m sorry you ended up with a stain. I mentioned in the post that a reader had tried it out and it worked for them, but it’s not something I recommended. I would try the distilled vinegar and baking soda method on the stain.
peroxide it, may help and leave outside in sun or in frost both are natural whiteners
I use peroxide on my mattress protector when my kiddo has an accident and it takes away yellowing and smell every time. Mine is white tho so maybe colour test a spot first if yours is not. I liberally put it on a cloth and wipe.
Try peroxide in a spray bottle!
Do you have to blot it up with paper towels? I just did this, but forgot this step, and I don’t wanna redo it. Is there any recommendations since I forgot this step? I’m currently letting the baking soda sit on the bed.
It depends on how much liquid you used. It can still work but will take a lot longer to dry.
I sprayed the whole bed.
Just found this I am definitely trying this tomorrow thank you so much cant wait
With 3 kids from 6months, 4, and 8 years old. I could have never imagine that using vinegar and baking soda works better then all of those chemical cleaning products. Plus, a whole lot safe with kids too. I will have to admit that this is really embarrassing topic for most of us. But I am glad that you were able to address this topic with us moms. Thank you so much, Kristin.
You are so welcome! Thanks for stopping by.
Most grateful thanks, Kristin, for this invaluable tip. Has worked like a charm both times I’ve needed it. A great comfort to know there’s such an easy solution to an embarrassing problem associated with the later years. Best regards, Fred Halgedahl
You are so welcome Frederick! Thanks for stopping by.
The mattress protector you refer to gets some really bad current reviews on Amazon – just noting…it sounds like it leaks through if the liquid sits through the night. You might want to find another one to recommend.
I’m not sure where you’re looking, but the link I have in the post has 4.3 stars and nearly 800 ratings. Every product will have bad reviews and there can be a lot of reason why, including user error. We used this cover exclusively for years and that’s why I personally recommend it.
It really does work! I have epilepsy and well sometimes when having a seizure you end up, yeah. So I did all the steps and as i was waiting i could see the stains fade away and the smell vanished. Very happy with this, a life saver!!
Nice! Glad it worked out Ashley.
Hello Kristin, will this work on older stains too.Thank you!
I have used it on older stains with varied success. But yes, it will work with older stains.
It works!!! Thanks
My 5 years old sleep with me ,,, I know! But I love him so much… and if he drinks a lot you know the results:(…
That’s Great Edith! Thanks for stopping by
Hi I don’t have a vaccum would it still work if I let it air dry?
Can I use apple cider vinegar? Thank you
No apple cider vinegar is not the same thing.
So I tried this and my mattress still looked yellow with stains it don’t smell I left baking soda on for like 5 hrs and yeah so what else can I do to take stain off
Is baking soda the same as bicarbonate of soda or is it the same as baking powder? Thanks for your advice and cleaning tips.
Baking soda is bicarbonate of soda.
If i use salad vinegar which is black, will it stain the matress even more?
Only use white vinegar. Any other type of vinegar has colors and odors that are different and can stain your mattress.
You’re the best!! THANK YOU for the vinegar/baking soda “recipe.” It worked great!! Consider me a fan. The few things I’ve read on your site are inspiring me to get my photography/book company up and running.
You are so welcome Suzanne! Thanks for stopping by.
I hate the smell of vinegar, would i still smell it afterwards? Can i skip that part? N go straight to the baking soda? Scared of over soaking my mattress as well but my moms dog had an accident on my bed and it reeks of urine
The baking soda should help take care of the vinegar smell.
Can I use a shopvac instead of a vacuum
Yes that would probably work even better!
I use vinegar in my laundry all the time. I don’t use any thing in my dryer. Vinegar helps with that. I used to use borax but vinegar is liquid so there are never clumps.
can I use baking powder or cornstarch instead of the baking soda?
No those wouldn’t work the same.
What if we don’t have a vacuum?
This method probably won’t work well for you.
Does it matter if the baking soda I found in my house is like 10 years old I mean it’s cheap I don’t care about that I’m just wondering if I can like start this process right away I’ll wait till tomorrow when I get out of work and buy new baking soda
I don’t really know how well it would still work, I recommend buying some fresh.
I noticed someone mentioned washing clothes with vinegar. I rarely wash clothes without it. Not only does it get rid of smells as someone pointed out. It is also a natural fabric softner. It lifts stains, brightens whites and kills germs that normal soap and water won’t kill. I no longer buy spot cleaners. Honestly, I rarely spot treat now. If for some strange reason the vinegar doesn’t work. Such as grease stains. I splash in some pine sol. In the past if chapstick got left in a pocket and melted everywhere in the drier. I would turn those clothes into rags. Now all I do is pour pine sol directly on the stain and wash immediately. Boy does it brighten whites! I also add a splash of vinegar to my steam cleaner.
Thank you for the cleaning tips,,,
You are so welcome Staci.
I tried this and it kind of worked! Less stain remains and no urine smell yay! Can I do anything else or repeat the steps to try and get rid of the rest of the stain?
You can try repeating the process, but it’s not always guaranteed to remove the stain 100%.
Hello
What if there is no baking soda? Is there any alternative?
Hi Kristin,
I tried this method and while the room doesn’t reek of urine like it used to, if you go real close to the mattress and sniff you can still smell urine and/or vinegar. I tried to follow exactly how you outlined the steps and left the baking soda to do it’s thing for 5 hrs, is it normal for some smell to still remain?
It works!! White vinegar and bi-carbonate of soda, removed the pee stain from my 6 month old mattress. My dog is 15 and has always slept with me, but lately he has become incontinent. I tried the white vinegar and bi carb it’s brilliant. I have purchased a waterproof mattress protecter now, so hopefully I won’t have to deal with pee on my mattress again. But I know what to do if it does leek.
Is it really a need for baking soda?
For this process, yes. It neutralizes odor.
Vinegar is also a deterrent where animals urinate ..They will not go back to area cleaned with Vinegar.
Hello,
So my little dog peed on our bed and I tried every method there is and even hired two companies to clean it and the odor is still there then of course I went back to spraying just vinegar and baking soda and yet it’s still there but not the whole circle now just more so the central area. Any ideas why urine odor still there?
Dog urine is a completely different chemical make up than human. I would try googling for pet urine.
Hydrogen Peroxide ….Kills it.
Kills bacteria and Mold, Fungus Etc…
Had Fungus inside Helmet and on my scalp (Fungus) spray with H.P. in Helmet & Head…
Killed it….Excellent Disinfectant….Hospitals have on every floor and every room.
Also great for ear infections, Periodontal, Plants…Etc
H202 Hydogen /Oxygen
Does this remove blood stains (you know, the ones almost every woman between age 15-50 has had to deal with!)
Hi Joan
I haven’t tried it on that myself, so I can’t say for sure. It would certainly be worth a try!
Peroxide!!!!
Thanks, Jena, I’ll try that!
Yes and also if it gets in your under garments Soak the area that has the blood stain in cold milk for about 30 mins. Then wash in cold water will come out like new
Hi Kristin, I am a big fan of natural cleaning, thank you for the confirmation t hat this method works. I wanted to give a tip on using baking soda. If you have an old parmesan can it works great for sprinkling baking soda. I keep a can full in my cleaning supplies!
Hiya, after you vacuum the baking soda in step 4, do you then put it out in the sun to dry?
Nope! It will take several hours to dry indoors so I suppose you could put it out but that’s kind of a hassle. If you have a fan I would just turn that on to help speed up the process.
Ugh – I forgot to blot the vinegar/water before I sprinkled on the baking soda. Fingers crossed ??
Did it? I also forgot.
This worked great! You saved me from having to bu ya new mattress! Thank you!
Do you think this take a musty basement smell out of a pillow top mattress?
Kristin thanks for the mattress cleaning tip. I will refer parents to your site. I am a Hypnotherapist and bed wetting issues are quickly resolved through this modality. A clean stain free mattress is the desire of every parent, child, teen, adult. Don
We are starting to potty train my son and since day one had refused to wear diapers again, even at night (hallelujah!) I’m thinking just have a spray bottle of vinegar and baking soda for those night time accidents. What’s the longest you would leave the baking soda on for? Just in case his accident happens early in the night? Thanks!
It won’t hurt to leave it on all night.
Tried it and it worked pretty good. I still see faint stains. Will try again.
Glad it worked for you. It’s possible that the stains may not disappear completely.
Will this method help to remove feces stains?
Older children with bed wetting issues such as your son can often be help quickly and effectively by simply getting several chiropractic adjustments. Two of my grandchildren suffered with bed wetting and the emotional trauma it caused for them until they began chiropractic care.
It changed their lives as well as my daughter in law’s!
Thank you for the tips im about to use Clorox urine remover and baking soda and see what happens.
Nice! Thank you
How long will it take for the mattress to d dry?
Depends on the humidity, temperature, and the amount of liquid in the mattress. It can a couple of hours or up to a day.
This works absolutely brilliant in gettin blood off a mattress ive tried & tested it leave it about 1hr tho if its really bad lifts the stain out no problem !!!
Can you use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar?
Thank u Kristen , thank u so much
Kristin, does the vinegar odour go away? I’m confused as to how the vinegar removes the urine odour? My daughter just spilled Pho soup on her mattress…picture fish based clear soup…. Yuck, I want to clean it but not sure if this method will work for this as well as urine
Yes it will go away 🙂
Great tips for cleaning. I do think you should edit your post in step 4 where you say you are a tad OCD and like making those lines. My daughter has OCD. It is a debilitating illness and people with OCD do not organize and neaten because they enjoy it. They do it because they can not NOT do it. It causes them great mental anguish. I realize you had no intention of minimizing a serious disorder. Most people do not actually understand what having this disorder means. Unfortunately It is very common for people to say” I’m so OCD…”. Here is a link to more information. https://iocdf.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/What-You-Need-To-Know-About-OCD.pdf
Thanks for your cleaning tips again, tackling a nasty topic.
Lori, thank you for your gentle constructive criticism. I would never minimize a disorder like this and apologize if it came across that way. I will remove that line, and I wish you and your daughter the best!
In regards to the ocd comment. I have it, and the simple thought of something but being out of place or having to do some things a specific way, or it just doesn’t feel right, and the list goes on, the feeling you get is a sense of panic, and thoughts running crazy in your head until it’s corrected.
However, I don’t take offense to ocd comments. It is what it is. It’s a life struggle, and even though things drive me crazy, I’ve also learned to laugh at it, It helps me deal with the out of order issue at the moment until I can fix it.
It was thought that I had OCD because of some tendencies of my own (it takes me twenty minutes to make a peanut butter sandwich because I have to get the pb all the way to the edge of the bread and evenly applied. At places that make sandwiches I can’t watch them making the sandwich because it gives me such bad anxiety to see it done so sloppily, stuff like that). Then, I was diagnosed as being ASD. Finding out I am on the autism spectrum brought so much peace to me!! I finally understood so much about my life that had not made sense before. Just mentioning in case others out there are searching for answers. Before being considered OCD, they also thought I was manic-depressive. Women tend to be misdiagnosed because we can mimic behaviors and social cues, even if we don’t understand why they are important or why anyone would bother. I began caring because I was bullied so badly through elementary and middle school. There is a lot of research happening right now about how autism manifests differently in girls vs. the old line of thought that autism just affects boys more.
If you use 8oz of hydrogen peroxide with 3 tablespoons of baking soda with seriously 1 drop of dish soap, mix it up and put in a spray bottle and spray your stains everything including blood will come out, no scrubbing necessary just turn on ceiling fan and watch them disappear before your eyes.
Is the stain supposed to lift during step 2 or step 4? I’m not sure if I should scrub the stain or leaveit to the baking soda to soak it up
It lifts, but may not completely depending on how bad it is.
How about the blood stain? Does it work well?
Haven’t tried that, but it would definitely be tougher than a urine stain.
Cold water and hydrogen peroxide
I second this.
I usually just mix some detergent and disinfectant and scrub it lightly into the surface.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef15KbHnZXI
The blue Dawn dish soap works amazing for removing blood. Give it a try! I keep a small bottle in my laundry room for all kinds of stains!
Kristin!
I love your ideas!! I have question aboiut the apple cider vinager on mattress / couch… I have pet smell on couch and in the cushions. I can not wash the material/cushions they are foam. How do you remove the apple cider? Can I spray apple cider vinager on them and put them in sun to dry then just leave the apple cider in the cushions? I am assuming that is the same for a mattress?
