If you don’t have an encasement for your mattress, you need to be diligent about keeping it clean, both from accidents and everyday dust.
Vacuum it regularly
If you don’t have a mattress encasement, vacuum your mattress once a month using a full-size vacuum cleaner with powerful suction.
Run the upholstery attachment across the surfaces to pick up debris. Use the angled, hose-like crevice cleaner on the nooks and crannies to suck out trapped dust in the tufting, quilting, and edge piping.
Clean up accidents quickly and gently
If you spill anything on your bare mattress:
1. Use dry paper towels to clean as much of the spill as possible.
2. Add equal parts white vinegar and warm water to a spray bottle. Aqsa Tasleem, a textile expert and product manager for Corsicana Mattress Company, suggests adding a squirt of dishwashing liquid to cut through the grimy bits and any oils. (For tough stains like cat pee, consider an enzyme cleaner; enzymes break down molecules that can cause stains, says William Carroll Jr., adjunct professor of chemistry at Indiana University and owner of Carroll Applied Science. Follow instructions on the label.)
3. Spray the soiled area of your mattress. Be thorough, but go sparingly. “You do not want the solution to soak deep into the foam and make it difficult to dry,” Tasleem said.
4. Use a cloth diaper, washcloth, or microfiber cloth to work the solution through. Avoid pressing into the mattress. Continue until any coloring is gone.
5. Finish with a spritz of plain water to remove residual cleanser. Dab with a clean cloth or paper towel to dry.
6. Sprinkle enough baking soda to absorb the wetness. Leave it on for a few hours. While the white vinegar (an acid) reacts with the basic components in urine to help neutralize the smell, the baking soda (a base) takes care of the smelly acids (including stomach acid in vomit).
7. Wait until all of the baking soda is completely dry, and then vacuum it up. If you feel that you need to disinfect the mattress (for instance, if someone with a stomach bug got sick on it), spritz the mattress with store-bought disinfectant or 70% pure rubbing alcohol.
8. Dry the mattress completely before you sleep on it. Open the windows or use a hair dryer to speed up the process, if necessary. “Whatever you do, avoid turning the mattress over on the frame,” said Stuart Carlitz, president and CEO of Eclipse International. That old trick leaves the mattress damp and invites mildew.
