Lately I‘ve received numerous emails from people asking me for advices how to clean their memory foam mattresses. The primary problems were that they have little children or puppies that leak all over the place including on the bed. (my puppy did it twice and I barely cleaned covered up that accident), so I‘ve decided to write a nice guide on how to clean the mattress at home.
First lets say a few words on how your mattress is constructed. Usually the covers are our of a stretchable, thinner velour or terry cotton material and below it is a thinner socking material that is used to make the mattress fire resistant. The body of the mattress is made out of few layers of different density memory foam material, starting from the top with very low density very heat sensitive material, inner layer of medium density/strength foam and lower layer of high pressure/density memory foam. The sizes of each layer depend on the solely on the manufacturer and the type of sleep number bed. Most mattresses have about 2-3 layers, but some can have up to 8.
The dense nature of the memory foam is really tricky to clean as it soaks huge amount of liquid and then has to dry for days in order to be usable again. In order to clean the mattress you need to be able to pass sufficient cleaning product through the mattress to release the urine and cleanse the foam fabric, flushing the contamination out the other side and neutralizing the offending smell and bacteria….
From experience I can confirm that the best way to clean a memory foam mattress is to use Hydrogen Peroxide (H202) and sodium bicarbonate as cleaning agents. Be advised that the Hydrogen Peroxide acts as bleach and can cause some serious discoloration and be careful where you‘re spreading the liquid. Also you should use gloves while applying the liquid. The challenge in a normal home environment, where the mattress is in one piece, is to be able to get sufficient hydrogen peroxide into the body of the mattress to reach the full extent of the urine stain and also to pass out the other side carrying the waste products of the contamination. In addition, you have the difficult task of drying the mattress internally, which is extremely hard thing to do as it soaks so much water and it takes about a week or so to dry completely. After sponging the cleaned area with towels and cloths, you will need to allow at least 3 – 5 days drying in a good warm air flow. Using a hair dryer over the top surface may help, as it helps to assist in the wicking effect of moisture travelling up from the internal damp area to the dryer top surface of the mattress where it evaporates to atmosphere. If you do use hair dryer please make sure you don‘t get it too hot because it might damage the foam.
This cleaning should be able to solve your issue. It might still keep some smell but it will be quite better than what it was before. In my experiment with my mattress it was completely cleaned from the smell and the dog didn‘t do it any more which is good.
As a good suggestion, if you know that you might get some accident on the memory foam mattress you can protect it by fitting a water resistant cover whenever there is a threat of incontinence or pets ‘marking their territory‘ by peeing on the mattress.
If you have any further questions please send me email and I‘ll try to answer in timely manner.
UPDATE:I received that response from one of our readers:
I thank you SO much!!! Being this is only a 4″ topper I think the solution your provided with work wonderfully!
Again, I can‘t thank you enough for your time and effort in finding this answer for me.
A bleached mattress? Ah well, it‘s covered by a sheet anyway =o)
Have a wonderful day!
Lisa
ps – natural for anything is best……..i‘m always on the look out for nonharmful ways/products.
Visitor Comments
Comment by: Sandy
Message: Thanks for the great advice. Just curious as to how much of each solution to use, where i can get the sodium bicarbonate, and if there was any sort of technique you used when dumping the liquid on the mattress?
Comment by: Nanci
Message: No one peed on my memory foam – just looking for general cleaning instructions.
Comment by: Tina Webb
Message: Thanks for the info. I won’t be washing the memory form portion of my combination pillows (washable down alternative). Fabric refreshener and an airing out should suffice.
Comment by: miranda
Message: Just a few questions…where can i get the sodium bicarbonate, and how do i apply the solution to the mattress? Just pour or use a sponge?? And where should this be done, should the mattress be taken outside due to the staining? Thanks for your help. I’m so upset, I love our mattress and it is only a few months old…and my husband opted not to get the water resistant cover.
thanks again,
miranda
Comment by: Anonymous
Message: Just for general info. Sodium Bicarbonate is *Bakeing Soda* And I do have 1 question, I noticed this cleaning advice is for a memory foam topper, how would you clean a childs pee from a full size 12in memory foam matterss??
Comment by: Anonymous
Message: my cat peed on my mattrice several times and finally I tried vinegar mixed in water and it worked. It actually cut the amonia smell. My cat also quit using the mattrice after that.
Comment by: pisspal
Message: thank you. the discoloration is minimal when compared to the releif of that oh so urine like smell. i hate smelling other organisms wastes.
Comment by: Anonymous
Message: My spiteful cat just peed on my brand new 12in Memory foam mattress. I’m beyond upset. I didn’t get a plastic cover, because I wanted the mattress to ‘breathe’. That’s a thing of the past
I poured an all natural pet clean up solution that contains natural enzymes. The enzymes are what destroys the odor that we can’t even smell, so they won’t go there again.