I am depserate to get rid of the smell!!
Thank you!!
I used the scented pet spray for spots on a mattress that was. Peed on then used baking soda and waited for couple hours and vaccumed up soda great result. Vinegar is. Cheap but happened to have the pet stuff which I believe is mostly vinegar.
Thanks, for how to clean a mattress straps.
Thank you ,thank you,thank you soo much you saved mine and my 4 year olds bed!♡♡♡♡
Hi I wanto try this method to get rid of pee marks. I’m wondering if it will also work to get rid of marks that happened from sperm?
I’m gonna try this my son has bed wetting issues and the odor I can’t seem to get rid of so I’m gonna try this and see what happens
I was reading through the comments for the purpose of cleaning my mattress. My dog had a seizure during the night. And for some whose kids struggle with bed wetting issues I just wanted to mention they may have a sensitivity to dairy. Perhaps try no cows milk for a little and see if that helps. Just thought this might be helpful to some.
My mattress is under warranty. If I have indentations of at least 2 inches they will replace the mattress. I called & they will come out, but there can be NO stains at all.
Will the vinegar or Vodka leave a smell? I have had the mattress 5 years.
I bought expensive leather living room suit with a warranty from same furniture store. The leather is literally shredding off in pieces. Was told that isn’t covered under the warranty, they actually paid me back the money I paid for the warranty on my living room furniture. I will try anything to get rid of mattress stains. I want them to honor my mattress warranty. Then I will never buy anything from them again as I need a new living room suit. I would recover it, but its multiple recliners.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for your post! I’m always hesitant to use chemicals around children so I love your all natural alternative. How “liberally” should I spray the mattress? I want to spray enough vinegar on the mattress to be effective on the stain, yet not over saturate. Should the paper towels used for blotting be soaked through easily when doing step 2?
Great Idea it worked our great that you.
Hi
Saw some brown stains on the base of mattress there are no kids in the room and no pets. This mattress we got it for free some time ago. We got the mattress as is. It is the base of the mattress what could have caused the stains to be there. Please help where could have these stains come from. Unusual though that they are at the base of the mattress or is it normal?
Can I use this method on old stains? Can I use Apple cider vinegar? What does step 2 say?
I have used it on older stains. It may not get it *all* out, but it will significantly lighten it and remove the smell.
What does step 2 say? Can this method work on old stains? Will Apple cider vinegar work?
Click the links at the bottom of the post to view the next pages.
Is there anything else I could use instead of the white vinegar? Lemon juice etc, I think I have apple cider vinegar but that’s it. Any suggestions?
In this case it’s the white vinegar that you want. The other things will add to the stain.
Well it’s not a cold it’s my adult mother, she doesn’t the weekend with me and my family and well let’s just say I’m holding my composure very well!!!
I removed my brand new sheet set of the bed and washed immediately and while that was washing I made some hot Lysol n bleach water, I had already lightly soaped the mattress and took a scrub brush to clean my mattress as best as I could… Since it was a large area I cut on my box fan verses standing there using my blow dryer…
I don’t know if it’s just me or if the faint smell if staying to seep through already, so I placed some baby powder down to possibly help draw that out… (I’m slightly pissed off bout it cause that’s MY BED, and it was a gift… Is my bed ruined!?)
4 15 18
How long do I need to wait until I can vacuum the baking soda? Does it need to have dried up? I don’t want to ruin the vacuum if it’s too wet? thanks
Until it’s cakey and slightly dry…it’s a judgement call, but it shouldn’t feel “wet.”
Thanks for this info. I let my husband talk us into buying a $1700 mattress and the children have stained it up. I am trying this right now.
Baking soda and Deodorize are very much important for the mattress cleaning. These both not only clean your mattress but also clean rid the order.
Hi so I’m freaking out a bit. Just bought my new nice mattress! I have anxiety so stress gets to me easily. Anyway woke up from a dream realised I peed my bed. I rushed and ripped off the mattress. It was 3AM and freaking out. I grabbed a sponge put some soap and water and scrubbed. Now I’m reading that was the wrong thing to do. I put baking soda on top but freaking out because I didn’t blot it. If I let it airdry then put your solution will I be fine? I am now scared I’ll get mold.
The mattress is now air drying with baking soda on top.
Just read the box I used baking powder not soda
5am…One of my 12yo twins just woke up ‘Mom, I need a shower! I’m sorry, I didn’t even wake up! ‘
Found your article. Wish me luck on a futon bunkbed-essentially just a big pad!
Will this method remove sweat stains?
I haven’t tried it with sweat stains, but I have heard that topping a cup of vinegar in with your wash can help with that.
Super helpful! Definitely going to try this. Just a thought though – Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a very real mental illness and is extremely distressing to live with, I speak from experience. It is not a fun word to describe finnicky behaviours.
Hello! I’m sorry you had to go through so much trouble but at the same time your experience is helping others like me!! Just moved into a rental apt for the next few months and it seems as though my mattress has been peed on before. Gonna try your methods and I hope it will help!
Thank you so much for sharing!
Exact same scenario for me. Glad I discovered this site on google.com
I am going to try this. Thank you for posting. I read through all the comments and I thought they were joking with you. You are patient and kind.?
Ha! Thank you and good luck!
What’s step 2? I can’t read what it says in the corner since the red writing it’s covering it. Thanks
Just tried it, fingers crossed it works. Thanks so much for the info!
Hi I’m jayla I’m ten years old and I just wet the bed I dabbed it with a towel and put on baking soda the ii washed my sheets and sprayed frabreese on it now what do I do
You’re saving my mattress right now! My 2 year old Co-Sleeps with me and no matter how many times I change his diaper during the night, he STILL manages to “handle business” in his sleep and on my mattress (lol). Potty training is next! 🙂 THANK YOU FOR THIS! It really helps!
What if I forget to soak up the vinegar ? I got carried away and forgot then I put soda on it’s abit mushy but will it dry anyways ?
I would try blotting it and then adding a little more baking soda if needed. It could soak too deep into the mattress.
Hi, does this trick also get rid of the stains too?
Don’t have a urine stain jusy the smell….what can i do?
Hi, I just googled “how to get rid of urine smells and stain from mattress ” and your blog came up. But before I got to your recommendation, I read one that just told me to put baking soda on the mattress to soak up the urine. Can I start all over with your method? Or will the baking soda bubble up if I apply white vinager on it?
What can I do?
Will this apply for pet urin smells? And what happens when the matres s still smells like vinigar?
Does the actual stain come out or just the smell? Thanks! I’ve got the baking soda on the bed now
For me, most of the stain came out. Enough to make me happy!
Thanks Kristin your method helped a lot! I was washing laundry today and just noticed one of our old mattresses which our kids use now was all stained and smelly. I looked up online how to get rid of these and your method came up. It works beautifully. Went from a stained and smelly mattress to an almost good as new mattress with hardly any stain and zero smells!
Thanks Kristin, I’ve used this method on old stains; my son’s mattress used to stink!! All fixed now thanks to you. I just did this on my queen mattress (couldn’t drag it outside into the sun by myself!!) after my son wet my bed last night, and its working!! I didn’t think I’d ever be able fix it. I can’t thank you enough, best regards M
Do u think it would be ok to add a little smell to it somehow, have u tried this? Do u have any ideas of what I could use to give it a pleasant smell?
I’ve had people say they add some essential oils to the mix. That would be ok.
Hi, would Cyder vinegar or rice vinegar work?!!
No, they are a different type of vinegar. You want white distilled vinegar.
Can you use alcohol instead of vinegsr?
No
I’m confused – after the white vinegar, do I use bicarbonate of soda or baking powder?
You use baking soda, NOT baking powder.
I’m in a pinch at 3am!!
I’ve been sick in bed since Friday 7/27, today I asked my husband to let my 3 1/2 year old daughter come take a nap with me.
>>He may or may not have told me that she was still in her training undies however I really was on another planet with medicine!? These Panties have little to no absorbing power since the point is to make her know she pee pee’d herself so she has to get to the potty BUT at naps & bedtime on goes the pull-up just in case! <<
??? Why No Pull-Up put on before napping with me in our bed especially since we don’t let her sleep in here, I’m seriously mind blown ????
Anyways…
The only baking soda I found in the house at 3am was the ones you put in the freezer and fridge for 30 days… they are about a week new, so I grabbed the freezer one since there isn’t anything in there with odor. It’s still powder not clumpy. So I’m trying that now.
As I’m sitting here in my room with windows open and ceiling fan on blast, gagging, waiting for the 15m mark… I’m wondering if this would work on old stains? While I’m doing this shouldn’t I just do the whole bed?
Bicarbonate of soda is what you need (known as baking soda in some countries
Thanks for the great tip! My Daughter slept in our room last night and her pull up failed her! And having a king sized bed, the two mattress protectors failed because it was the center crack! I am only on the vinegar step, but already the stains are gone!!! This is so great!
This method white mattress only or other colour mattress also
I haven’t tried on a colored mattress, only white. It would work on the smell for sure, but I can’t say if it would remove the stain completely.
Should I leave the fan on for the baking sofa process?
It’s possible that could help speed up the process. I usually leave the fan on and the windows open.
I can’t get the smell of vinegar out of my mattress and that was 3 days ago. What should I do?
I have a cleaning solution that I make using cleaning vinegar (has a bit more acidity) and lemon peels just makes it a little stronger you let it sit for 5 days.
You think that would work?
My 5 year old just can’t always make it and he ever reaks if urine ?
Since I haven’t tried it myself I can’t say for sure, but I do think that would work. I’d be worried that it might be a little *too* acidic so maybe test it first.
We have been using regular white distilled vinegar in our laundry for quite some time. On low load setting I put vinegar, soap, Oxyclean for whites or stained clothes let it agitate to mix Turn lull load on then add clothes. My whites are whiter my colors are brighter and I’ve not hurt my drain field. And I use less soap!!!
1 cup vinegar for whites and light colors
1/2 cup for darker clothes but ALWAWYS mix vinegar in water FIRST so it’s diluted.
It works great to kill naturally Athletes foot in socks and the tub.
Do you think this would work on milk stains? We had a cup leak!!!
Oh no! Not sure it would work on the stain but would hopefully at least ward off the smell!
Salt sprinkled on a still-wet milk spill (after sopping up as much as you can with rags) absorbs the remaining milk and neutralizes the odor so you don’t end up with a sour milk smell.
Not sure if this would help with an older, already dry milk spill. I think I would wet the spill with plain water, and if it had a sour milk scent, I would treat it as a new spill, as above.
I would try lestoil for the milk stain. This product has worked on so many stains that are old and I never thought would come out. Sometimes I have needed to use more then one time. If you are trying this on a colored shirt that is fine but don’t scrub it or it will take some of the color out. Not like bleach but it may look faded.
Would apple cider vinegar work the same?
I don’t believe so.
Apple cider vinegar also works, I normally use it for haircare and cleaning but white vinegar might be cheaper so depending on your costs maybe it’s better to use white vinegar. If you only have apple cider it’s still okay to clean and remove stains ^^
what a sweet boy! i miss my sweet boys and girls, now grown with children and even grands of their own.
Do you have to use a vacuum to wipe off the baking soda or can you just use a paper towel to get it off?
To ensure that you get all of the baking soda, you’d want to use a vacuum.
Hi. What if I dont have a vacuum?
You could try brushing it up with a broom and dustpan, but a vacuum would work best.
Thank you desperate in New Orleans, you helped me out tremendously.
My Husband just had his prostrate out poor guy is wearing adult diapers but they don’t always protect our mattress, this morning was the third time he had an accident, and this time the mattress Cover that has a rubber back did not work I am thinking that it was not meant for the dryer and somehow I ruined it. anyway I was upset about the pee actually reaching the mattress and I jump on the computer to find you treatment. I didn’t have a spray bottle so I soaked some white rags in the finger. pressed down on the mattress but I wasn’t satisfied with that so I tried sprinkling the vinegar on the mattress, I think I ended up with too much vinegar then threw a bunch of baking soda on top it’s very wet. do I need to wait for it to completely dry ? or should I get as much of the baking soda off and then add more baking soda?
If the baking soda is really wet it may have soaked up all it can. I’d maybe try tome more baking soda, but before doing that soak as much vinegar up as you can with some rags.
