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Mum rarely makes it through the night without wetting the bed. Even though I have a quilted plastic bed pad and waterproof mattress cover on the bed, after washing the wet items, I can't seem to get the smell of urine out of them. Regular laundry detergent doesn't seem to get rid of the odor. My house is beginning to smell like a nursing home! Any suggestions?

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They make special products for that with enzymes, such as Urine-Kleen, or you can use something like Nature's Miracle that they sell in pet shops.
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It may not be just the sheets it could be where the person is sitting or on the floor, their shoes or not sure if they are hiding dirty clothes. Try adding baking soda to your wash also
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Vinegar helps.
I soak in vinegar, take out while wet, hang on line and hope for rain. Some things I can leave untill nature removes the smell but soke I just keep washing. My gramaw isn't doing that but she leaks and sometimes has an accident before she can make it to potty.
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When I first took over the care of my mother in law, all her clothing smelled like urine. I washed in the hottest water I could, soaked in oxygen plus and baking soda and rinsed with vinegar. It took 2 to 3 washings but the smell all came out. Then continued with baking soda and oxygen plus as needed. Work great.
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Iodine scrub will neutralize the smell in one washing. Use about 1 tbsp. in the washer.
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Where does one get iodine scrub? Never heard of it and my mom is incontinent too. It really is a problem!
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Usually iodine (one brand name is Betadine) wash is in the first aid section of just about any drug store. It's dark red and the advertised use is to clean wounds.
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I care for my elderly mom for the moment as well, I put adult diapers on her at night, and I have to change her sheets constantly even though I've got a water resistant pad under the mattress and put pads underneath while she sleeps. Her sheets still get this urine smell in them. I've basically wash her them with baking soda laundry detergent pods, and I add some Grapefruit juice in with it and wash on warm. It seems to take the smell out.
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Thanks so much for the suggestions. I'll give it a try.
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I put urine-soaked things in the washer on pre-soak and add a cup of vinegar, then wash as usual. The vinegar neutralizes the smell nicely.
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I've had a similar problem with my mom but not as bad. If she wets the bed or gets urine or poop on her clothing from missing the toilet, I will first hose down soiled stuff outside in the back yard then place in washer with good old Tide. I will wipe down the bed liners immediately (her bed has two plastics zippered mattress covers and a waterproof pad) with disenfectent solution. I have found that cleaning solutions with a floral scent works wonders. I found that anything with a lemon scent makes urine smells worse! In fact, my God send is adding bleach with the lavendar scent to all cleaning detergents for the floors, etc. works amazingly well. For a while I could not get rid of the urine smell in her bathroom no matter what I used! I tried everything i found thru Google search! Vinegar and lemons and citrus products made the smell worse! One last tip, because my mom lives in my home, I am able to throw out dirty diapers immediately - no time for odors to linger. Plus, during the day her home health provider is also vigilant so between the two of us, house and her room is odor free.
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Thank you....I'll try it today!
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I like the suggestion to add vinegar to the final rinse, I'm going to give it a try. Some food for thought, it's embarrassing enough to have to have your children take care of you and know you don't get to the washroom on time, please try to refer to their incontinent products as briefs or underwear. Less embarrassing for both of you and more dignified for mom or dad.
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I've had this issue as well, and have found that using bleach while washing them in HOT water has done the trick for me personally. I, too..didn't want my house smelling like a nursing home...also used Lysol (lemon scent) on her bed after I stripped it down and would wipe anything that was touched with it as well. I never quite doused the bed...but would spray it on and scrub it in really good and let dry before putting the bedding back on. Hope this helps!! God bless you and your family!! :)
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Soaking in water with vinegar added will neutralize the odor before you put it through a wash. Arm and Hammer's detergent is a great detergent as well.
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Would that be the white vinegar, JessieBelle?
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First of all...you can't let urine soaked clothing sit more than 2 days. When I wash the clothes, I use bleach and use an extra rinse cycle with fabric softener in the second rinse. Nothing every smells...and I was a lot of peeee soaked clothing.
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Oh yah...all urine soaked clothing goes outside in a basket immediately...until washed.
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All laundry liquid soap and snuggles! What a big difference.
Good luck😊
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vinegar and water work wonders here. Although I am not at that stage yet where I can't make it to the bathroom on time, I wash my clothes with vinegar along with the detergent, and I like the way they come out.
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Hi there, I scoured these pages for advice on getting the smell of urine out of clothes which was causing my house to smell like a nursing home and success!! This is what I do and it get rid of the smell. Use non bio laundry liquid, I used Morrisons own brand, 1 tea cup of soda crystals to wash on 60. Then I put white vinegar in the fabric softener drawer and hey ho! The smell has gone much to my relief. We are talking mans pee smell, so I say, RESULT!!
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Hi smellFree, what is non bio detergent? I use Tide. Soda crystals? Are you sure I can put vinegar in the liquid fabric softener dispenser in my washer?
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Morrisons Non-Bio Powder contains amongst other ingredients: 15-30% Oxygen Based Bleaching Agents, 5-15% Anionic Surfactants, Zeolites, Less than 5% Non-Ionic Surfactants, Phosphonates, Polycarboxylates, Also contains: Optical Brighteners, Perfumes. Available in the UK.
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For cloth diapers, they were rinsed in the toilet and tossed into a diaper bucket that already had bleach and water. The full bucket was dumped in the laundry tub and rinsed again. Then they were loaded into a washer with HOT water, detergent, borax and more bleach. The timer on the washer was repeated for a second cycle on HOT with nothing added, just rinsing. Then the diapers went into the dryer on HIGH for an hour to kill off anything left. 1950's. It worked.
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X-O Odor Neutralizer Concentrated ( 32oz, 1gallon, 5gallons ) - ALL-NATURAL Odor Neutralizer Deodorizer. Concentrate amazon.com
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I am my 97 yr old mother's care giver and her slacks can get quite nasty smelling. I put about 1/2 - 3/4 C white vinegar in the washing machine right along with the detergent; it helps a lot.
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White vinegar does wonders on housecleaning in general along with baking soda
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Adding BORAX along with detergent and a white vinegar rinse works.
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Washing soda also called soda ash could do the trick, too
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I have found that many of the ideas here work on urine smells, but I have been rewashing mom's bed pads over and over and can't get rid of the feces smell, ugh. They can't be bleached, any ideas on the best thing to try next??
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