Material
Blanket
Usually cotton, acrylic or wool. The fibre decides whether biological detergent is safe, and everything else is ordinary cool washing.
- SurfacePorous
- WashingMachine
- Colour run riskMedium
- Reviewed7 September 2026
What blanket can and cannot take
- Heat Use with care
- Water and soaking Tolerates it
- Acids, including vinegar Tolerates it
- Strong alkalis Tolerates it
- Solvents Use with care
- Chlorine bleach Use with care
- Abrasives Use with care
Always test on a hidden area first and let it dry before you treat the visible mark.
General rules for blanket
Baby blankets take a lot of sick, and most of them are cotton or acrylic, which makes this straightforward: cool water, biological detergent, a soak, and a cool wash.
Wool blankets are the exception and need a neutral wool detergent instead. The label or a burn test on a loose thread will tell you, and if you cannot tell, treat it as wool.
Dry it flat or over a rail rather than in a dryer. A blanket holds a lot of water and heat both sets the stain and mats the surface.
Check the label
Find out what the blanket is made of before choosing a detergent. A cotton cellular blanket takes biological detergent and a cool wash. A wool one does not, because the enzymes digest wool as readily as they digest the milk.
Stains on blanket
- Baby sick Find out what the blanket is made of first. Cotton and acrylic take a cold rinse, a biological detergent soak...
- Blood Blot first, then use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent. Work from the edge, rinse or blot...
- Body oil Blot blanket, pretreat a permitted washable patch with liquid detergent, rinse and use a cool labelled wash....
- Breast milk Blot and cold-rinse a label-approved washable item. Use your compatible biological liquid detergent and a per...
- Bronzer Lift loose bronzer from blanket before it is rubbed in. Blot cream bronzer, follow the material or care label...
- Coffee Blot first. If the label permits, gently rinse cool water through the back of the mark, supporting the fabric...
- Concealer Lift the concealer, flush Blanket from the back with cool water, pre-treat the oily residue with one drop of...
- Cooking grease Lift and blot cooking grease from Blanket, absorb the oil, pretreat both sides with washing-up liquid for 10...
- Deodorant Rub a fresh white deodorant mark off blanket while it is dry. For residue that remains, follow the care label...
- Hair dye Blot Blanket, flush cool water through the back, pretreat with liquid detergent, wash to the care label and a...
- Lipstick Lift lipstick from Blanket, work from the reverse with a drop of washing-up liquid, rinse cool, wash to the c...
- Motor oil Blot motor oil from Blanket, absorb the residue, pretreat both sides with a little washing-up liquid, wash to...
- Nail polish Lift free polish without rubbing. A small mark on plain washable compatible cloth may respond to the linked l...
- Period blood Lift any tissue with a spoon edge, then blot. Use cold water and a tiny amount of compatible detergent for th...
- Pet urine Blot until nearly dry, then use only the cool-water quantity blanket can tolerate. Use a labelled pet urine e...
- Sweat Rinse fresh sweat from the back of Blanket with cool water, pretreat retained residue, wash to the care label...
- Tomato sauce Lift tomato sauce from Blanket, flush from the reverse with cool water, pretreat the remaining film, wash to...
A blanket is a large item that is very likely to meet this stain, so it is worth getting right.
The fibre decides the detergent
Cotton and acrylic take biological detergent, which is the most effective thing for milk protein. Wool does not, because it is protein itself. That is the only genuinely important decision on this page.
Size is the practical problem
A large blanket does not fit in a sink. A bath is usually the right vessel for a soak, and a full wet blanket is very heavy, so support it when lifting.
Drying takes a long time
And a blanket left damp in a heap goes musty quickly. Spread it out with air on both sides.
Heat mats it
Acrylic and fleece blankets lose their loft in a hot dryer, and wool felts. Both are permanent.
Sources
What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.
-
How to remove stains from baby clothes, Persil UK
manufacturer
UK manufacturer guidance to act quickly on formula, blot when immediate washing is impossible, rinse under cool water, soak for at least 15 minutes where the care label permits, pre-treat with detergent and then wash to the care label.
Checked 7 September 2026
-
A guide to newborn laundry, American Cleaning Institute
trade body
Cleaning trade body guide to pre-treat breast milk, formula or spit-up with an enzyme stain remover, soak fresh marks for at least 30 minutes and older marks for several hours, launder, and keep stained items out of the dryer until the mark has gone.
Checked 7 September 2026
-
How to wash wool, Woolmark
trade body
Wool industry body guidance that wool garments are machine washed on the wool setting, which is a gentle action at 40 C, or hand washed in lukewarm water at about 30 C, that a neutral mild detergent should be used, and that garments are dried flat rather than tumble dried.
Checked 7 September 2026