So you spray the bed with the distilled white vinegar, then dap it up with the rags or paper towels then sprinkle the baking soda on top of the spot & then wipe that up ?
Yes 🙂
HiHi I have tried this method to no avail. Any other suggestion that will actually work?
Hi Jean, this method actually does work for me and tons of other people. I’m sorry it isn’t working for you.
You could try hydrogen
8oz peroxide, 3tbsp baking soda & a little dish soap
Works great? Good luck!!
I used baking soda and vinegar and I used rubbing alcohol on my memory rest mattress and where I cleaned it to get some of the stain off it hard is there anything I can use not have my bed hard when it dries
Does this leave your mattress smelling like vinegar?
Can you use apple cider vinegar I need the absence of white distilled.
No, I wouldn’t use apple cider vinegar.
“Why not use a mattress pad”, really people? GEE WHY DIDNT I THINK OF THAT! Seriously, Why are so many of you typing that comment? Um, we forgot, it was the first time my child peed, it was in the wash, the pee went through the pad…..or my favorite: IM NOT AS SMART AS YOU. These comments are riddled with mommy shaming. Given how many replies to this post there are, perhaps we can keep unhelpful comments to ourselves!
As for me, I’m on my first round of trying this method. After I vacuum it up, I’ll be spraying with Norwex’s mattress cleaner which is enzyme based and hopefully (fingers crossed) the smell will be gone! I could care less about the stain, nobody will see that anyway as it will be covered with a PAD and bed sheets!
I seem to remember my mom starting to set an alarm for 2am or midnight and coming in to get me up to go to the bathroom so it would become a habit. Kind of a train the brain, maybe keep from being in such a deep sleep cycle at the critical time window. I wet the bed for a long time, but did manage to stop in time to go to 6th grade camp – the first time being away from home overnight. Hope that helps someone out there!
Hi Kristin,
I just want to thank you for this vinegar/baking soda solution! It’s worked wonders on my sofa and on my mattress! However, I didn’t use straight white distilled vinegar, especially since I was concerned about what would happen to my sofa cushions! What I did was…I placed 1 cup of water in a spray bottle, then 2 cups of the white distilled vinegar, then mixed well.
Then sprayed the items liberally like you suggested,
then waited 30 minutes (because of the diluted vinegar),
then blotted with plenty of paper towels,
then sprinkled a LOT of baking soda on the items,
then I waited 4 hours for each (during this time, I did have my ceiling fans on),
then, like you, I vacuumed EVERYTHING, and
“VOILA!” No urine stains, no urine odor!
For the sofa cushions, I sprayed the vinegar mix, then applied the baking soda on ALL sides to make sure that there wouldn’t be any telltale odors. Worked like a charm!
Now, I’m thinking about using the vinegar for my sheets, since those are pretty stained as well. Hope that will work as well!
Thanks again!
It worked, it worked, it worked (doing a dance round the room). So many articles online over complicating the issue when straight up vinegar works (no peroxide needed) . One of the stains was like 4 years old, a little stain that I rubbed in and became bigger and suddenly after 15 mins this morning it’s gone!!!! I can confirm it works on Pillow top mattresses but may need to do it a few times. Thank you so much Kristin!!!!!!
Btw I rubbed in before I saw you said blot, is this a big problem?
Yay! And thanks for the tip on the pillow top!
How do you get rid of the smell of vinegar once you have hoovered up the baking soda?
I haven’t had this problem, but I would think it should dissipate on it’s own.
Hi Kristin. First I just want to say hi and tell you how much I love and appreciate your blog. But although, your recepie for getting rid of pee stains and odours works fairly well, I want to share with you a recipe I have discovered that works %100 the first time. Please disregard this if you already know of this.
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide.
1 tbsp baking soda
A few drops of blue dawn liquid dish soap.
Shake it all up in a spray bottle. Spray generously on stain. Let dry completely.
Brush away excess soda. ( or vaccum away)
Everyone has a different process, thanks for sharing yours!
What can you use in the washing machine to get the smell out of the sheets?
You can add vinegar to the wash, that would help with the smell. I usually just wash my with regular detergent on the sanitary setting (or as hot as it will go).
Can you use baby powder instead of baking soda??
No, the baking soda provides a chemical reaction with the vinegar to help pull out the stain and the smell.
This worked amazingly well! My son wet the bed last night, and I of course removed all the bedding including the mattress pad so I could clean the mattress and found a spot that I had cleaned before using another method I found on Pinterest. At the time, I thought the other method had worked, but it just reappeared over time leaving a huge yellow spot. I was surprised how quickly the vinegar eliminated the old stains and I’m hoping that I don’t have a new one since I went ahead and cleaned the whole mattress this time. Thanks!
Hey, does anyone know if this method would also work on cigarette smoke smells? We have just bought a used car which unfortunately stinks and I’m trying to find a way to get rid of the smell as it’s giving me headaches
What about water proof mattress and pillow protectors, then you don’t have to worry about this problem?
Hi Diane, like a lot of readers have mentioned, they don’t always work.
We cut a blowup mattress in two and placed on top of my son’s mattress. Covered it with absorbent beach towels and then a sheet. This protects the mattress. (Place towels beneath the cut up mattress also to prevent slliding.)
I utilized this method, but only after my kid used Lysol and then bleach ?. The mattress is now even more yellow and hard. Any suggestions?
My guess is the lysol and bleach did that, but I don’t know that it can be reversed.
If the mattress got hard after cleaning it sounds like it might be a latex mattress. You cannot wet a latex mattress
Mattress covers including water resistant ones are useless. Try buying vinyl material from a fabric store to cover the mattress with and then cover that with incontinance mattress pads that you can buy from a medical store they are used for seniors in care homes,
If you’ve tried all the previous methods and you still have a smell and stains try this: You can rent a small extractor for under $20 or you can use a shop vac(be sure to remove the dry filter). Completely saturate the area with water then suck it up with extractor or shop vac. Go over the entire area slowly so you suck up as much water as possible. Then put a fan on it to help it dry. Now that your mattress is clean, go out and buy a full mattress cover. The cover fully encases the mattress and zips at one end. These covers are also usually recommended for people who are sensitive to dust mites. The cheapest ones are vinyl and are annoying and don’t last very long. I recommend using the cloth type one. I put these on every mattress in my house and they’re worth every penny.
What if that area is hard and crust afterwards. How do I fix that, I did all the steps and once I let it dry it became crusty and hard in that area
I don’t know why it would become hard and crusted over. That has never happened to me. I would try wetting it again and then wiping up what you can and letting it dry and vacuuming it up. Don’t let it sit too long.
This did absolutely nothing for the stains whatsoever. Is there something I missed? The smell…well all I smell is vibegar now. LOL
Is there something else I can use rather than baking soda?
Hi, what if I don’t own a vacuum?
You’d want to have a vacuum in order to do this method.
We had an urine accident on our tan leather sofa and we are trying to determine what will on on the spot and order removal from the leather seat. Any one have treated leather successfully?
Thanks
I would test it out on an inconspicuous spot first and see how it works.
Throw few tea bags over the area and keep it as long as you can, tea bags obsorb any kind of odor and will leave some natural wood kind of smell but no longer urine
stupid question but do you use new tea bags or ones that have been used to absorb the smell?
I have in fact used this type of recipe many times for old dog pee stains and new ones, it works wonders! Love that we can all share stuff like this! One of the things I found that can help with the removing the discoloration from the stain (if it doesnt come out with this great recipe) you can add hydrogen peroxide. There are of course many recipes out there, but its best to start with a minimal amount since peroxide is a natural “bleaching” agent.
Its great to have artillerty ready when my dachshund “Bruiser” strikes…does anyone know the home remedy for a stubborn dachshund?! LoL
Hi! Thank you for posting this article, it’s very helpful. I have a bit of a problem though. I live in Indonesia and it’s very hard to find baking soda here. My cat just peed on my bed last night and I don’t have baking soda nor distilled white vinegar. I only have some apple cider vinegar at the moment. Any other tips on how to clean the urine without those two ingredients? Or should I just leave it to dry and work on it as soon as I manage to buy baking soda and distilled white vinegar?
If you dont have vinegar, you can try water solution with a little bit of hyrdogen peroxide instead. There are many recipes for the ratios, including some that also say to add dish soap.Thankfully the recipe she gave above can work on old stains so you have time to get vinegar and baking soda if you want to try it! Good luck!!
Omgosh, I am so glad I finally said I would just look on Mommy blogs for answers. I cannot wait to try this method. Our daughter’s mattress is gross. She has a mattress protector that either is off when she has an accident or it goes through. We started making her wear those overnights for bigger kids, but they don’t always work if they’re not placed perfectly. We were about to call a professional company to clean it, because like you, I wouldn’t find out about until it was too late. But I can’t wait, lol, toget to work and clean it up. Thank you so much.
Kristin, Thanks for the tips!
I try to get rid from odors, not from stains. so should I do only the steps with baking soda without vinegar?
I would still do both steps. The two products work well together for both odors and stains.
Hi there
Thank you for this tip
Can I use Epsom salts or just salt?
No salt, it’s just baking powder.
Would baking powder work? I don’t have baking soda and am in a hurry.
Baking powder is completely different and has other agents in it. I would get some baking soda.
In the UK baking soda is called Bicarbonate of soda. Just in case your UK readers are confused, I was. I looked it up online lol.
As far as odor goes, there is an incredible product online called SCOE. It does a great job on any odor- urine, skunk, vomit etc. The thing with mattresses is that the liquid can seep very deep and you have to get the solution down to get all of it. They have a squeeze bottle with a big needle on the end which you can use to get the solution deep to get all of it. I havent found any odor it couldn’t remove. However, after my mattress was odor free there are still yellow stains. I’m hoping that this suggestion will work for me.
You can try adding hydrogen peroxide to the mix….peroxide is a natural bleaching agent. Smallest amount to start with and there are many recipes out there to know the measurement.s
After 6 months without an accident, my daughter had one on her trundle bed and I was furious with myself for neglecting the mattress protector pad. It’s on all other mattresses.
So, let me ask all of you why it seems you don’t protect your mattresses first?
Hi Claire, There are a lot of reasons, as you can see by the hundreds of comments. Sometimes I would just plain forget, or they would be in the dryer and not quite dry at bedtime. My son would go for a month without an accident so we would get lax about it and then he’d have one. Or, maybe it’s the first time and you don’t really think about it. There can be lots of reasons.
I hope it works I’m nervous it will make it worse but I’m thankful for finding this site so I have tried everything
Hello Kristin!
After the vacuuming how long does it take for mattress to dry before putting bedding back on?
It depends on a variety of factors, like the air temp, fans blowing on the mattress and how much you saturated the mattress. If you did this in the morning it should be dry by the mid-late afternoon. You could always take it outside and let it dry in the sun (depending on where you live).
No where did it say how much backing soda or vinager to use???
Caroline, the post is broken up into a couple of pages since it’s so long and to help with load time.There isn’t a specified amout of either because it depends on how bad the stain is.
Hi There,
I also have a problem with stained mattresses and of all the blogs I have read it seems that vinegar, bi carb, dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide are most popular but I can never seem to find out what measurements of liquid I need to mix ? I tried chucking all ingredients together in a spray bottle but did not work ? Any info would be appreciated . Thanks
I wet my bed until I was 6 years old. I would dream I was on the toilet and it was okay to pee. I had that dream over and over until I finally made myself wake up before I told myself it was okay to pee. There’s no telling why some kids seem to take so long, but I do remember my mom never shamed me. Very important! Thanks for the tips!!
My son wet the bed into junior high years. When very young he would wake me up and I would put towels on the wet bed (until morning) rinse him off and put a clean night shirt on him (easier to change than pj’s) and back to bed. Never any shaming they can’t help it. But very young I just left a stack of towels in his room and a clean night shirt and he learned to do it himself as l had to wake early for work. But I always told him if he needed me I was always just in the next bedroom, wake me up. He was a big boy and took care of his problem himself.
Hi Katrina, What is your son’s diet like? You might consider eliminating wheat and dairy. it could be an unidentified virus that is causing the problem. You can read this article, which doesn’t address this issue, but could be enlightening. Epstein Barr causes a multitude of problems, including extreme debilitation, and these foods feet it, including eggs. Here is the link: http://goop.com/the-medical-medium-and-whats-potentially-at-the-root-of-medical-mysteries/
It could also be heavy metals… or both! http://goop.com/a-heavy-metal-detox/
So this will work on pet pee.as well?
