How To Get Rid Of Throw Up Smell

I've dealt with a lot of gross things in my 4 1/2 years as a mom, but the smell of vomit still gets me every single time.

Seriously, if you listened to my latest podcast episode, "Never Have I Ever #MomEdition", you'll hear all of the things that I've done, which haven't phased me at all…

But the smell of vomit gets me every time.

And really, there are two places or vomit it's just bound to happen, and if it hasn't already happened to you, it's only a matter of time.

Place one: The car seat

I always feel especially helpless when the kids puke in their car seats.

Yes, I say kids, plural, because for whatever reason, this is their preferred place to throw up.

But either way, you feel so helpless, because 95% of the time, you're stuck in traffic or on a road we can't easily pull over, and the kids are in the backseat covered in vomit screaming.

Just a cute picture of the kids to momentarily take your mind off of vomit.

This happened in our last car seat vomit session. We were stuck in stop-and-go morning traffic on the Ottawa River Parkway, Austin thankful was a sleeping newborn baby, but Aubrey was hysterical and losing her mind, because she was absolutely covered in vomit, and I couldn't do anything about it

here I was stuck in traffic, and the next exit wasn't for at least another 15 minutes of stop-and-go traffic, while my three year old was hysterical and covered in puke.

To paint you a picture, here I was stuck in traffic, and the next exit wasn't for at least another 15 minutes of stop-and-go traffic, while my three year old was hysterical and covered in puke.

To say it was traumatic for everybody involved, was an understatement.

We waited the longest 15 minutes ever, and pulled over to a side street. Then, you stand the toddler outside and strip them down naked on the street, and praaaaaay you have enough baby wipes to tackle the mess.

Thank god I had a plastic bag in the trunk, because I dumped all the puke-stained stuff into the bag, picked up (yes, picked up) as many chunks as possible, and wiped it down the back seat, while my naked toddler played in the front seat of the van.

And no, I had no spare clothes that day. Typical.

Just one of the car seat puke instances.

Place two: The crib

Now, I don't know about you guys, but I've had a couple really gross puke crib incidences, where for some reason, they throw up in the middle the night, barely cried, and fall back asleep lying in it.

So, you don't realize that they've been sleeping in vomit for hours, until they wake up in the morning and everything's been sitting in it.

You know what I'm talking about, it's that wall of puke that just punches you in the face when they open their door.

My worst story about this, was a trip to my old family cottage, where Aubrey was little and still sleeping in a pack n play in the other room.

I didn't hear her all night and went to check on her at 6:00 am, only to be punched in the face by puke smell. Then, my eyes were visually assaulted by the exorcist, projectile vomit her tiny body had produced.

Fun fact: when they sleep in puke, it tends to thicken and form balls. It's awful. It also tends to clump in their hair too, which is lovely to clean.

Turns out, Aubrey puked through the mesh pack n play walls onto the room wall on one side, and onto the floor and bed on the other side. Don't worry, she didn't neglect the pack n play, she covered it all too. The icing on the cake, it was purple blueberry puke, so it was quite colourful.

So, what inspired this blog post?

It was a toddler puke from the other day. More specifically, he was sitting on his change table in the middle night and projectile vomited everywhere. And despite cleaning it up, I still got punched in the face by puke smell when I went to check on him in the morning.

So, I asked you guys on Instagram how to get rid of that smell, because it's one of those smells that seems to just linger forever and ever and ever, kind of like a toddler trying to put on their shoes.

So, here are some of the great ideas you guys came up with.

1.) Open windows & turn on the fan:
I know, I know…this one is so simple. But really, you gotta tackle puke from multiple angles, and opening the windows is the first step. And then, get that stale, vomit smelling air moving!

2.) Pet Fresh
The people who shared this, are freaking geniuses! I don't know why this didn't ever occur to me, but using pet-specific odor eliminator is genius! (Here's a link to the Amazon one)

Pet fresh carpet odor eliminator orange box dog and cat on from with vacuum booster mom break recommendation for smells

3.) Essential oils:
If you have a diffuser and some oils, crank those bad boys. A couple top recommended scents were: Peppermint, Lavender, and anything citrus.

4.) Charcoal bags:
This was the biggest response BY FAR and something I had never heard of. But apparently, there are cheap charcoal bags that they sell on Amazon, that you just leave in a room, and they soak up all the smell.

charcoal bag for vomit air going through and cleaning it vomit mom break

5.) Young Living Purification oil
I don't use Young Living (a brand of essential oils), but there were so many recommendations for this, it's made it only the list.

6.) Doterra Purify Cleansing Blend
Now, I haven't tried this either, but I can only assume it's the exact same as the Young Living brand, so it's just a matter of personal preference on brands.

7.) Coffee grounds
This was an unexpected one, but there were A LOT of coffee grounds in the response. Essentially, if your adorable tiny human projectiles onto the carpet, you can sprinkle with coffee grounds, let it soak for 25 minutes, and then vacuum it up. I'm told, voila, magic!

8.) Can of coffee grounds in the room
Now if you puker doesn't hit carpet, you can also leave an open can of coffee grounds in the room. Coffee really is lovely.

9.) Air freshener
Now this list wouldn't be complete, without a good old fashioned air freshener to mask the smell. One that I've been using lately is by GROW Fragrance because it's a plant-based and toxin free air freshener that smells amazing! They're also only 2 for $20 and they smell like a spa.

(Update: Sorry Canadians, this is only available in the US right now. I'm waiting to find out when/where this can be bought in Canada.)

Purple lavendar blossom flowers under grow fragrance air freshener

10.) Baking soda + lavender
Another carpet-friendly solution: mix lavender and baking soda, sprinkle on the carpet for 20 minutes to soak, and then vacuum it up.

11.) Odoban
So, this popped up a lot, but I'd never heard of it, so I googled aggressively. Essentially, this is a brand name that creates multiple products to eliminate smell. They mostly sell at hardware stores, like Home Depot or Canadian Tire. Here's just a few examples that I found at Home Depot.

12.) Vinegar & Citrus Essential Oils
To get rid of those clothing puke smells, the go-to is mixing in vinegar + a citrus-flavored essential oil…so it doesn't smell like vinegar.

13.) Norwex mattress cleaner
I have never bought anything Norwex. Not because I don't think it's a good product, but because I'm worried I'll like it too much and won't be able to stop lol. But if you're already on the Norwex bandwagon, the Mattress Cleaner was highly recommended.

14.) Candles
I was nervous putting this one in because we don't use candles in our house (I'm terrified of burning down the house and my toddlers would 100% set themselves on fire). But, if you have a stationary baby and you're candle-obsessed, this will def cover up that smell.

15.) Lysol wipes
If you have young kids, just do yourself a favour and buy the Lysol wipes now. They'll disinfect the puke, but they'll also make disinfecting their world so much easier. And honestly, go value pack, you'll need it.

So here's the takeaway

Vomit is a beast! It will not go away with just one of these things #sorrynotsorry. So try the combination that makes the most sense for you.

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Erica Fraser

Editor and creator of Mom Break. Erica is a Time Management Expert, Professional Marketer, and is working towards a certification a as Professional Organizer. She's also a mom of 2, and decided to start Mom Break when she felt other resources didn't give a fair depiction of motherhood. Follow her on her adventure or parenting.