Cleaning Organic Wool Mattress?

[mrsbernstein]

I could CRY!!!

We have a PureRest/EcoBaby organic wool mattress for our co-sleeper.  And last night, the side-tube for my son's feeding tube was not COMPLETELY CLOSED...and breastmilk was able to flow onto and soak into the mattress.

First...we lost BREASTMILK!!!  BOOO HOOOOO!

Second...how in the world do we clean that mattress?  And what should we do in teh meantime?  

THank you!

Mr sB

[snanna]

It seems like it might be worth contacting the company to see what they recommend--there's no way you are the first to encounter this situation-- but I have dealt with similar accidents to our wool bed toppers by first saturating the spot with water aand then putting it in the full sun until very dry. Not really the time of year for that here, but maybe you live in a sunnier spot! Good luck! Aand sorry about the waste of breastmilk-- that's always totally heartbreaking.

[mumkimum]

What I'd likely do is dilute some wool wash (like kookaburra, which I use a lot, and is great since it doesn't need to get rinsed out of the wool completely - rinsing is usually the most difficult part) or Dr. Bronner's, pat it into the wettest area I could.  Pat again with a rag with just water.  Then if you can pull it outdoors to dry that'd be ideal, otherwise prop it up really well and have a fan so it dries thoroughly.  If possible to squish out any excess water by blotting with dry towels while drying - do that also.  Biggest challenge for washing wool bedding is good and thorough drying, but it is totally washable and not going to get ruined.  When in doubt - wash less and more gently.  

[Ramzubo]

We had a nose bleed accident on our wool bed and used (like the pp mentioned) some Dr. Bronner's soap. We saturated it really well, but tried to concentrate on the cotton cover and avoided soaking the wool as much as possible. Then we left it outside too dry. It all came out no problem, in fact it was way easier to clean than our traditional mattress. I think the whole wool thing kept there from being any smell and it aired out pretty quickly.

Oh yeah I just remembered we have wool pillows about cosleeper size and when we couldn't put them outside, we put them in the dryer on the no heat, fluff only cycle which helped them dry out quicker.

[talia rose]

PureRest would advise using a spray bottle with 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water and spot cleaning. Then putting out in the sun would be good. In the future you may want a wool moisture pad to protect your mattress. These are washable and absorb quite a bit.