I appreciate all the other advice for attacking the stain further. Unfortunately it’s in a very tight space, & soaking it through to the other side will be very difficult. You think it’ll be effective if I just soak a few layers down & then flip the mattress over to squeeze out the excess/gunk?
Thanks all!
Comment by: Katie
Message: Thank you so much for finding a way to clean memory foam mattress. I have an 18 month old son and he leaked out of his diaper and one time completley took it off in the night and urinated didn’t notice anything til I was soaked with pee. Thank you everybody for the suggestions can’t wait til I get this cleaned
{ 34 comments… read them below or add one }
My son wet the bed and this might only work with a 2″ twin size… however, it was completely washable in the washing machine. The BIG trick is to babysit the wash process and skip over the parts that would do damage. I placed the topper in with equal weight on opposite sides for the spinner to work well; I let it fill with water & soap, then turned off the wash cycle and dipped it several times by hand. I skipped to the drain/rinse cycle, let it fill up with water and did the same thing. Then I skipped to the spin cycle, which I repeated twice to spin out excess water. This was only a few hours ago and after laying it over ventilated sweater racks flat on the floor, it is almost dry. All urine smell is gone. It only has picked up a few pieces of lint from the washer since it is so porous and a little sticky, but nothing at all major. Hope that helps someone!!!
my problem is, we have a 4″ topper which is one year old. it’s put into a cotton cover. no kids no pets
but when we wanted to wash the cover, the topper had turned a dark yellow. any clues, what may have caused the discoloration, there isn’t any odors. thank you, ron
I have a king size memory foam topper and it has also darkened to a yellow color. Is this from UV light? Or is it something to do with age?
@ Ron, Editor
Our topper also has an insane amount of discoloration; the top side compared with the bottom side.
Around the corners it is just a dark dusty gray.
I think the foam may have just absorbed dust and dirt. Have had it for little over a year now.
Since there is no urine or any other substance, we’re just a trying a plain rinse first a good soak in water, but if worse comes to worse we’ll use the H2O2 and NaHCO3 as recommended.
If you have any last min tips please post.
- David
Just a few questions…where can i get the sodium bicarbonate, and how do i apply the solution to the mattress? Just pour or use a sponge?? my bed top cover is not removable, and the stains are urination Thanks for your help. I’m so upset, I love our mattress and it is only a few months old…
It is not so much the smell of cat urine and vomit for me. But it is the stain that is left which is my problem.
The stains are on both sides of a 4ft memory foam mattress. I hasten to add although there are stains on both sides. They are separate stains and have not gone through the mattress. Would steam cleaning work on this problem.
Be grateful for any help available
thank you so much. i have a little girl that has leaked a few times on my memory foam. this was very helpful
How about a child who had a diarrhea accident? She had a stomach bug and had an accident while sleeping. Would this solution work on that too?
Yes it should work, but make sure you rinse it carefully with a lot of cleaning solution. If the smell persists, you should do it again and add up some fabric aromatic softener.
What is the ratio of Baking soda and water, and I have a 2 ” memory foam what is the best way to treat it for animal urine it wasn’t enough to go through the 2″ foam. My question is do I pour in the center of soiled area until it goes throiugh to the other side or turn it over and do the same from the unsoiled side which is best?
I have a brand new memory foam mattress and my childrens urine leaked through the diaper onto my mattress. I was extremely upset not knowing how to clean it, but after following your cleaning instructions I was amazed how the odor is completely gone. As for discoloration it really is minimal; fyi I used a sponge a piece of advice use gloves. Thank you for your help really its well appreciated.
I have a brand new memory foam mattress and my children urinated it leaked through their diapers onto my mattress. I was extremely upset not knowing how to clean it, but after following your cleaning instructions I was amazed how the odor is completely gone. As for discoloration it really is minimal, thank you for your help it really is well appreciated.
Thanks… so upset when my little boy peed on my topper… yet cleaned it as soon at it happens, as per your instructions…
I have a six month old memory foam mattress my little girl spilled strawberry milk on. How do I get the stain out? Any help would be appreciated.
Would rubbing alcohol work ? It has a disenfecting side to it would be good for smell and would dry much faster? Just wondered
Great advice! Thanks! For all of you parents out there that have little ones leaking (still in diapers), I am about to CHANGE YOUR LIFE!! Go to Amazon.com and buy Gerber plastic pants! Normally they are used for cloth diapers, but I have twins and had to think of something! The nighttime pampers or any nighttime diaper for that matter always leak, especially due to the bedtime bottle. Simply put on the plastic pant over nightime diapers each night, and done! We very rarely have leaks anymore and only have to change the sheets one a week now! I have a few pairs and wash them after each use in warm water washes with the rest of their clothes in Dreft. Be very careful to hang them dry, if they go in the dryer they will melt. I just use the little clamp hangers that some of their clothes came on from Baby’s R us. Give it a try it WILL make your life easier!
