Mistakes do happen, but that doesn’t matter now. The damage has been done – so how do we clean up the urine and dry the mattress as fast as possible?
First things first
Get whatever bedding such as blankets, sheets, or even pillows into the wash if they have come in contact with the pee.
If you have a mattress protector, which you should, then take it off and clean it too and only dry it on low heat. If you don’t have a mattress protector*, then consider this a lesson and pick one up now before you forget. A mattress protector would have saved your mattress from the urine!
If the urine has soaked into the mattress, then grab some towels and quickly try to absorb any of the liquid into the towels. The more urine that gets soaked into the towels, the better.
Place all wet towels and bedding into the washer and also put some Borax for extra cleaning power into the wash.
Do this to clean the pee off the mattress
The only thing that really cleans off urine from fabrics like a mattress is a dedicated urine remover. If you don’t have that, then you’ll need a solution that is available to help you until you can get some urine remover.
Grab a clean damp rag and some hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide works well on organic messes (stuff that comes out of humans). Dab the cloth with some hydrogen peroxide and scrub the mattress to clean up the mess.
Really clean the area with a damp rag and hydrogen peroxide. Many people like to make a Hydrogen Peroxide – Baking Soda – and Detergent mix for cleaning up urine. I’m not a fan of baking soda (you’ll see below), and the detergent is really only used for the scent. The Hydrogen Peroxide is the thing that does all the cleaning, so no need to dilute it.
Don’t use Baking Soda
Many people will say to use baking soda or to sprinkle baking soda on the mattress. Which is fine, but they then say to vacuum it up which is not fine.
Small particles like baking soda can destroy your vacuum or even short out the motor which can do even worse things. I hate how everyone on the internet says to use a vacuum cleaner to suck up baking soda – it is not good to do! If you want to learn more about not using a vacuum for baking soda, click here.
Do use a Vacuum
If you do have a wet/dry vac, then use it to suck any liquids on your mattress. Don’t use your regular carpet vacuum as it can’t handle the moisture. If you do have carpet cleaner vacuum with the hose attachment then use that.
Really wet the mattress with the urine remover and let it sit in. After a few minutes grab the wet/dry vac and suck the liquids out. This is the best way to remove urine from a mattress even if it has set in.