Ok, there must be a better way. She managed to hit every single thing in and around her bed, and I thought by putting the sheets and comforter in the wash with vinegar would de-smell them, but after the load was dry, several of the sheets still smelled terrible. I put just two in the wash soaking in a borax solution, which seems to have taken care of the smell, but I can't believe one bed has me doing five loads of laundry. What should I have done at the beginning?
Next time you know to start out with small loads. There needs to be room for the bedding to move around so that the water can push thru every square inch of the fabric. When the bedding is crammed together there is no where for the vomit to go. It stays, in a diluted state, in the fabric.
And, rinse out as much of the vomit as you can before putting them in the machine.
I would wash small loads (sheets only, comforter only, etc.) with a HIGH water level and an extra rinse cycle.
I use Tide and never have to add anything to "de-smell" the laundry. (But I haven't had a puke load in quite a while!)
We had this last year. Ugh, nothing like getting up at 3 am to change the sheets. When I washed everything, I used vinegar with a full cycle water level and let it soak a while. Then did an extra rinse. The smell came out no problem. I washed the sheets separately from everything else since they got "hit" as the prime target. The worst was actually the stuffed animals she had that night. That took a little more soaking in a pan.
My first reaction is always to throw it out and get a new one. :-) But can't do that so I wash one comforter in Tide and an extra rinse. Then sheets in another load and sometimes as awful as this sounds you really need to take them outside and shake them out somewhere depending on the mess. Do an extra rinse all on loads. This is the worst thing I've had to deal with, for me, being a mother. If at all possible I had my husband load them in the washer while I 'attended' the sick child. Yes awful I know.
I used to take it outside and hose all the chunky stuff off before trying to put it in the washing machine.
Maybe added Oxyclean?
iv used detergent with colorsafe bleach.. i just used an extra capfull.. still had to do 2 loads.. sheets n pillowcases in one and comforter by itself cuz it takes up so much room in the washer
Sanitary cycle on your washer. Wash...repeat and repeat. Usually it takes me about 3 washes to get that awful sour milk smell out of anything.
I am so sorry!! That's the worst. What's worked for me? One time my daughter puked all over the place in the middle of the winter. Her comforter was so disgusting I couldn't even deal with it in the middle of the night, so I tossed it outside and figured I'd clean it in the morning. So it was a fluke that I found this out - all the chunks FROZE on her comforter and they broke right off the next morning. Disgusting, I know, but hey - it worked. Not freezing outside? Definitely hose it off in the yard before putting in the washing machine. Hope she feels better soon (for both of you!)
