mattress guides

How Often To Wash Mattress Pad—Weekly, Monthly, Or Every Two Months?

Q: How often to wash unsoiled mattress pad?

<p>If your mattress is clean, if you don&rsquo;t use it regularly, you still should wash it 2-3 months (this is what most mattress manufacturers recommend). That&rsquo;s how you can get rid of dust and make your mattress pad last much longer.</p>

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How Often To Wash Mattress Pad?

Dec 23, 2021

What’s a mattress pad? It’s an extra layer of luxury and comfort that you add to your bed. Basically, it's like a separate super-thin mattress that people buy to adjust their mattress, make it a bit softer, firmer, less noisy, or more cooling. Considering this is an extra upper layer, it gets dirty pretty fast.

Even if you don’t spill liquid on your top, if you don’t smoke in your bedroom (ways to take cigarette smoke out of your mattress described here), your pad still collects that sweat, hair, and dead skin cells. That’s why you need to clean mattress pad regularly. But what exactly does “regularly mean”? We’ll tell you how often you should wash mattress pad considering different factors, from allergies to the frequency of use.

How often should you wash mattress pad?

Mattress pads are not the exact same things as mattress toppers. They can be made of latex, wool, feather, foam, etc., and they are usually much thicker (from 0,5” to 5” thick). Though you don’t sleep right on a pad, sheets won’t protect it from all dust, skin, sweat, etc.—it still gets dirty. The questions are how fast it gets dirty and how often should you wash a mattress pad?

The truth is it depends on who sleeps on it and the environment. Below we describe the most common scenarios—find your situation and find out how often you should wash your pad to enjoy a great sleep on a clean bed.

This is a pad for an allergic person. As we have noted previously, mattresses collect those skin cells, sweat, stamina, hair, etc. All this can trigger your allergy, so the more often you clean your pad, the better for you. You should clean a pad every 2-4 weeks depending on how sensitive you are to allergens.
Flu-sufferer has slept or is sleeping on it. Once you, your spouse, kid, or a guest recover, you should clean the mattress to get rid of bacterias and prevent anyone else from getting the flu, too.
You have a pet. If you have a pet and let it sleep on your bed, you should clean it more often, preferably every month or even more often, every 3 weeks.
You spilled something on the mattress pad. You should clean your pad right after you spilled something on it, no matter if it’s water, coffee, wine, etc. Get rid of liquid using the towel, make a cleaning solution (mix vinegar and water or use a mild detergent), apply it to the stain, then use baking soda that will absorb the liquid and vacuum your bed (check this guide on how to dry a wet mattress).
This is/was a mattress pad for guests. Ideally, you should wash a mattress pad after every guest. However, if you don’t use it too often, you can clean it every 3 months just to get rid of dust.
This is a child’s mattress pad. It depends on the age of your child. If you have a one- or two-year-old kid, you’ll need to clean their pad more often simply because there will be a lot of spills. Remember that the sooner you clean your pad from urine and other liquids, the better. If you have an older child and nothing is spilled on the bed, you can wash it every 2 months as most manufacturers recommend.
You are living in a warm/tropical area. If you sleep hot, if you overheat, you sweat, which is why a pad should be washed more often, every 1-1,5 months.

Also, remember that you should let your mattress pad fully dry to prevent fungal growth (mildew and mold). How often should I wash my mattress pad? These were the answers—consider who sleeps on a mattress, frequency of “accidents” like spills, and the environment, find the relevant recommendation, and follow it to improve your sleep.

Small tip: Proper washing of mattress pad

The first thing you should do is to check mattress pad washing instructions by your manufacturer. The thing is pads are made of different materials, may have a bit different constructions, so brands usually provide clear specific instructions on how to wash foam mattress pad or a pad made of another material. Despite this, there is also the most common algorithm that works in most cases:

Remove your pad from the bed
Vacuum it
Apply the cleaning solution to stains (if any)Sprinkle a pad with baking soda
Sprinkle a pad with baking soda
Wait until it absorbs all the liquid (8-24 hours)
Vacuum your pad once again
Place it on your mattress

This works in most cases, but we still recommend checking the instructions from your manufacturer just not to void your warranty.

Conclusion

Cleaning a pad is like washing the entire mattress but a bit easier—after all, pads are much thinner. It still takes time and effort but you shouldn’t ignore the necessity to wash your pad regularly—it’s better for your sleep, health, and wallet.

F.A.Q.

How often to wash allergy mattress pad?

It depends on how sensitive you are to allergens, but in most cases, if you’re allergic, you should wash it every 2-4 weeks.

How often to wash unsoiled mattress pad?

If your mattress is clean, if you don’t use it regularly, you still should wash it 2-3 months (this is what most mattress manufacturers recommend). That’s how you can get rid of dust and make your mattress pad last much longer.