I haven’t personally tried that, but tons of readers have said it works!
Hi Kirsten
Thank you for the tips and all the comments, I’m off to buy vinegar! I’m reading your site for the first time, having looked up the mattress cleaning subject. I normally use disposable care mats (dog ones are much less expensive) but my son was home visiting from boarding school and they were not put on his bed.
I thought I would share some info, which your readers might find useful. My son is 15 and this has always been a problem, but as the years have gone on we have come to the conclusion it is at it’s worst while going through a growth spurt. I met a Chiropractor recently, who told me he had been treating a 6 year old boy. He had received an sms from the boys mother to say 3 months dry, while we were out, so the conversation came round. Having been approached to treat this boy, he had researched and was using the technique for the first time, so was delighted with the success. During growth, particularly in boys, the nerve receptors become pinched and the brain does not receive the message to wake and will release urine, without them even waking in a pool of wet. Probably like me, your readers know there are a number of factors to bed wetting, but this reinforced my theory. Willing to try anything, as we have pretty much tried everything else over the years, I am seeking treatment for my son. It is such a common problem yet still carries embarrasment and anxiety of friends finding out. It also certainly tries the patience of us Mums left with the cleanup duty, time after time. I’m going to investigate your site a bit more now. Hope this helps. K
I’m not a sales person in any way shape or form. But check out Ashley black guru on Facebook, or fascia blaster.com. Moms with kids who have the same problem have treated with huge success. My own pain issues are becoming a faint memory…
Have you tried having him sit to pee right before bed it worked for me Dr said it empties the bladder better
My son (now 35) had tons of food allergies that were the cause of bed wetting into puberty. He was embarrassed to have friends over or go stay at anyone’s home. I came up with this solution: Buy 2 identical oversized t-shirts or pajamas (whatever he prefers to sleep in.) Get a sleeping bag. Pack the second identical set of sleep clothes into a plastic trash bag with a towel and put the extra clothing in it.
I taught my son to place the unfolded trash bag inside his sleeping bag, then place the towel over the trash bag. When he woke up wet, he could get up, grab his towel and trash bag, go into the bathroom and change his clothes into the same outfit! He simply put the wet clothes and towel into the trash bag, climbed into his still dry sleeping bag, and none of his friends suspected that he had a problem!
Hi just wondering if it’s ok to use vinegar on a coloured patterned mattress or will it bleach it?
Our have always been white, so I’m not certain. For me it would be more about getting rid of the smell – I could live with the bleach spot. 😉
Vinegar does not bleach colors as far as I know. In fact you use vinegar to set your colors on dark items. Add it to first wash, learned it from my daughter in law they use it on their dark nursing uniforms. I use vinegar in every wash load of laundry. Removes stains and odors. The smell disappears soon.
I have read quite a few articles om bed wetting, many of them recommend Persil Bio or Natures Miracle. These have an enzyme that breaks down the urine. I have a pillowtop mattress that is covered in urine. My son peed twice on opposite sides of his mattress AND our new puppy peed with him. My husband said he cleaned i, but he just used Fabreeze… Ugh!!!
Oh no! Good luck!
Can I use cleaning vinegar?
I used this method on my love seat that my dogs love to lay on. Wherever I am, they are (5 Shih tzu’s)!!!! Only problem is I have 1 male who will occasionally hike his leg on the corner. I think I have tried everything, and still can’t get it clean. Any idea on how to put use this method on the side of the sofa?
Clorox Urine and Stain remover works great for dog urine. It has a light, fresh scent. I bought it at Sam’s club. My sister-in-law offered us their king size bed because they we moving out of state. What she neglected to tell us was her dog was peeing all over the box spring and even got high enough to get one corner of the mattress. I’m talking the box spring was covered with nastiness. Looked liked they never tried cleaning it. Even though as we loaded the truck to bring it home and hubby was fussing the whole time we shouldn’t even bother because it was ruined and I promised I could get it clean, I was having my doubts. But this stuff saved the day, the mattress and my relationship. Lol. It literally got rid of the sten and the stain. But since it was such an extreme case I sprayed the stuff on and let it set a few minutes before using a scrub brush a clean hot water to work in the solution and wipe clean. But it was a miracle it worked. Even on the side of the mattress!
I did this…it took the stains out pretty good, it hardly took any smell out. The smell might even be the same, I left the vinegar on for 10 minutes, damped it out a bit, and then left the baking soda on for 4 hours. Does it make a difference if the mattress is a pillow top…do you have any suggestions for further action?? Any professional type of services that would work??
I haven’t tried this with a pillow-top. My theory would be that’s the reason it didn’t work as well.
Pillow tops are harder to get clean! I had to do it like four times but it will come out !
Thank you…it worked great, even on more than a year old stains! I wished I had know way sooner as I wouldn’t have let this build up so long. My wife and I now have ammunition and can rest easier knowing we can hold on to our current mattresses until the accidents stop completely.
Thanks for the tips. I was curious if the title of your blog, the Yellow Bliss Road came from fighting the pee stain battle for so many years? LOL. We have five kids, one of whom is still afraid to leave her room at night to go pee, and she’s eight… Thanks again.
We should get her and my son together he’s nearly 9 and same thing…..he hides it and their room is third floor and only great room up there bathroom 2nd floor and laundry all the way in the basement unfortunately it makes this mama quite cranky to find thibgs under furniture and when i find it or i get all the eay up stairs its usually been sitting a day or 2 tops so its set in….i still smell it on sheets and blankets. I thought i had to be the only mom still having a child in the 3rd grade but ped told me it could last into teens…..ughhhhh
Um yes way into the teens! My son is 14 and he still has this problem! Ugh! We’ve tried EVERYTHING!
Feel your pain. My daughter will be 12 next week. We’re during Much better but at least 2 if not 3 nights a week, there’s issues. The struggle is real.
My 6 year old son has accidents in the night once in a while and when he was younger his pediatricIan ran a test and during the procedure we discovered that his colon was full. I used to have a hard time getting him to eat veggies and fruit so his pediatrician had me give him Mira-lax in Apple juice every day to help him poop. After a week, he stopped having accidents! Life gets busy and sometimes it’s pizza night so if he starts wetting the bed, I get out the Mira-lax. ( I used 1 cap full Mira-lax in a 6 Oz glass of AJ).
It is best to give with their after school snack so they can go at home.
Caffeine makes people have to pee more my doctor told my son to stop drinking caffeine watch and be careful not to drink anytime close to before bedtime. My son is 16 now we haven’t seen any major problems for months there has been 1 or 2 very very minor problems but not much.
From someone who fought this until the early teens. You can never have sleep overs or spend the night at someone else’s house. It is a terrible burden on the child. We did all the behavioral stuff. Nothing worked.
My mom took me to urologist at age 14. This was in 1967. After a cystoscope, he said my bladder was smaller than normal. He prescribed a medicine called Tofranil. I never wet the bed after starting the medicine. I think I took it for a year or two. Changed my life. This is an off label use for Tofranil so it doesn’t list this in any of the searches I have done on the medicine.
Thank you for posting this. I don’t think I let the vinegar sit long enough before I started blotting but I just sprinkled the baking soda and I’m letting it sit. My son’s room never stinks and I walked in there this morning to an animal smell. Lol. I asked my 6 year old what is that smell and he said he pee peed the bed a few days ago and Daddy washed his sheets. Well he forgot to clean the mattress and matress pad. Smelly! I hope this works cause the smell is wrecking my nose! Thanks again!
What if i cant get distilled vinegar is there perhaps another type of vinegar i can use?
You definitely want to use distilled vinegar. It’s the strongest vinegar you can get and will work the best. The other could stain and wouldn’t work nearly as well.
How do u get rid.of the small of vingear?
The baking soda helps to remove the smell, but for me it’s always disapated within the day.
I would reather smell vingar then pee pee just saying
Hi could I use normal white vinger and water it down?
White vinegar is what you need to use. No need to dilute it.
We did the viniger and baking soda. It still smells of urine. What do you suggest? Thanks
I would do another round.
I would like to know does this work on dry stains as well
Yes! I’ve used it on month old stains!
What about stains older than that
LOVE LOVE LOVE
used it for some new urine stains and smell on a sofa bed and also for some old vomit stains on my son`s mattress… thank you so much i will always use this on my furniture
for the strong vinegar smell I used lemon essential oil and Lysol spray BUT i think the smell disappeared after the third day so NO WORRIES
Thank you again so much you saved my furniture especially the sofa bed (my guests use it A LOT don`t want it to smell like pee 😀 )
I used this method and now the urine stains have gone but I have huge yellow stains over the mattress which are even worse than the original stains.
Can you offer any further advice plse?
I’ve never had that problem…you did use white distilled vinegar?
I had the same issue! I did use white distilled. But there is now a huge yellow stain. The odor is gone. Which i am thankful for. But would like to find a way to get rid of the yellow stain.
I would use some javex and water in a spray bottle. I use vinegar and baking soda weekly just to keep the beds clean never had an issue with yellow stains.
I realize I am super late to the conversation but wanted to add something. It sounds like the stain got bigger because of the fizzing action of the baking soda and vinegar pulling urine out of the mattress from deeper down. This is actually what you want to happen to get rid of the odours completely. I would repeat several times more if necessary to get it all out.
you need to spray the whole mattress otherwise there will be a water mark where you have sprayed.
Try the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, blue liquid dish soap recepie. Do not use water. This works wonders
thank you so much it worked like a charm 🙂
What did you use to make it work si hambledon?
My daughter fell asleep on our brand new pillow top Matress and wet the bed. ? I tried this and there is still a slight urine smell. Would you suggest doing everything another time? I am desperate to get the smell out!!!
I would definitely try a second time – it couldn’t hurt!
Add a few drops of Lavender Essential Oil to the wet solution. The Essential Oil helps neutralize the odor and Lavender helps you sleep.
I owned a dry cleaners for over 25 years. You can also use a premixed douche. It works really good!
A vinegar douce? How does this work?
My dogs got skunked by a skunk and I couldn’t get the smell out AT ALL! I called a groomer and she recommended a vinegar douche. I tried TONS of things and I’ll be dadgum, if that douche took the entire smell away. The key is to NOT rinse it out. Didn’t harm my dogs at all! I bet it would work for any odor! Since I wasn’t sure how much I needed for each dog, I got 6 & you should have seen the way the checker checking me out looked at me! She looked at the items I wanted to purchase and then back at me. I said, “These are for my dogs!” She did a polite nod and then “Uhhh Huh”. Talk about embarrassing!
Does it really?
use hydrogen peroxide baking soda and a small fabuloso and it smell great
Do you mix all these together??? I just need to get rid of the odor
2 C hydrogen peroxide
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 drops Dawn dish soap
Drench the item with the stain/smell. Let it dry, vacuum. Repeat as necessary. Works if you are persistent. Even with cat urine. Yuck!
Does it have to be Dawn dish soap?
Do you have to rub it at all? Does it remove just the smell or the stain as well? My daughter has had a serious bed wetting problem her entire life and the bad part is she won’t tell you out of embarrassment so when I go in her room eventually I smell it and there’s a huge yellow stain in the middle of her new mattress from multiple times that she’s wet the bed. HELP! Mom to mom I need some other tricks.
I had this same problem with my son not wanting to tell me. I just eventually had to be diligent about checking every day. He did (and still does) take meds every night and that has helped tremendously. I never had to rub any of the stains out though, and some were pretty bad. They didn’t all come out 100% but they were a ton better with this method.
what about old tomato sauce stain
You can buy this stuff called Odorzout and all it is is zeolite all natural . This works wonders and the smell out. I use it even outside in the area where my dog goes and totally removes the smell. I get this on eBay. For the stain I would use Dawn dishwashing liquid and mix with vinegar.
This is what I use all the time
Where did I get odorzout pls
They sell on Amazon
I have a disabled child who even at 19 wets the bed occasionally. I have used Odoban for years. You can use it anywhere. I throw some in with his wet linens, wipe or spray with it. It is wonderful stuff and safe. I have purchased it at Home Depot and Sams. You can get a gallon of concentrate and it lasts forever.
see if u can a mattress that tucks on the sides of the bed i have one the belonged to my great grams and believe me it is really absorbant. try thrift stores its really wide with thin cloth flaps on the ends
Yes it is awesome stuff. Was actually recommended to me by a vet about fifteen years ago when I did rescue work for animals. I took in all the puppies because no one else would take full litters. I loved the odoban because it’s one thing knowing I have fifteen animals in my house and another thing smelling like I have fifteen animals my house.
