help!! removing stains from mattress

phizzimum

DD1 woke me early this morning as she was having a nosebleed. There are large drops of blood on her mattress - how do i deal with the stain?

I seem to remember that I should sprinkle something on and then dab it off...?

in other words...help!!

not a great start to the flylady challenge!

beachbeth

Sprinkle with salt and use warm (not hot) water to dab off. You will have to keep at it though. Personally, I would finish off by rubbing with a little bleach too but it depends on the colour of the mattress because this will remove the colour too!

phizzimum

thank you!! I knew someone here would know what to do.

it's a cream mattress but a paler spot will look better than horrible brown stains.

beachbeth

I always think that a paler patch looks better than the stain too! The bleach also makes it smell a bit fresher too. Just make sure its dry before you put your sheets on! Or you could turn the mattress over after you have dried it just to make sure. You don't want to ruin your sheets!

tawnyowls

beachbeth wrote:

Sprinkle with salt and use warm (not hot) water to dab off. You will have to keep at it though. Personally, I would finish off by rubbing with a little bleach too but it depends on the colour of the mattress because this will remove the colour too!

I would never use anything other than cold water to get blood off - even warm water can 'cook' the blood. My auntie used to be a nurse (in the days when they had sluice rooms and macintoshes), and they always used cold water. If there's anything left after that, Stardrops should shift it.

Nicki

I've always found Ace bleach to be fantastic on blood stains, you can literally see the stain vanish in front of your eyes, and it doesn't bleach any colour out of the underlying fabric. It also works better in my experience if you don't pretreat the stain with anything first, including water. Hope this isn't too late!

janb5

Just to say that Primark do great fitted mattress covers. A singleone is about£5. It will protect your mattress and alsocleans beautifully. Having had the same thing a little whileago, I suggest cleaning immediately with cold water solution with vinegar in it and dry area with hairdryer.

Rachie_B

ive used stardrops on blood stains before with great sucess

HTH

moggins

When I was an army wife I learned a great trick for removing bloodstains from mattresses. Mix up a stiff paste of bleach and talcum powder and apply it to the stain, wait for the paste to dry and hoover it off.

phizzimum

thank you to everyone for the replies...I haven't managed to get the stain out completely but it looks much better than it was. I will give it a go with a little bleach tomorrow.

good suggestion about a mattress protector, didn't know you could get them so cheaply.

When we first got married we could only afford a second hand mattress, and the last time we moved house my friend told me he was shocked at the state of it...It was pretty manky by then I have to admit! So I'm a bit paranoid about the state of my mattresses now. I wont dare ask that friend to help us move again if the mattresses get too stained!

sparkles.

(Very yuck question here, please don't ask more ) Do any of these work with old blood stains?