Sweaty boy bed smell?

[Bananafoster]

My son 19 has a memory foam mattress which I cannot afford to replace. It’s not that old, maybe 4 years.

My son sweats heavily at night, even in a cold room. His bed and bedding stink.

I can put on fresh bedding and the next morning it smells sweaty and vinegary.

I’ve tried antibacterial frebreeze; baking soda mixes, vacuum powders etc and nothing is helping .

I don’t want DS to sleep in a stinky bed, it’s horrible for him, but I cannot keep up washing bedding daily.

I do have mattress toppers, mattress protectors etc covering the mattress, but the sweat seems to go through every layer. It’s unbelievable.

Can anyone recommend anything? I want DS to have a nice cosy, clean bed, but it seems impossible!

Does he care?

Look for a cheap hardly-used mattress on Facebook, or even a free one on the local recycling groups. If he sweats on a foam mattress, nothing you do is going to change that. I agree they can be really sweaty. He needs a better mattress.

And you need to stop changing a grown man’s bedding every day for him.

Different duvet? Cool mat on bed? Does he wash daily - could try having a cool shower befpre bed maybe. Also use glycolic acid as deodorant as it kills the bacteria which causes BO. The problem is not the bedding its the sweat. Has he been to the dr? It's not usual to sweat that heavily at night.

Yes he does. He showers every morning and before bed. In fairness he does wash it himself a lot. I was more referring to the cost.

He uses a very thin duvet. It’s a summer one. I think his room is quite cold.

I’ve never heard of a cool mat, I will look it up.

He has 2 showers daily morning and evening and uses Sure deodorant. Not sure if this is the right one, but I will check it now.

He hasn’t been to the GP. He does suffer with hypermobility and I wonder if it’s his muscles working harder than normal to stabilise him that causes the sweating? That thought has just popped into my head.

Are you sure it's him creating that smell every night and not his body heat reactivating it in the mattress? Similar to shirt armpits that get reactivated when they are worn but fine in the wardrobe.?

Try a cooling mattress, or a cooling mattress topper, take away the duvet and use layers of sheet and couple of blankets so he can adjust his heat/sweat more easily through the night. Does he open his window in the night too? If that doesn’t help then he needs to see the GP.
https://www.dreams.co.uk/cool-night-sleep/cool-night-sleep-mattresses

EDIT - I've just seen you say he has a memory foam mattress. They are notorious for making you hot in the night. Never buy one if you are a warm to hot person (or menopausal).

Get a decent mattress topper

No, not sure. It could be the smell has set in and is reactivated. What could I do about that?

yes he opens his window, and it sounds like I may have to get rid of the mattress. It wasn’t cheap 😭

I don't think you can. Normally for clothing it's a very hot wash, washing powder not liquid and a laundry sanitiser. Don't ever buy him/let him buy a memory foam again if his core temp is high, its just not suitable unfortunately.

What temperature are you washing his bedding on? If only 40 that may not be hot enough to kill the smell - this happened to DS so we had to start washing his school shorts on 60 and the smell disappeared.

Oh dear. He loves the comfort level of that mattress. He’ll be gutted it has to go.

I have a bedding and towels setting on the machine and we boost the temp to 90

The bedding smells lovely as it goes onto the bed.

We have a memory foam mattress, same thing happened to me after an illness. I kept over heating and the sweat ruined it.
We cleaned the mattress (fresh n vac, steamed it etc etc) and then bought a bed bug proof fully zippable protector. . The mattress still isn't the freshest but we can't smell it and we can't afford to replace atm.

What is he wearing? It may be worth getting him 100% cotton pyjamas, short or long.

What does he use in the shower? Swap him to soap bars (not dove) instead of shower gel.

Could you see if he sweats when he sleeps somewhere else? At least this way you could see if he has an underlying medical issue .

Almost identical. I’ve played around with toppers. It’s cost a small fortune to try to overcome this blooming problem.
I’ve just read that perhaps an enzyme based cleaner for pet spoils might help. I’ll try another deep clean and a cooling topper and full cover and keep my fingers crossed. If that doesn’t work, he’s back to a sprung.

The smell is almost like acrid sweat. Whereas my sweaty bed clothes and bedding wash fine, the mattress is an absolute shitter to get the smell out of.
Would never get another memory foam.

I find new mattresses very uncomfortable so I have a mattress topper AND a single duvet (and sheet) under me. It creates more washing as I wash the cover every time I change the bed but it's like sleeping on a cloud. I do need to buy a new duvet every couple of years due to sweat etc but a single duvet is a lot cheaper than a new mattress. I suffer from debilitating pain so this helps a lot.

Sleeping in boxers
He uses this cedar and sage shower gel so I’ll swap it.

I could test him sleeping on the sofa… but don’t want to risk the sofa. He definitely sweats, he wakes up with damp hair.

Yep. Exactly

Yes, DS suffers with some pain due to his hypermobility. Hence we ‘invested’ in the comfy mattress 😩

I will try the duvet trick! Thank you

I have backaches so I use a duvet on top of my mattress for comfort...maybe that's something you could do use a duvet as a topper...but a cotton cover for it....hope you find a solution 🙏

Wool duvet might help - reduces sweating.

It’s definitely the memory foam

Also chuck out his current pillows and replace (sorry, more expense) them.

Thank you all. I’ve spoken with DH and we’re going to try having the mattress cleaned and then adding a waterproof protector. Then we’ll add a cooling topper and another protector, before using only cotton bedding (DS has a tendency to opt for cool patterned bedding, but it’s that polyester).
We are worried about mould with that level of coverage, so we’ll keep an eye. If that doesn’t work, it’s going to have to be a new mattress.

We want to try to keep the current one, as it was pricey and DS finds it comfortable for his condition. It’s a shame this is happening.

Fingers crossed. DS is going away on holiday, so perfect time to have the mattresses cleaned.

Thanks again all.

Then we’ll add a cooling topper and another protector,
Don't let the final one be waterproof as that can cause sweating and overheating too. You can also get cooling pillows which might help as well.

Good luck, would be interesting to have a update in month or two.