Dr. Bronner’s lavender (only the lavender takes out the smell) liquid soap. It works extremely well for my cloth couch clothes etc.. I have 4 cats…. Old or new material it doesn’t matter. Leave it on for a few hrs it can even dry. Wet the item again and while up. Clothing. Soak item then rinse. Happy cleaning!!!
Nature’s Miracle pet Urine & Odor is the best for the odor. I swear by this it works overtime. I did not know what to do about the stains so I will be using this method.
Hi Jody. This recepie I discovered works %100 to get the stain and the odour out. In a spray bottle combine 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide. 1 tbsp baking soda, and a 1tsp blue liquid dawn dish soap. Shake it all up. Spray generously on stain. Let dry completely. Brush away excess baking soda. Done. Works like a charm. This also works on cat pee stains. Tip: Do not use water on any pee stains. Will not work.To get pee out of clothing , add 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar to your laundry detergent. Wash as usual. For some reason this works even though the washing machine uses water. Hope this helps.
Cheryl, I just used this method on our pee-soaked latex mattress and it worked like a charm! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Any essential oil will clean the mattress, it’s anti microbial
Hello,
I tried this method today in the morning( usual apple cider viniger, baking soda I did twice) but I don’t know why the stains disnt diseaper 🙁 at night before bed I sprayed on top of the soda let see morning. If not what should I do for disapearing the urine stains.? Thank you
I’m guessing it’s because you used apple cider vinegar instead of distilled white vinegar. The apple cider vinegar has a slight golden color to it.
Oh I got it.. Where can I buy the distilled viniger?? Thank you
It’s an old urine which I didn’t know how to clean. Right now I did the first, second and third steps should I cavum right away baking soda or let it seat for couple hours Or minutes? Thanks
I have used your tip several times and find it works great! The reason my little girl wets the bed is she is a Type 1 Diabetic and sometimes these accidents occur because this is a side effect of her Diabetes.
One of the early warning signs of Type 1 Diabetes is frequent bedwetting along with extreme thirst. You can’t cause Type 1 Diabetes or prevent it the best thing you can do is find out as early as possible to start managing it immediately. Children may be tired, wetting the bed, losing weight and have flu like symptoms. IF this is the case ask your Doctor to rule out Diabetes before just accepting it is a common cold. This year alone, several children have been misdiagnosed and have ended up in a coma or have died.
Type 1 is not to be compared or confused with Type 2. Type 2 is reversible with diet and exercise in most cases. Type 1 Diabetics are 100% insulin dependent the rest of their life. I felt sharing this information with everyone on this site is because you are looking for a solution to urine stained mattresses. I hope no one who reads this will ever have to know what I know about Type 1 Diabetes.
I appreciate your feedback JC. It’s always a good idea to talk with your doctor about these issues. My cousin is Type 1 and has bee since she was 13 years old. I know what it’s like to watch a child go through that. I’m so sorry!
Like that idea about the vinegar in the wash as well. Thanks for that tip
I read the posts from others about this idea and even though I was like yeah right, I was desperate to try anything. So I armed myself with this stuff and followed the directions and I was completely amazed. It is a wonderful idea.
When I thought to try ammonia in a load of laundry for cat pee on the girls clothes I was also amazed that it removed the smell. Not sure if everyone knows that 2 1/2 cap fulls in a load of laundry works. You do though have to give it another run through the rinse. No one told me about, I just thought what the heck. I was tired of throwing away clothes and sheets etc..
You can put vinegar in the wash too, and it works great!
my 3 year old just managed to pee on my superking size mattress. He had a pull up diaper on too. Nearly cried as have just finished laundering all the duvet, sheets, pillows and mattress cover from his room. Arghhh!
Anyhow, followed all the steps given (after an uncustomary whisky, a little elbow grease and some crying at this ungodly hour of 12 midnight).
I used cider vinegar as didn’t have any white. And am sleeping on my little boys floor. Hope it works. Thank you for sharing.
Oh no Amy, that sounds like quite a night! I hope it works for you!
Awesome advice! We were going to buy a new mattress but a little voice told me to google how to get rid of utube smells from a mattress. THANKYOU so much! I’ve even shares this blog in Facebook.
How long will it take before the vinegar smell goes away? My husband absolutely hates vinegar and I am freaking out right now because the whole house smells, and he will probably kill me if he finds out I purposely used vinegar on our mattress! 🙁
The baking soda should absorb the vinegar odor. I’ve never had a problem with the smell.
Okay thank you so much! I need to get more of both ingredients as our mattress is terrible, and I ended up short of baking soda. It did seem to work though, and I read somewhere else to try a hair dryer. I did that and squirted a little oxyclean on it and I don’t smell vinegar anymore. Thank you so much for this great cleaning tip!
This procedure worked perfectly! Both ingredients are very cheap also!
Trying this right now after a random accident. Honestly right now it smells like vomit. I hope it improves after the baking soda!
What is step 2? Cannot read it through the sign over it.
Just click through to page 2 and 3 at the bottom of the post. I’ve broken it down into a few pages because it’s a lot for one page to load.
I cant see most of the 2 steps at the beginning because of this sticker on it? and how much water and vinegar do I use? and soak for how long ( cant see the writing)
Just click through to page 2 and 3 at the bottom of the post. I’ve broken it down into a few pages because it’s a lot for one page to load.
Hey! I just tried this and it worked!!! Thank you so much! My mattress is only 3 yrs old and I was SO UPSET about the stains from my son when he crawls into bed with me. I am ecstatic because I was thinking I was going to have to buy a new mattress, again. Thanks so much for this! You are awesome!!
Yay! Glad it worked for you!!
LOVING this tip! Two questions before I try (hopefully TOMORROW):
(1) Is this a memory foam mattress, or is the method safe for a memory foam mattress?
(2) Have you tried this method with menstrual stains, and if so, did it work?
It’s for a regular mattress, I haven’t tried it on my memory foam.
I would try hydrogen peroxide on the menstrual stains. Also, this baking soda/vinegar metod works the same way on memory foam, just make sure it gets air circulation and dries completely.
Thanks for this tip! My mattress is drying right now! My dog decided to be a jerk last night and I’d be so excited to get the stain out! Hopefully it will even help other doggy guests not mark the same spot later on, but if so I guess it’ll be another $1 box of baking soda! Hoping it’ll also get the older dog stains out, fingers crossed!
Good luck! I’d love for you to come back and let us know how it worked.
Would I be able to use something like goldbond in place of baking soda? I’m all out of baking soda
Goldbond wouldn’t have the same properties as baking soda, but it could help with the odor I suppose.
This worked amazingly! Such an easy, inexpensive fix. Only took me an hour to leave the baking soda on there before the stain AND then smell were both gone. Amazing!!
My dog had an accident on my new memory foam mattress and was wondering if I can use this method on it?
I haven’t tried it on pet stains, but I think some people in the comments have said that it’s worked!
Am super keen to try this first thing in the morning but how long do you leave before vacumming up?
Hi tried the mattress stain removal. It didn’t remove any of the stains. Don’t know if I did something wrong but followed you directions.
Will definitely try this tomorrow morning, thanx
I’m gonna try this today! I have two kids that have bed wetting issues and their rooms can get really smelly. Thank you so much for the info!
I was searching for a mattress to replace my 4 1/2yr old stained and smelly mattress. My husband didn’t want me purchasing a new one and out of anger and frustration I found your site and all of the responses. I will be trying your method with before and after pictures in the morning! ?
Hi I want to try this but I don’t have any baking soda and I’m home alone with the kiddies so I can’t go out right now. Is there a substitution for the baking soda ?
What does step two say?
IF you scroll to the bottom you can click to the next page. It’s been broken down into 3 pages since it’s such a long post. Step 2 is to blot with towels.
Hi,
I am curious to know if you have used the apple cider vinagar. I have some.in the pantry, but am wondering is it wil stain seeing that is the same color as urine, ha! Ever tried it?
Josh
What do you recommend for cleaning bed pillows? Ours get stained from sleep sweating and regularity buying new ones gets pricey. Would you recommend the same vinegar and baking soda solution? I’ve tried washing them in the laundry and they take forever to dry and I typically do just one at a time.
I wash mine in the washing machine and put them in the dryer with other sheets, towels, etc. I’ll usually let them dry out in the sun if they are still damp.
Thank you Kristin
Your method is similar to the one my Grandmother used to use. We are under the impression that new technology is always superior. But your recipe is a great example that “The old methods are still the best ones to follow”
I will try the sofa tomorrow
Thank you for your information! I am about to tackle an accident right now. Since I don’t think this will be the last accident I am also purchasing a vinyl mattress cover. That way I won’t have as many steps in the clean up process! I found a heavy duty zipper one online for only $20. which is for sure worth my efforts in cleaning skills! Thank you again for your post.
I have used that one as well Jennifer. I also had a softer waterproof one on top since the vinyl can be noisy when slept on. Good luck!
Do you think that this method will work on the sofa as well?
I haven’t used it on a sofa. I would test on a hidden patch of fabric to make sure it doesn’t discolor.
To prevent this from happening altogether most would say “…get a mattress cover”; however, washing that thing can become a real time consumer. There are incontinence pads that can be laid on the mattress under the sheets (or on top, whichever you prefer), but they are pricey. My solution?…puppy pads! They serve the same purpose at a fraction of the cost. Just toss it in the trash in the morning. Job done!!!
Great tip, thanks!
Do you think cleaning vinegar would work as well as the type you show here?
Not sure of the difference? But if it’s a different concentration I would think you’d use less.
Have you tried a waterproof mattress? That’s what we use on my son’s bed and it doesn’t leak through to the mattress.
trying it today due to me walking into my sons room and the urine smell was so strong i couldn’t take it anymore!!!
I feel your pain!! I’ve used it on the carpet too.
This method works wonderfully on urine from pets, too! Last weekend, my sister’s dog had an accident on the end of my bed, and there was a large, yellow urine stain. I was going to purchase some fancy expensive pet stain remover, but I found your web site, and read about your method, instead. Ingenious! I saturated the stain with distilled white vinegar, let it set for about ten minutes, blotted the vinegar with some paper towels, sprinkled a generous amount of baking soda on the stain. I let the baking soda sit for about three hours, and I literally just fininished vacuuming the baking soda up, and the stain and smell is completly gone! 🙂
Thank you so much for telling folks about this method! You saved me time and money! Wonderful web site! Very helpful and creative! 🙂
Vinegar and baking soda do an excellent job for cleaning a mattress. It has always worked for me. If there is too much odor, you may have to put the mattress out in the sun.
Yes! Putting the mattress in the sun is a great tip!
Thank you for your tips. I don’t have children but I have a cat who peed in mine mattress. She has done done it for long time but I am left with big stains. Great!! I am going to try now. 🙂
Good luck!!
AM, how did this work on pet stains? I haven’t tried that yet!
OMG!!! this is AMAZING!!! i just wanted to know, rather than using a Vaccum cleaner is there any other object to use?
Not sure what else you could use, because you’d want to make sure you get all the baking soda up. You could try brushing it, but I think a vacuum is your best bet.
A Dust Buster would be easier to use than the vacuum cleaner.
Yes, probably. But I don’t have one. Because there can be a lot of the baking soda, the dustbuster can fill up quickly.
My husband sweats in the night so I’m going to try this! I have a waterproof terry towelling fitted sheet for my son’s mattress so if he has an accident there are no worries about the mattress :0)
Hi Fi! Would love to know how this worked on the sweat stains/odor!
I’m using this to clean the side of the mattress where the protector isn’t waterproof ? thank you!
Cant wait to try this on my mattresses as i have two that need special attention. Thanks foor sharing.
My husband and I got a mattress from a friend of ours. It has that urine smell to it from her kids. I have used disinfectant spray and odor and other cleaning stays nothing has worked! I was to the point on giving up, but after reading this is am definitely going to try it! I will let y’all know how it goes! I am so excited to use this!
Hi Bridgett! Would love to know if this worked for you. I have used it on old stains and odor and they all came out.