P.s/
We also use the incontiant urine pads from any medical supply for changing them. Get something on it? Throw it away and pull out another one! We also put them under the crib sheets on top of the mattress protector and it saves it everytime!
Hope this helps a lot of parents out there even though this site is for cleaning the mattress
Do you think they will ever make one where you can replace a 1″ cover when there was an accident. Two cats and competing turf! Sheesch!
I have a memory foam topper that got a stain on it and I tried pouring bleach on it,but it left a big brown stain on it. Any way to get rid of the brown stain from the bleach?
Sodium bicarbonate is baking soda.
My 1yr old passed urine on our deluxe tempurpedic mattress. It has only been a yr since we had this mattress. My question is will tempupedic people replace our mattress with another new one. I love my mattress and really disappointed this happened. Also can your cleaning advice work for my mattress aswell? Because my tempurpedic is very wide. Please let me know.
Thanks
Try “biogreen clean” amazing plant based product that will eliminate smell and break down the chemical make up of urine also good for everything else especially oil !
you have to buy it online though, but you will love this and can throw away all your harmful cleaners once you discover how great it is
money back guarantee too !
I got an memory foam from my family. They were heavy smokers & that is all I smell on it. I tried using fabreeze to help but it didn’t put a dent in the order. Is there something I can do to get the smoke odor out? I also put it outside to air out after using the fabreeze.
Thank you for your time.
Dian
How much of each solution do you use?
Thanks
I put my 3inch memory foam twin size on the patio and soaked the heck out of it with the pressure nozzle on the garden hose, then poured vinegar and a lil water mix all over the area..let it soak in then gave it a good rinsing with the pressure nozzle on our hose. It was heavy but i managed to roll it up squeeze it the best i could with a little help then i stuck it in the washer on the spin cycle twice. let it air dry outside for a long long while…2days. Seems to be okay now. If it happens again..im throwin it out!!
Wow, this really worked! Thanks!
FYI: The yellowing of memory foam is a result of oxidation. It is a natural process.
I have used microfiber towels to soak up the excess liquid. Instead of using and hydrogen peroxide I used Odor Ban which is a general cleaning solution and order “eater.” It eliminates odors like this and kills the bacteria as well. You can pick this up at Sam’s Club, Menards, Lowes, or Home Depot. Thank you for your help.
Hi there,
I have a rather embarrassing question, i had a few “woman” issues for the last couple of years with really heavy bleeding and then sadly a miscarriage, unfortunately on our not so old memory foam, ive tried everything that i feel safe enough to clean the mattress with, its not gone though and its embarrassing everytime i change the bed especially when my husbands in the room, he doesnt bother but i do, so any help with this would be appreciated, i wasnt sure how delicate the mattress would be for such harsh chemicals as i dont want to completely ruin the mattress as it was expensive and i need it really for my back, again any help would be appreciated.
many thanks and godbless.
Thank you! Excellent idea about the waterproof material. We have an extra one from the crib that we can use. I never thought never thought about that.
How do I get blood and vomit stain off my mattress. Baking soda and hydrogine peroxide? Can you steam clean it? Thanks anything will be of help. This is brand new!!!!!
How can a get a vomit blood stain off my temperpedic mattress. Would. A steamer work?
Our problem is that there is no way we have space to coordinate passing a heavy amount of cleaning solution through our mattress – nor do we have time to let it dry for a week. Based on the advice here I’m going to try shallow-soaking the area our toddler soaked (BTW – swim diapers are apparently not to absorb anything; just catch poo – should come with a warning or something…), but when it comes to drying I’m going to try sucking the water out with a shop vac – hoping airflow is enough to pull out the liquid and speed up the drying process and avoid having to move the mattress off the bed. Good luck to everyone else here.
thnx.just learned a couple minutes ago that my dog had peed on my bed.it went through the sheets and into the mattress but it is 12in. thick.k does what you said still apply?
PeedOff… Good idea using a shop vac to help dry it! I’ve been researching every where online trying to find out how to clean urine from a memory foam mattress. Since it has been so cold out my dog doesn’t like to go potty outside anymore. She waits until she is nice and cozy in my new bed! The odor then attracted my other dog, so now I’ve got TWO dogs peeing in my bed! My problem is that it’s a king size and I just don’t have the space or time to let it air dry for a week. I never thought about using a shop vac. Thanks for that tid bit of info! If you read this, let us know how it worked out.