Is your mattress looking a little worse for wear, with some mysterious (and frankly, gross) stains you’d love to banish? You’re not alone!
Over time, mattresses collect dead skin cells, dust mites, and—if left unchecked—even mold and mildew, especially in humid climates. If you have allergies or asthma, a dirty mattress could be making things worse without you even realizing it!
But here’s the good news—restoring your mattress to a fresher, cleaner state is totally doable. With a little time and effort, you can say goodbye to odors and stains and hello to a mattress that feels (almost) brand new! Let’s dive in!
Table Of Contents
- How to clean your mattress
- Cleaning a memory foam mattress
- How to get blood stains from a mattress
- How to get urine out of a mattress
- How to remove other mattress stains
- How to stop your mattress from smelling bad
- Additional sweat stain remover
- Additional blood stain remover
- Additional urine stain remover
- Stubborn stains remover
- Why it’s important to clean a mattress
- How often should you be cleaning your mattress?
- How to take care of your mattress
- Conclusion
There may be affiliate links in this article. You can read more about this in my disclosure.
How to clean your mattress
If you have no stains on your mattress, then the clean will be simple.
Strip your bed and vacuum the surface. Your vacuum should come with an upholstery attachment, so it’s important that if you do have this, use it.
Once you have vacuumed your bed, focus on the nooks and crannies that you may not have originally concentrated on. You want to ensure that any bits of dust and dead skin are taken care of and vacuumed up.
It’s crucial that you spend time vacuuming under your bed in order to remove any dead skin that has fallen through the mattress and onto the floor.
If your mattress is one-sided, rotate it from head to toe. Otherwise, flip your mattress and ensure that you’re vacuuming both sides.
Leave your mattress to breathe for a few hours by opening a bedroom window and letting the air circulate around the room. This air will then pass through the fabric in your mattress.
Remake your bed and consider using a mattress protector underneath your sheet in order to protect your mattress from sweat or dust.
Cleaning a memory foam mattress

Giving you the best comfort, memory foam mattresses usually come with a mattress cover that can be removed for machine washing. There are a couple of things you should be made aware of, though.
It’s important that you spend time checking the manufacturer’s instructions in regards to the details of your mattress warranty before you clean it.
Some mattresses will have removable covers, but it is usually advised that you don’t take the cover off and wash it. However, there are other manufacturers that will allow it and will state that it is best to avoid cleaning the foam once the cover has been removed.
Be mindful to follow the instructions of the mattress cover when putting it in the washing machine. You don’t want to invalidate your warranty or shrink the cover so it doesn’t fit back onto your mattress.
It’s essential to scrub stains off a mattress if you’re wanting odours and stains to be removed. However, before you do this, there are certain things you need to be aware of.
- Ensure that you’re tackling stains as soon as possible after they occur.
- Check the mattress label for you’re applying any cleaning products.
- Any cleaning solution that you’re using should be tested on a small part of the mattress first to ensure that no damage occurs.
How to get blood stains from a mattress
Whether you’ve accidentally cut yourself or you’re a woman on her monthly, blood getting onto your mattress can happen, and it can be frustrating.
If it does happen, then you want to dab your stain with cold water first. Ensure that you’re not soaking the mattress and don’t rub it as this will only spread the stain further.
You might find that this is enough to begin the process of removing your blood stain. However, if you think that some more work could be done to it, just add a bit of baking soda to the water.
Apply it directly onto the stain and leave it for 30-45 minutes. Dab with clean water and then leave it to dry.
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How to get urine out of a mattress
If you’ve come to notice that there are urine stains on your bed or even on your children’s beds, then this can be tackled. Try diluting washing up liquid in water and dab the astain gently with a sponge.
Be mindful that mattresses aren’t waterproof, so you don’t want to soak the stain as this can cause a damp smell once dried.
If the stain still doesn’t budge after following this step, then check the mattress care label to see if it’s okay to use an upholstery cleaner. Always read the label though as you may find that certain cleaners don’t work on your mattress.
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How to remove other mattress stains
It’s best to use baking soda with cold water if you have any other stains such as tea and coffee stains. If you have other bodily fluids and/or sweat stains, then use washing-up liquid that is diluted.
How to stop your mattress from smelling bad
Despite how comfortable your mattress is, it’s unlikely that you will get a good night’s sleep if you’re unable to escape an odour. Your mattress might smell for two reasons.
Reason one is that because it’s new. Believe it or not but when you get a new mattress the synthetic materials such as memory foam can have a chemical smell when first unpacked.