I put baking soda on and left it for the day. Then read your post and sprayed vinegar on it…the stain immediately went away! I didn’t have any baking soda to clean up either! Did mine in reverse and it worked great!
Did this on my daughter mattress today, there was a new stain and some old stubborn ones too……… ALL GONE amazing, thank you so much
I’m trying right now, it looked a little better already after using the vinegar. Thank you for sharing!
This worked for me! No strong smell of vinegar! The removal of baking soda was messy though. Thanks Kristin!
That’s great! Yes, it can be a little mesys…but it’s worth it to get rid of that smell!
I tried this, love the fact it got rid of nasty smell but left a light layer of film of baking soda.
Hmm, I never usually have baking soda left behind. Maybe try another round of the vacuum, with a different attachment?
I tried it this morning and yes it does work!!!;thanks for sharing
Love this method, only I like to include essential oils in my vinegar & baking soda!
What essential oils do you use ?
Trying this way to early in the morning. Let’s see how it works.
Trying your tip to clean my mattress at this very moment! Will let you know in awhile how things go. Thanks!
Love your tips! definitely a must read for everyone. I personally agree with you as I do these methods too. Baking soda is indeed great as it does the job. Have you tried lysol? it works wonders in neutralizing odor.
I haven’t tried lysol, mostly because I’m not a fan of the smell at all.
I did this today on a stain that had been there at least a few weeks and it worked like a charm! The mattress looks brand new and has no odor (other than a slight vinegar odor). Thank you!!!!
So glad it worked for you – and that vinegar odor should go away in a day or too.
Kristin, My daughter has some of the same wetting issues….even during naps in the daytime. Took her to every doctor. Finally, at age 12 I no longer believed the doctors! I googled it and found a program called Therapee!!! It was a life saver for us. I don’t work for them. Have t even talked to them sense ordering. But want everyone who has a child with this issue to get this program. It worked for us! And I was very skeptical at first. But new I needed to do something! Took less than a month for no accidents!
Wish I could edit that. Lol. Need to learn to proofread before sending!
I’m going to look into this for my grandson his mom had the same issue I took her to the doctor and they gave her some pills and spray to take at night and they helped but I forgot the name of them so I’m going to try the Therapee and the stain remover for my mattress thank you both for the help
I there therapee for puppies? Lol I know it may seem like a stupid ? But I just can’t get my pup to stop peeing inside and I didn’t want to have to get him fixed.
Therapee seems to involve a bedwetting alarm. This is regarded as the first-line treatment for night-time bedwetting if there are no other medical issues (other medical probs would be fairly rare). Any family doctor or paediatrician should be recommending this for a motivated child and family, and as you have said it can fix the problem in a month or so. It sound counter-intuitive (ie, the child has to start wetting the bed for the alarm to go off), but it works. There is a lot of research around this.
Trying it now. will let you know of the progress. AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS TIP 🙂
Trying this today ?
You know that feeling when you see something really dirty I mean really dirty (side note I have 5 boys) and it just magically comes off with out a struggle….. best feeling!! both of my kids sleep in the same room and both of my kids wet the bed(*to boys ages 7 and 8) I would have to buy mattress every couple months (* the struggle was real) everyday is a struggle for me cleaning the mattress’s until this came along and I wanted to cry from joy I didn’t have to break a sweat cleaning the mattress’s thank you so much made my life alot easier!!
hello,
Has anyone tried this on a really old stain? My mattress was at my sisters house and she moved so i put it in storage. apparently her cat had decided to pee on my mattress. I didn’t realize it when i stored it. Now one year later i have a smelly mattress and stain. I don’t even care too much about the stain as i do the smell. Also, does it matter if its a pillow top mattress or not? Please help!
Sorry I’m just seeing this! I used it on my son’s mattress when there were months old stains, I hope you at least gave it a try!
Hi Kirstin,
Ive a teenage son that sweats badly at night, my lovely once new looking mattress has yellow/brown sweat stains on. Do u know if it works for this?
Thanks Vanessa
I haven’t tried it for that, but even though it’s different, I’d give it a try!
Thank you love this! I have same problem with my 6 year old. I almost had it solved by buying adult disposable bed underpads. I lay out a few under his sheets in case he moves around and it does not soak through! Tested multiple times lol Problem solved!! Unless of course he falls asleep, like my son did, on the sofa ugh! Best of luck 🙂
That’s a good idea to keep some of those on hand!
My daughter is 14 years old and still wets the bed occasionally and we tried and alarm for a few months but me and my husband and my daughter all sleep so deeply that we never heard it! We just got her a new mattress and she has two waterproof sheets that are very comfortable and she can barely tell that they are there! But as many have said…those sheets aren’t always foolproof and do occasionally leak onto the mattress. she is getting better, but she is nervous to have friends over to our home for fear that her bedroom will smell of urine. All i had in my kitchen was apple cider vinegar so decided to try it and though it did smell of vinegar for a few days..The stains and smell of urine is completely gone! I was amazed at these results and will use this in the future in case of another leak!
I use essential oils and vinegar in a lot of my home cleaners. I use the oils in a lot of aspects of life but in the cleaners it’s just to make the vinegar cleaners smell better. However, I also have another remedy that is great for getting rid of smells… Vodka! I tried it once to get mildew smell out of a hat and have used it for smelly fabric issues ever since. Same principle, put it in a spray bottle, spray the fabric object down with it until it’s pretty moist to the touch, but for best results put it in a warm sunny spot to evaporate. You can’t really do that with a mattress but alcohol evaporates fairly quickly anyway, and using a fan helps. It doesn’t do much for stains, but works wonders on smells, including mildew!
I tried this but it didn’t work for me. Maybe I enough vinegar on the mattress? It looked overall dirtier after I vacuumed up the baking soda. Smelled better though
Sorry it didn’t work for you! You definitely want to saturate the mattress with the vinegar.
I have tried this before and it worked pretty well. I didn’t realize that the vinegar had to be distilled. Our dog is older and is having frequent accidents on our bed. My only thought is what if the mattress isn’t dry on the inside…deep down?
I am hoping this will take care of not buying a new mattress.
Thanks!
Hi Kristin
I have a question about stains on clothing. Would you use this technique to get sweat stains from collars of shirts and underarm sweat stains?
Also, for feces stains on clothing?
Would appreciate your help in this manner.
Thank you
Carol
I haven’t tried this method on clothing so I can’t recommend it.
Ive tried this method on clothing it works fairly decent. Be careful with what materials though & rub the clothing together without scrubbing.
My son had a febrile seizure and lost control of his bladder and wet the bed so I’m going to try this tomorrow to see if we can get the smell and stain out of the bed! Thanks for the post!!
I started using this method on pet accidents on carpet when I ran out of the store bought stuff and found it works better and helps stop remarking too!
There is a reflex that some kids haven’t worked through that can cause bed wetting. A very simple exercise can work through the reflex. If you know an Occupational Therapist-ask them about it. It can work wonders and save those mattresses!
My son has Autism and epilepsy. Wetting the bed is a frequent thing. We did use those annoying plastic sheets. They make a lot of noise and my son had more then once found a way to put it over his face, which is dangerous. I tried padded sheets, but he would soak right through them. He wears night time pull ups but still soaks the bed, especially during seizure nights.
Thank you for this tip. I will def be trying this on his mattress in the morning.
thanks for this great natural remedy. i have a rubber sheet on my son’s bed but he crawled in to snuggle with me and wet my bed! this seemed to work, but so wish the bed-wetting phase would end, for his sake. sometimes i think he’s just too lazy to wake up, it’s so easy to blame the kid. but it certainly can’t be pleasant and requires a lot of patience.
I have gone threw all of this with my Step Brother in the 80’s’
we used the plastic sheets, doubled up on blankets or sheets ect.
even used the vinegar and baking soda to clean up his mattress sense I was using it around the house anyway for cleaning.
His Pediatrician had told my mom that there is a part of the brain ( sorry for get the name of it) where it tells us when we have to use the restroom or not and in some cases it takes longer for it to mature enough to let us know when we need to go or just simply wake up to go to the restroom.. But in time it does kick in to let the child know.
My Step Brother also had abandonment issues from his mom always telling him she never wanted him, she should have put him up for adoption, never good enough but the older brother was the best at everything, the better son ect.
My step dad was in the Navy at the time the boys were born and on a submarine so not much he could do at the time to help. When my mom and him got married they went to Canada to get him from Boston. I worked with him for several years while in High School to help him achieve the goal and proud to say I did. I have sense lost contact with him and my step dad in the 80’s sense my mom and him divorced so have no Idea how he is doing now.. Would love to think he is doing okay.
Hi Kristin!
I just spilled my chicken soup on my bed! 🙁 what i blotched my soaked bed with towel plus poured a ton of alcohol thinking that it may help evaporate faster, then put some hydrogen peroxide. I just saw your link after doing everything mentioned. Problem now is I don’t have baking soda. And im thinking of spraying some vinegar now while it’s fresh? Can i cornstarch instead of baking soda? Thanks!
In my local supermarket they have Baking Powder and Bicarbonate of Soda. Are these the same and will either do the same or which is best to use? As I don’t bake I’m not sure which to use.
Baking Powder is basically Bicarbonate of Soda (ie. Baking Soda) + cornstarch and is used solely as a leavening agent in baking. Baking soda is different and while it is also used as a leavening agent, it has other uses.
Please don’t be afraid to tell your children’s doctor they may also have an overactive bladder or bladder spasms, which I had for years of wetting, My mom tried all the old ways it being the 60’s &70’s . Thanks for the idea my spouse had a medical emergency last night and wow what a mess this morning, thank-you for your help I hope it works as it’s been over 12hrs. of drying time. To all good luck and I hope you find a way to have a normal smelling room, I just hope you don’t have a major winter storm moving in, I guess I’ll have to blow real hard to dry it. ha ha I do think this is a sound idea.
Thank you so much for the advice on getting you know what smell out of the mattress, you rock xx
Hi, what great articles you post, thank you. Have you ever been told about table salt …. just ordinary table salt .. you sprinkle the salt on the “accident area” so it covers the whole area and it will soak up or soak out the urine. Once it has soaked up the yellowish liquid the salt will dry a yellow color at which time you can vacuum up the dry yellow salt, and you won’t have to fight with the stain. I also used the salt trick as well after the stain was dry by redampening the area with a squirt bottle and putting the salt on it then. If the salt doesn’t suck out the “yellowish” hue try using hydrogen peroxide as it breaks down the proteins in the pee. I started using this while training new puppies but it works on carpets, or mattresses. Good luck.
I had a son who wet the bed and I was frustrated trying to figure how to save my mattresses. Finally I found a product by RugDoctor called urine eliminator for pets (yes it may be funny but it worked) and it took the old stains out and the smell and I never had anymore problems after that. I know it’s not the most natural way but it worked.
We had a wonderful “minkee” waterproof throw blanket that we have used under sheets. It is brilliant. Unfortunately we had a period of 15mths with our daughter (28mths old) where she had not had one pee in her sleep at all. Now we are transitioning her to sleep in her own bed. She woke up at 1am last night (and silly me) and came into our bed. Where she ended up wetting the bed… Fortunately she was in a thick sleeping bag which I believe caught most of the pee, but the bed still got wet, and I only realised at 5am! :/
So blotted with towels and water immediately and this morning have done the vinegar and baking soda trick. Just hoping that gets rid of the smell.
It is the first time we have had it happen to our mattress because we had been so careful. Such is life. Think we will be putting the waterproof blanket back on now though.
I just had to tell you I wish I could give you the biggest hug ! I have a tempredic mattress and my cat decided to pee on it ! I almost had it out my door to throw away . I was so angry that I knew I would NEVER get that smell out ! Yes it had ALL the appropriate waterproof covers too! Still soaked through ! Well something told me google it before you throw it . I did and I saw this . Well I did it and oh my god ! It worked !!! No smell at all !!!! Thank you ! You are a blessing I love you !
Bridget Ripley
My daughter wet the bed last night and I thought i’d try this, I think it might not work for me though as currently it’s not looking promising but ill wait a few more hours. I really hope this works because it wasn’t a little stain.
Thank you for the advice .. My dog is the culprit ?. I will be trying this method.
