Everyone needs a good night of sleep to wake up feeling refreshed, energized, and ready to take on the next day, and it comes as no surprise that your bed plays an important role in this. You spend around a third of your entire life sleeping on your bed mattress, so it’s important that this surface is regularly cleaned and maintained to ensure the best and most hygienic sleeping environment possible. However, bloody accidents do happen along the way.
Blood can come from a wide range of things from cuts and bloody noses to an unexpected cycle in the middle of the night. Regardless of what caused it, it’s crucial that you remove the blood from your mattress as soon as possible as they can become much more difficult to handle the longer they dry and absorb into your mattress’ fibers.
How to Remove Blood Stains from Bed
Step 1: Prepare the Mattress
Immediate action is absolutely necessary when faced with a blood stain. When you see one, remove all the bedding from your mattress, such as comforters, sheets, and mattress pads. Treat these stains by flushing them under cold water from the wrong side before working some heavy-duty detergent into the stained area with a soft brush. Leave this to sit for around 15 minutes before tossing them in the washing machine with some heavy-duty detergent.
Once that’s done, return to your mattress and begin blotting as much of the blood as you can with some paper towels. Avoid rubbing or scrubbing at the affected area as this will only push the blood deeper into the mattress and make it much harder to remove.
Step 2: Prepare Cleaning Solution
Smaller fresh blood stains can be removed with just a clean cloth dampened with some cold water. Use this dampened cloth to gently dab at the area and rinse and wring it out as much as needed until the blood stain is completely gone. Make sure that the cloth isn’t soaking wet to prevent oversaturation.
However, larger fresh stains will require a cleaning solution, and you can easily make one by mixing together half a cup of baking soda and half a cup of hydrogen peroxide in a small bowl. Use a small soft brush or an old toothbrush to apply this cleaning paste onto the stain, starting from the outer edges and working your way towards the center.
The paste will begin to bubble the moment it touches the stain, and this is simply the hydrogen peroxide reacting with the blood. Once the entire stain is covered in the paste, leave it to sit for at least 30 minutes or until the bubbling reaction stops.
Step 3: Use an Enzyme-Based Cleaner
If you’re facing an old blood stain that has already dried, try breaking it down with an enzyme-based laundry stain remover by adding a small amount of it onto a microfiber cloth. With the cloth ready, work the stain remover into the stain starting from the outside edges of the stain and work your way towards the center. Once you’ve finished, leave it for at least 15 minutes.
Step 4: Blot and Air Dry
When you’ve finished removing the stain with your chosen cleaning method, get a clean cloth and dampen this with some cold water, ensuring that it's only damp and not dripping, and use this to blot away the mixture from your mattress.
Rinse and wring out your cloth as much as needed until all traces of both the paste and the blood are completely gone before getting another clean and dry cloth to absorb any excess moisture. When you’ve blotted away as much water as you can, leave the area to dry completely for up to 8 hours. If you’ve chosen to use the hydrogen peroxide and baking soda paste, go in with a vacuum cleaner with an upholstery attachment to remove all traces of baking soda that could have been left behind.
Tips to Handle Blood Stains on Mattress
Clean Stains Immediately
The cardinal rule of stain removal is to clean it up as soon as possible, and this is especially true with blood stains that tend to be more stubborn due to the proteins present in it. You can do this by blotting away as much of the blood as you can with some paper towels, or by using some cold water and a clean cloth.
Take note that you should never use warm or hot water when cleaning up blood stains as this can make it much more difficult to remove. On the same note, never rub at a blood stain no matter how tempting it might be as this will only push the substance deeper into your bed’s mattress fibers.
Always Work from Outside to Inside
Regardless of what cleaning solution or method you’ve chosen to use, it’s important to clean up blood stains from the outer edges of the stain and work your way towards the center. This prevents the blood from further spreading across the cloth material and will make cleaning much easier and quicker.
When in Doubt, Call Luce Home!
Blood stains are one of the more difficult stains to deal with, but Luce Home is here to take the worry off your hands. Our professional cleaners are equipped with years of training and experience to handle even the worst of stains, and they’re extensive knowledge will leave the stained area completely spotless and clean.
Luce Home offers a wide range of customizable and affordable cleaning packages and services to help cater to your unique household cleaning needs so that having a clean home can become effortless and easy for you and your loved ones.
Send us a message to schedule an appointment today!