You might even find that if your mattress isn’t synthetic, it can still smell due to flame-retardant chemicals which are required by law.
It shouldn’t take long for those smells to disperse, but if you’re noticing it a lot, then it might be best to leave a window open during the day and the bed sheets off your mattress in order for it to air out.
The other reason that your mattress smells is because of a substance that has soaked into your mattress fibres.
One obvious example of this is bodily fluids, although teas and coffees can also be spilled when you’re enjoying your breakfast. Even if you’ve spilled water in the past, this can sometimes give a mattress a musty smell.
As soon as you’ve spent time cleaning your mattress and removing any stains, you want to air it out for as long as you possibly can.
It’s better to clean your mattress first thing in the morning and leave it out until you go to bed at night. This will allow the smell to fade.
If you have a smell that is really strong then you will have to take additional measures. It’s best to sprinkle baking soda all over it and leave it overnight.
Vacuum the baking soda the next day and then leave the mattress to air dry by an open window.
Additional sweat stain remover
If you’ve got someone in your family, or if you sweat a lot during your sleep and you’ve noticed that you have sweat stains on your mattress, use 3% hydrogen peroxide.
Ensure that you only put on enough to dampen it, not soak it through. Let it air dry and repeat the process if needed .
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Additional blood stain remover
If the above doesn’t work, then you can use 2 ounces of hydrogen peroxide and 1 tbsp of liquid dish soap and salt. Spread this over the stain and wait a few minutes before scraping it away with a spoon.
Use a sponge or cloth dipped in hydrogen peroxide to remove any leftover residue. Again, let the area air dry.
If the stain has turned brown, just dab the area with hydrogen peroxide and it will soon fade.
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Additional urine stain remover
Children wet the bed, humans can sometimes leak and dogs might find that they want to claim the bed for themselves. Urine gets onto beds, and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.
Use 3 tbsps of baking soda, 8 ounces of hydrogen peroxide and a very small amount of dish soap. Use a cloth to dab the mixture onto the stain.
Grab another clean cloth and blot the moisture.
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Stubborn stains remover
There may be stubborn stains that have made their way onto your mattress such as vomit, wine and unknown mattress stains. Use a whisk and add 2 tbsp of powdered laundry detergent, and a tbsp of water.
Doing this will create a dry foam that should then be spread onto the stain. Wait a few minutes and then scrape it away.
Use a damp cloth and remove any leftover residue and let it dry.
Why it’s important to clean a mattress

How often would you say that you’re changing your bed sheets? Even though this is a necessity, it’s also important that you go further than the sheets.
Your mattress needs a thorough clean because the dead skin cells that fall off us during the night won’t be stopped by the sheets, and they do seep through into the mattress.
At first glance, you might not think that your mattress is dirty or smelly, but if you close your door, leaving your mattress exposed and all windows closed and then return to your room a couple of hours later, you might notice the smell.
In fact, the average adult will lose approximately 285ml of bodily fluid each night. This is through salivation, sweat and other bodily fluids.
The average bed contains on average 10,000 dust mites which produce more than two million droppings. Allergies can become aggravated if this goes unnoticed and untreated.
454g of dead skin is shed over the course of a year. Most of this ends up in the nooks and crannies of your mattress.
You spend an average time of a third of your lifetime in bed.
How often should you be cleaning your mattress?
There is no set rule on how often you should be cleaning your mattress. It all depends on how much time is spent in the bed and how many people are using it.
However, it is recommended that you should be cleaning your mattress every six months.
If you’ve already created a habit of flipping your mattress every three to six months then you should be taking the additional time to clean it, too. Flipping your mattress will only even it out and make it last a bit longer.
If you’re an allergy sufferer and you’ve begun to notice the tell-tale signs of allergy by having dry eyes, an itchy throat and a runny nose, then it’s probably time that you gave your mattress a good, deep clean.
How to take care of your mattress

As soon as you receive your mattress, you will want to take all of the wrapping off it. If you’re leaving plastic on it, then this could cause dampness and then a smell will arise.
Ensure that you give your mattress air from time to time, especially if it’s new. Don’t make your bed first thing in the morning, instead throw back the covers and let the air get to it for at least 20 minutes.
Regularly turn your mattress which will ensure that any upholstery fittings are settled.
Even though it’s much fun for your children (and maybe you too) try not to bounce on the bed or sit on the edge too much. Doing this can make your mattress lose the support that it needs.
Use a mattress protector to protect your mattress from unwanted fluids and dust.
Conclusion
We hope that you have found the perfect solution for cleaning your mattress and that we have maybe given you some insight into the importance of cleaning your mattress on a 3-6 monthly basis.
If you’ve noticed that your mattress is beyond repair and too old, then it might be time to purchase a new one. It’s best to speak to a person face to face in order to get exactly what you need for your sleep.
Farah Zeb is a mother of five, including two children with special needs. She shares practical parenting tips and resources to help other families navigate daily challenges and create supportive, nurturing environments.