Hi,
I wanted to thank you for the advice and patience to people not understanding the issue.I do get couple of those rubbered fitted sheets which are working fine when used but like someone said-if your child had more than one accident in one night-there is only as much you can do.My son is 4 and has accidents rarely but when he does-it’s all over the bed and sleeping wrapped up in duvet and pillows doesn’t help-he just wet all in one go! Looking for some help with the smell and trying to make his mattress last longer-I found this site 🙂 Will be trying it tomorrow and hoping for the good results 🙂 Thank you again from Edinburgh 🙂
Or here’s one we did for my brothers kid, set an alarm and throughout the night wake them up to pee.
Usually a deeper issue when a kid thar age is wetting the bed. Maybe you need to figure that out anD fix it.
If you know he can’t handle himself why not check the bed every morning yourself?
Invest in plastic sheets.
It’s not always a deeper issue. It’s actually more common than you might think. It can be common among children even into their teen years.
Bed wetting is not always “deeper issues”. Its actually pretty common, even with adults.
I am 40 years old and tend to have a one or two incidents a year. I am so overly exhausted that I simply sleep too deeply for my brain to wake me up. 100% of the time I dream of having to pee really really bad, Searching in desperation for a toilet that is nowhere to be found. Once I find the toilet in my dream, I wake my self up peeing the bed. Its embarrassing. There is nothing I can do about it…..sigh……
My 11 year old does the same on occasion and I would never shame him. It happens.
Just deal with it and move on.
Thanks for the tip!
As a child, I trainedy self to get up and head to the bathroom as soon as I start looking for or even walk by a bathroom iny dreams! Glad to know I am not the only one that has these dreamd!
Your comment is obsurd …bless your heart.
Just an FYI –
Waterproof fitted sheets are awesome!! They don’t make any sound went slept on and are very comfortable. They even have thicker plush ones now. They are a little more expensive, but they sure are worth it compared to getting a new mattress. I’ve had them on mine (for the nights thunderstorms send little ones running to my bed!) and my grandkids’ beds for many years now. Unfortunately I came to the forum due to my granddaughter wetting the bet twice in one night. First time the mattress cover worked great but I didn’t have a backup. Guess I’ll be heading to the store to get another one just in case! Thanks for the tips!!
Thank you. I will try it,
I’m curious, why not use a waterproof mattress protector? I have a couple and swap it over for instant dryness. No stains.
Like several have mentioned above, we do. But even they aren’t fool proof and can get tears or possibly leak. Also, my son really hates the sound they make so they can be uncomfortable to sleep on.
Thanks for this post! We’ve had 2 mattresses stained while using waterproof covers. They definitely aren’t 100% effective and sometimes, things just happen out of our control. My husband and I just got a new mattress for ourselves and I have TWO covers on. I’m kind of scarred, haha!
Very useful, thank you. In my case the serial offender is a puppy!!
Brilliant. Thank you
I took my children to the chiropractor when they were that age. ONE visit stopped the bed wetting. Hydrogen peroxide will also remove urine stains and worse. No baking soda required.
Unfortunately Hydrogen Peroxide also has bleaching properties, so you run the risk of bleach marks. 🙁 Effective, but still a risk.
After the first time the child had an accident wouldn’t it just make common sense to purchase a waterproof mattress cover? I’ve had waterproof mattress pad covers on ALL my mattress for as long as I can remember and my mattresses all look brand-new. But for those that don’t bother with mattress covers and just put the sheet right over the mattress this is a nice way to get rid of the odor and stain.
A lot of people who have commented, including myself, have used and do us the waterproof pads. Unfortunately they aren’t fail-proof and they can leak through as well. Or in my case, my son once removed it without my knowledge because he didn’t like the sound it made as he slept. Things happen, that’s why I shared this method to help! 🙂
So freaking judgemental of others. Why are you on here ms. Have it all together? Some people may not be able to afford one. Some may not have know about the covers . maybe some peoples covers ripped or maybe it Was a first time accident. Please check your pride. We appreciate. This blog! Thabks for this article. Kristin!
I hope I’m doing this right 😡 currently one hour into waiting for the baking soda to suck up the vinegar. I’m afraid I put too much vinegar!
I forgot to blot the vinegar and only remembered that step after the baking soda clumped up so quickly. Will it still work but just take longer to dry? Or is it going to be too vinegary smelling?
Eventually the vinegar will dry, but maybe try gently sweeping up the clumps with a paper towel and then blot and sprinkle again.
I had the problem with elderly folk at our nursing home wetting the bed and as you can imagine the urine is fr more concentrated than that of child so the stains were really bad and so was the odour. We used this method and just used normal vinegar. The stains didn’t totally go and are a feint outline now but so much better Thankyou
Thank you, sounds easy and effective, the amount of time, and the fan are also very helpful. My grandson is special needs and does not have control at night. This is awesome. I got him pads, but those get the smell too and he rolls off them, Great advice, thanks. Ps dont be too hard on the kids people, I wet the bed until I was 14, had a lot of trauma no one knew about. Some kids are just more sensitive then others.
Hi hey do you leave the fan on just when the vinegar is on the mattress, or do you leave it on the whole time (2 hours)?
Thanks Barbara
I leave the fan on the whole time, it seems to help. But that’s just me.
If your son is still wetting the bed…. Give him a tablespoon of peanut butter right before bed. No water not even brushing his teeth after either. After a week of this he should stop wetting the bed! It really works!
Interesting theory, but my son is allergic to nuts.
Hi, My grandaughter had an accident on Monday night and and as I had no vinegar I haven’t tried your method until today, I am now at the baking soda stage and just read I should have used distilled vinegar whereas I have used white malt vinegar. Oh well, will leave it a couple of hours and see what the result is, will let you know.
Of course there are big mattress covers that you can buy at target, and you can also use one of those flat crib-sized mattress protectors right at the pee pee location. Of course, the one night I left the cover off for the night (still wet & in the dryer) the little boy lets it all out on the mattress. Thats why I am here. ..
My daughter pees in the bed almost everyday and i tried putting a trash bag and towel under her sheet but its not o use please help
This worked really well. I dragged the mattress outside and did all the cleaning outside and aired it out. Let the baking soda sit for about 3 hours. Thanks so much!
Hi, does it have to be distilled white vinegar, or an vinegar will do?
No Distilled White Vinegar is what you want to use.
Hi Kristin,
My eldest daughter had an accident the other night and it soaked all the way through to underside of the mattress. Couple of questions before I try and get rid of smell.
1) Will the mattress not smell of vinegar after applying this method?
2) What advice can you give to ensure I fully treat the mattress throughout?
Thanks
Dominic
I can’t make any promises about the lasting effects, as it depends on the type of mattress, how much you use, etc. If it soaked all the way through, I don’t know that this method will work, but it would be worth a try. Maybe trying airing it out outside as well? Good luck!
I know your comment is a little older, and you may have already found a solution. However, I have found that adding a few drops of essential oil (lemon works well) to the vinegar in the spray bottle works wonders to mask the strong smell of the vinegar.
This method is pretty genius. Tried it yesterday. Worked like a charm. Thanks for the tip!
I’m not sure where I went wrong, as this seems to have worked for others. I went to the store and picked up the necessities, white vinegar and baking soda. Followed the directions…let the baking soda sit for 3 hrs, but didn’t do anything for stain or smell?
Kristin,
I have two sons, ages 11 and 8. They used to wet the bed weekly. We tried many things: restricting fluids at bedtime, going the bathroom in the middle of the night, etc they still wet the bed. Their pediatrician recommended a bed wetting alarm . The Dr. said the only thing that would work is to re-train the brain. So we did buy an alarm. Our oldest was about 8, it took him a few months but he stopped wetting the bed. He is 11 now and does not wet the bed at all and has not for many years. Our now 8 year old did the alarm when he was about 5 and 1/2. Our youngest son did not wet the bed as frequently as our oldest, so it took him actually a little longer to learn from the alarm. The way it works, when you wet, it has a sensor that senses wet, sounds the alarm, the child has to fully wake up and go the bathroom. The parents have to help the entire process. I know it sounds intensive and like they lose sleep. But teaching them not to wet the bed improves their overall quality of life. They don’t feel self conscious, they can attend sleepovers, and they feel better. I recommend looking into a bedwetting alarm. I did look up your blog bc my 8 y/o did just wet the bed, but he has not wet it in years. And your solution worked! Thanks!
I used this also with my older two sons when they were little! It was the greatest thing that ever happened to me at the time!
Hi, I used the vinegar and baking soda trick for a wet mattress that had dried in and smelled awful – thank you so much, it worked a treat.
Hello Kirstin. I think that you are american while I am from England. A week ago I had my 11 year old stay for a ‘sleepover’, sadly I didn’t know that he had a little accident, he had kindly made his bed up …ready for next time. In the mean time I had decided to change his bedding and that’s when I discovered the ‘accident’, so I set about using one of your ‘aids’, it has worked fairly well but will try again later. I then while reading some of your letters from other ladies about using plastic sheets and yes they would become warm after laying on them for a while, so I thought maybe what I used to do when my son was young. I had a rubber sheet on the bed, this I covered with two thick sheets that were half the size of a bed sheet. This ways if they do wet the bed then you just have to take them of and replace ( I always had plenty waiting as stand bys) hope this might help.
Rosemary
Omg! Thank you! I am going to try this! Why didn’t I think of vinegar before! It’s the best to use on any odors, and I’ve even used to get odors out of clothes and bedding…..but my 3 yo daughte, is just out of the pull ups and potty training…..and she still gets into my bed, and, yep…..she wet my bed…..and I tried the baking soda….. It didn’t try vinegar! Genius….I will be doing this today…..and FYI….they do make vinegar for laundry
I am diffently going to try this i didn’t know that would work my son’s mattress needs
I have a handicapped son who wets the bed every night even when using mattress covers, pads and wears pullups. I use baking soda and vinegar in the wash for his clothes and bedding.
For any time you need to get odors out of fabrics, I highly recommend Bac Out, which is a natural product that smells wonderful. I consider this a must-have around my house, as I also use it for stinky dish cloths and the like.
Thank you so much for posting this. My (almost) 5 year old daughter wets the bed nearly every night and we have not had luck with the waterproof mattress pads; they tear and leak right through. The mattress, actually her whole room, smell awful and Febreze only temporarily masks the smell. We’re hoping to clean the mattress before purchasing a new one since they’re expensive and she’s only had the mattress for about 8 months. I am definitely going to try this. I’m also shopping around for a better mattress cover; I’ve seen some heavy duty 6 gauge vinyl ones that completely encase the mattress. She’s such a deep sleeper that she doesn’t even wake up after wetting. Thanks again for sharing!
My 2 yr old has been wearing disposable diapers to bed but often says she has to pee multiple times after she’s been tucked in. I know it could just be a stalling tactic, but I also don’t want her to unnecessarily pee in her diaper if she’s awake and can get to her potty by her bed. But she can’t put a diaper back on by herself. So I tried a pull-up last night and BIG MISTAKE! As I predicted she wet the bed BIG time. I tried your method and after 5 hrs with the baking soda, it is still damp and smells a little. There’s no fan in the room. Should I do it all over again? What about setting the mattress out in the sun? Thanks for any help you can offer.
Thanks so much for these tips! My DD wet the bed last night pretty heavily and I’ve got vinegar and baking soda on the bed right now. I’m so thankful I found an EASY method and a cheap one too! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Hi lovely thanks for this! As an aside, I’m a holistic nutritionist and in our paediatrics class we leaned that bed wetting is often a sign of a dairy intolerance. I don’t know if you’ve explored that yet but if not it may be worth pulling milk and cheese for a month and see if it helps! Best of luck.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Things are looking brighter since I used your mattress cleaning method today. It really works!!
As for the bedding, I add 2 tablespoons of oxyclean+ odor eraser to the washer and run the cycle on hot.
Thank you, thank you for this. I thought I was gonna have to get a new mattress. Worked like a charm. You.are.amaZING!!!
Thank you so much! I’m in the middle of letting the sodium bicarbonate sit. My little sister has been wetting her bed for a while now and we can never get her mattres 100% smell free
I tried this today. It seemed to have lightened the stain but it didn’t get rid of it. For reference, the urine is from last night. I was thinking of doing another round tomorrow but the problem is, how do you get the smell from the vinegar out of the mattress? So I am hesitant using it again unless the smell disappears by tomorrow. I might just try the peroxide and baking soda method I read on other sites instead. I’ll report back in a day or so with what I ended up doing and how it worked.
Can it be any baking soda the regular or the pure?
