Diarrhoea can happen to all of us. Whether your baby's nappy just exploded in your bed, or you yourself were sick, sometimes it's necessary to clean diarrhoea from a mattress. Once the mattress is clean and dry again, place a vinyl bed cover over it, beneath the sheets, to protect against seep-through from future incidents. And don't forget to launder the soiled bedding in the hottest water possible with bleach to disinfect it.

Put on rubber gloves to protect your hands from exposure to any toxins in the diarrhoea.

Wipe up as much of any solid stool matter in the diarrhoea as possible with paper towels or rags that you're willing to throw out. Blot the liquid portion of the diarrhoea to remove as much of it as possible. Place the paper towels or rags in a plastic bin bag, tie the top of the bag shut and discard.

  • Diarrhoea can happen to all of us.
  • Wipe up as much of any solid stool matter in the diarrhoea as possible with paper towels or rags that you're willing to throw out.

Put Bac-Out in a spray bottle, and spray it over the affected area, saturating heavily. Let sit for half an hour, then wipe clean. This is to help remove stain and odour.

  • Put Bac-Out in a spray bottle, and spray it over the affected area, saturating heavily.

Dilute 79 ml (1/3 cup) bleach in 3.8 litres (1 gallon) of hot water. Pour this into another spray bottle, and spray the affected area until it's thoroughly soaked. This is to disinfect the mattress.

Wait at least five minutes for the bleach to work, then soak up as much of the liquid from the mattress as possible with clean, dry rags; paper towels; or a sponge.

Place the mattress in the sun if possible to help it dry, or at least open a window and turn a fan on it. If you absolutely must, you can dry it faster with the aid of a blow dryer.

WARNING

Don't use an ammonia-based cleaner before applying the bleach. Bleach creates toxic, even deadly gas when mixed with ammonia.