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! xx
I spray white vinegar and baking soda on my greasy stovetop and let it sit for a few minutes. Breaks down the hard cooked-on food, with a little scrubbing it cleans the food and grease right up. I also use it on soap scum and water stains.
Thank you for the tips was searching for this because my 9 years old son just pee in the bed. I will tried the method. Using baking soda is effective and my friends all agree with me. Thanks for sharing.
Will this work on older stains as well??? I’ve tried everything. Hope this works!
Some of our stains were older, and while it doesn’t work as well as if you did it right away, it definitely helps!
I was half amazed and surprise when I found out that vinegar can also use to clean mattress. I’ll try to do that to my mattress. Thank you Kristin!
This totally worked! I was so nervous about it because I didn’t want to waist a bunch of stuff for it not to work. It was like MAGIC!
I had a geriatric cat that was 13 3/4 years old die 5/16/2015. He got where he would not use the litter box and would wet and have other accidents on my carpet. What will help or take away these odors from the carpet? I know I need to replace the carpet, but can’t afford it yet! Thanks!!
Just wanted to thank you for the info. We had a bed wetting incident last night and I just vacuumed the baking soda off to find a perfect mattress. Happy Mum
Hi Kirstin, thanks for posting this. I’ve thrown out more matresses over the years than I care to remember. My son is 15 by now and still has trouble staying dry. We’ve tried all kinds of waterproof mats , but they start to leak after you’ve washed them several times. And that means stains and really bad smells. So I’ll definitely try this.
I just tried this yesterday to our mattress and it worked very well. Thanks for sharing the vinegar and baking soda idea, Thank you Kristin!
I tried this last night and my bed still has the vinegar smell Any way to get rid of it?
Hi Carol, Without knowing just how much you used, it’s hard to answer that question. I would try sprinkling baking soda over it again and letting it sit for several hours, and then vacuum it off.
Thank you so much for post this! I normally use a shampooer and since mine broke I had to find another method! Giving it a shot today!
My daughter was the worst with wetting the bed. I ended up taking her to the chiropractor. She has been accident free for a year! Her brother is just potties trained and has only a had a few night time accidents. We recently upgraded to a twin bed and my husband didn’t think about a mattress protector! Oh well such as life! Thank you once again!
Bed wetting may be caused by food allergies (I just learned that today) & I think it’s the cause of the issue I’ve been dealing with. If your son says that certain foods hurt his stomach (apples) or if there are other signs of gastrointestinal issues (gas, diarrhea) that correlate to consumption of certain foods, or if he sleeps hard if he eats certain foods (sugary or carb-laden) an allergy or intolerance may be the culprit. (Google “fructose malabsorption & bedwetting” for one example).
DESMOPRESSIN ACETATE!
MY SON SUFFERED FOR YEARS WITH BEDWETTING. I FINALLY FOUND A DOCTOR WHO PRESCIBED DESMOPRESSIN ACETATE AND AFTER ABOUT TWO OR THREE WEEKS HE WAS BED WETTING FREE. IT IS A NASAL SPRAY AND HAS TO BE STORED IN THE REFRIDGRATOR. ASK YOUR DOCTOR IF THIS MED IS RIGHT FOR YOUR CHILD. I CANNOT EXPRESS HOW RELIEVED I WAS FOR MY CHILD.
My son takes Desmopressin, but in pill form. I haven’t heard of the nasal spray. But we are still having issues unfortunately.
I would walk my heavy, early sleeper to the bathroom right before I went to bed later. That worked and she didn’t even remember getting up. Thanks for the info am having trouble with an adult from a surgery now.Life is fun!
I had my first experience with a child wetting their bed. They were embarrassed and did not tell me until later that evening. We believed we would have to buy a new mattress but decided to google a fix first and this blog came up. I decided to give it a try versus spending $250+ on a new mattress. WOW, this is a miracle fix to say the least. We went from a room that smelled of urine to a very pleasant smelling room. The mattress had no residual smell at all; which I was surprised because this was also a pillow-top mattress. My husband and I are thrilled with the results. I see others have suggested a plastic sheet but my child is 12 and this was a first ever. We think it might have been a side effect of medication they started that day. So a plastic sheet isn’t always the answer because at 12 you feel like you are beyond that stage in life. Lastly, we had only owned the mattress a year and a half and it was expensive, I really hated to throw it out. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Thanks for sharing your experience, Michelle! So glad it worked for you.
Thanks Kristin 🙂 To any parent whose child frequently wets their bed… i would highly recommend a chiropractor or Kinesiologist. You can Google along with bed wetting. I promise it is worth looking into. Good luck!
I tried this today, it worked pretty well! Thank you!
Glad it worked for you!
Do you know if it will work with Apple Cider vinegar??
I can’t say as I haven’t tried that, but the scent would be different and it’s not as concentrated.
I am so glad I came across this. To know that I am not alone. My daughter is 5 (almost 6) and still wets the bed. People tell me it’s no big deal, or she’ll grow out of it. However, to read that I am not alone makes it better.
I tried this method and it removed the pee. 🙂 However, not all the baking soda came out and now my son’s blue mattress has white stains on it. Any suggestions for getting rid of that? 😛
Hi Marc, Without actually seeing your method, I’m afraid I can’t speak to what happened. But the baking soda shouldn’t stain.
i think the vinegar might of ruined the blue fabric, maybe what he means? my kid has a colored mattress so im worried about this method but real interested in trying this. As this mattress is brand new and a cpl months old. Maybe wetvacing it with a wet vac for rugs might just do. i know they use kurbys with a fabric dryer sheet over it and its taken out dead skin cells and gross dust mites from the mattress. Does this method clean out the dead skin cells? Sincerely, OCD
Tried this, tonnes of vinegar on mattress then baking soda (which I left on overnight). Didn’t work at all. Stain is still there and the smell of urine hasn’t abated at all. Maybe due to the foam pillow top on the mattress….anyway, back to the drawing board.
Sorry to hear that it didn’t work for you! We don’t have a pillow top, so I imagine that could be the issue. Good luck!
My son is 6 years old. He is a extremely hard sleeper. Pees through pull ups, his mattress is black.
Does the vinegar stain colors?
I don’t want the smell or the color difference to take over the bedroom more then it already has.
I am very OCD.
i have done everything that i was always told.
The baking soda helps remove the vinegar smell – and the nasty smells with it!
Does it completely remove the vinegar smell? Vinegar smell makes me nauseous.
Yes! The baking soda takes that smell away.
Thanks for the cleaning tips. We had a plastic cover on the bed, but it has started to rip and some urine soaked through. My son used a Chummie bed wetting alarm for about a month when he was age 9 and it really helped him stop wetting the bed. He would wet several times per week. He is much better now, but he still has an occasional accident. I highly recommend the alarm and I wished I had used it sooner.
Love your blog.
Thank you…thank you! My 1yr old daughter work up covered with diarrhea and urine. I had a waterproof mattress cover and it still soaked through to the mattress. This was a hot mess! I followed your recipe and directions and her new mattress looks new. No smell of poop or urine…I’m very impressed! Thanks so much! I wonder if it work on carpets? Have you tried it on a carpet?
How about getting urine odors out of comforters? Could febreeze work or can white vinegar also do the trick?!
White vinegar always works. Add about 1/2 – 1 cup to the rinse cycle.
Thank you so much.. But ive an issue that i dont hace vaccum cleaner @ home.. Can u please suggest me something else..
If you don’t have a vaccum you can use a broom.You can also sweep your carpets with a broom.Takes a lot of elbow grease but cleans really well.
Thank you for the tips was searching for this because my 8y old son just pee in the bed. I will tried the methode. Do you think using febreeze after it will banish the odor after using your methode?
Would this work on throw up stains and smells? I don’t have problems with bed wetting but I do with throwing up. It’s like they don’t know what’s going on so they just sit there, then it’s too late.
I haven’t tried it for that, but I’d think it would be worth a shot!
I tried it today on vomit as my son got sick on my bed this morning. It worked great, and luckily there weren’t any stains. I also used a hot iron and damp cloth to get the stains up (to soak up the vinegar & stain), before the baking soda. It’s not great on the iron, but the stains come up so much easier. It’s the same trick used to get (pet) urine stains out of carpet.
Thanks for the post, it really helped!
Do you leave the fan on while baking soda is on aswell, or only after you’ve poured the vinegar?
I usually just keep it on to help circulate the air and rid the odor quicker.
Your blog is very helpful, however currently I have no vinegar, need to buy on the market. I have hydrogen peroxide.
I’ve heard about hydrogen peroxide as a cleaner, very useful. But do you know if it will work? I’m afraid to try it on a coat stain that soaked through the bedding and onto the mattress.
Thank you for sharing this information. My 11 year old is still having bed wetting issues, he just sleeps so hard he don’t realize he peed. Like many other parents we have tried the alarm and he actually sleeps through it, tried several different styles. He says he’s too big for the goodnights underwear, not that I can afford them right now as it is. He soaks through the absorbent pads and mattress covers that are supposed to be waterproof. When we tried the plastic ones he would move around so much he would just tear them. At least now when my husbands kids come over I will at least have a better chance at getting rid of the odor and smell, as he don’t always let me know when he has had an issue. I’ve tried using a light bleach solution that seems to help too but it takes forever for the smell to mellow out, this should be a lot more nose friendly. Thank you again, for this inexpensive cleaning method.
Thanks for posting and for letting us know we are not alone. I have a very frequent bed wetter. 10 years old. She crashes hard and does not get up at night. Goodnites leak through. I’ve now tried the Goodnites tru fit and so far so good, no leakage and it feels like underwear. Contimplating an alarm. Hope she grows out of it but its a hereditary issue.
I just tried this and it works! Thanks SO much! My daughter is 5 and pee right through the good nights she was wearing and the good nights pad she had underneath(poor kid didn’t even wake up when she was wet)! Geez! At least this worked to clean it up! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the info! What about (sweet) tea stains on the mattress or (god forbid) chewing tobacco stains. I know- Gross!
When my stepdaughter went through a bedwetting phase, I researched online how to help her and found there are absorbent pads (found in the same section of the store as Poise, Depends, etc) that can go between the sheet and the mattress. They also make mattress covers that are waterproof, to keep the urine from the mattress. This is a great post on how to get the smell and stains out, though!
Thanks Teresa, for your comment. We use the waterproof mattress covers unfortunately they don’t always work! I do use the pads when we are traveling though (they are expensive!)
Why don’t you purchase a protective plastic cover for the mattress? You can get them at Bed Bath and Beyond. It’s a plastic fitted “sheet” that goes under the mattress pad.
We have tried those and they are not comfortable. They make a lot of noise when my son moves around (and he does that a lot!)
Those plastic mattress pads are uncomfortable. Not only do they make a lot of noise, but they also make the bed much warmer with your body heat, most people do not want that in the summer.
How about a waterproof mattress cover? That would save you the trouble of cleaning the mattress all the time. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EJOYND8/?tag=120dfc-20
There are also absorbant pads used in hospitals and nursing homes that can go underneath his sheets. http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/disposeze-disposable-underpad-30-x-36-inch/ID=prod4232710-product
Yes those are great but unfortunately they don’t always work. We have had them leak through as well.
yup! just discovered today that the waterproof cover on my daughter’s bed had a giant rip in it! fortunately there is a secondary cover, not waterproof, but it is removable and washable so there’s only the barest of odors on the actual mattress itself, but will go try this now! thank you!
oh… what about getting rid of odors on the sheets themselves?i have the same problem you do, that my daughter doesn’t tell me when she’s wet, so sometimes the urine dries in and it’s several days down the road before i notice the godawful smell. i’ve tried adding baking soda and vinegar to my wash, which helps a little, but not much, and then started using a heavily scented fabric softener, which basically just covers the smell up. any tips?
I haven’t tried anything except just regular washing Jennifer, and that seems to work. If it’s not working for you I’d try maybe soaking in a water/detergent solution in a sink of bucket.
For the odors 5 to 7 or more drops depending on length of time it’s been sitting always works in the wash, but I do believe a boost is necessary whether it’s vinegar, Clorox2, regular bleach or my favorite Clorox oxi magic spray or powder. And soaking with the same ingredients before the wash is a big help if necessary for very set in odors.
Trying this today. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Kristin,
I have emailed you several times regarding your services. I have not heard back 🙁
Maybe you didn’t get them?
~Rina