The Stain Library

How to remove baby sick from a shower tray

Published by The Stain Library. How we research our methods.

  • DifficultyEasy
  • OutlookUsually removable
  • MaterialShower tray
  • Reviewed7 September 2026

The short answer

Lift the solids out with paper, then wash the tray with warm soapy water and a soft cloth, treating the surface as acrylic: no abrasives, no solvents and no bleach. Work along the silicone joint at the edges with a soft brush, and lift the waste grille out and clean underneath it, because a warm wet shower waste sours milk residue within a day.

If it has just happened

Lift the solids out with paper rather than washing them into the waste. A shower trap is small, shallow and awkward to open.

Avoid heat while treating the stain

Avoid adding heat while treating this stain. Follow the material's care instructions and the method below; heat may make a mark harder to remove or damage the material or its finish.

Cleaning the mark is not the same as disinfecting

If the sickness came with a stomach bug rather than an ordinary posset, the surface may carry norovirus, which spreads easily and survives on hard surfaces. UK public health guidance is to wear gloves, avoid shaking contaminated laundry, wash affected laundry separately with normal powder at 60 C where the care label allows it, and disinfect compatible hard surfaces with a bleach based product afterwards. Do that after the stain work, not instead of it, and only where the material tolerates it.

Keep every kind of drying heat away until the mark has gone

Baby sick is mostly milk protein. Heat coagulates protein and locks it into the material, which is why a mark that would have washed out can become permanent after one hot wash, one pass with an iron, a hairdryer or a spell on a radiator. Cool or warm treatment, air drying, and a proper look in daylight before anything warm goes near it.

What you will need

  • Disposable gloves Sickness that came with a stomach bug is a hygiene job as well as a stain.
  • Kitchen roll or paper towel For lifting the bulk before anything goes down the waste.
  • Warm soapy water What this is Warm water with washing up liquid is what bathroom suppliers specify for routine cleaning.
  • A soft cloth or sponge Soft. Anything abrasive scratches acrylic and dulls enamel.

Helpful but not essential

  • A soft bristle brush For a plughole, an overflow slot and the joint around a bath.

Fresh baby sick on shower tray

Lift the solids out, then warm soapy water and a soft cloth. That is all a hard sanitary surface needs.

  1. Lift the solids out with paper

    Straight into a bag rather than down the waste, because a basin, shower or bath trap is small and a blockage is a much worse problem than a stain.

  2. Wash with warm soapy water and a soft cloth

    Warm soapy water or a mild cream cleaner is what bathroom suppliers specify. Nothing gritty and nothing strong is needed on a hard surface where nothing absorbs.

  3. Work the fittings and the overflow

    A soft brush around the waste, the overflow slot and any sealed joint. Those are where residue collects and where a smell survives.

  4. Rinse and dry

    Rinse the tray and the joint with warm running water, run the shower for a minute to flush the trap, and dry the tray so it does not sit wet.

  • How longTen minutes
  • RepeatingRinse and dry rather than repeating.
  • Stop ifthe surface is clean, rinsed and dried

Dried baby sick on shower tray

Softening beats scrubbing on every surface in this family.

  1. Soak the residue rather than scraping it

    Warm soapy water left on a dried mark for ten minutes lifts it off a non porous surface completely. Scraping is how these surfaces get scratched.

  2. Wipe it away with a soft cloth

    Light pressure. If it is not moving, leave the water on it for longer rather than reaching for something abrasive.

  3. Clean the waste and overflow properly

    Dried milk in an overflow slot or around a waste flange is the usual source of a sour smell in a bathroom after this.

  4. Rinse thoroughly and dry

    Rinse the tray and the joint with warm running water, run the shower for a minute to flush the trap, and dry the tray so it does not sit wet.

  • How longTwenty minutes
  • RepeatingSoak again rather than pressing harder.
  • Stop ifthe residue has softened and washed away with no scratching

Old or set in baby sick on shower tray

At this stage the question is usually smell and hygiene rather than appearance.

  1. Clean the whole fitting, not the mark

    Take out any removable plug or grille, clean the underside of it and the flange it sits in, and brush the overflow. These are where residue actually is by now.

  2. Deal with the hygiene separately

    If the sickness came with a stomach bug, UK public health guidance is to disinfect compatible hard surfaces with a bleach based product after the visible soil has gone. Check first that this surface tolerates bleach.

  3. Flush the trap through with hot water

    Once the visible stain work is finished, running the tap hard for a minute clears residue from the trap, which is often the actual source of a lingering smell.

  4. Then look underneath

    A smell that survives all of this is usually in the trap or in the seal around the fitting rather than on the surface, and that is a plumbing job rather than a cleaning one.

  • How longHalf an hour
  • RepeatingOne thorough clean, then look at the trap.
  • Stop ifthe surface is clean and any smell has gone, or the trap needs attention

What not to use on shower tray

  • Mixing cleaning products

    Bathroom suppliers warn plainly that different cleaners can react and give off poisonous gas. Chlorine bleach with any acidic descaler releases chlorine, and a bathroom is a small room that is usually shut.

  • Scouring powder, cream cleaners with grit and abrasive pads

    They scratch acrylic and dull vitreous enamel and china permanently, and a scratched surface then holds dirt and looks worse each time it is cleaned.

  • Putting solids down the waste

    A basin or shower waste is a small trap and a bath waste is not much bigger. Lift solids out with paper and bin them rather than pushing them into a pipe you cannot reach.

  • Bleach and abrasive cleaners on the tray

    The tray is acrylic or gelcoat and behaves like an acrylic bath, even though the tile around it would tolerate both. Warm soapy water is the specification.

  • Vinegar or bicarbonate of soda on the silicone joint

    Sealant manufacturers warn that vinegar, bicarbonate and bleach do not kill mould spores and can damage the sealant bead. A specialist mould remover is what they recommend.

White compared with coloured shower tray

The tray is coloured through and does not stain. The silicone joint is the part that discolours: organic residue left in it feeds mould, which shows as black speckling along the line and is not removable once it has grown into the sealant. That is why the joint gets attention here rather than the tray.

If the mark is still there

If a smell remains, work through the three places it hides. The silicone joint, cleaned along its length with a soft brush. The waste grille, lifted out and cleaned on both sides. And the trap, which on most shower wastes unscrews from above.

For the silicone, a specialist bathroom mould and mildew remover is what sealant manufacturers recommend, and they warn that vinegar, bicarbonate of soda and bleach do not kill the spores and can damage the sealant bead.

If the sealant has gone black through rather than on the surface, cleaning will not fix it. Cutting the old bead out and resealing is a normal job, costs very little in materials and gives a permanent result.

When to stop and call someone

Get a plumber or a bathroom fitter rather than continuing if a smell survives cleaning the tray, the silicone joint and the waste, because that means it is in the trap or behind the seal. If the silicone joint is mouldy through rather than on the surface, it needs cutting out and replacing, which is a normal job.

Why baby sick behaves this way on shower tray

A shower tray is a moulded acrylic or gelcoated stone resin pan, sealed to the walls with silicone.

The surface behaves like acrylic

Soft enough to scratch, attacked by solvents, and damaged by bleach. Warm soapy water is the specification.

The joint is where it collects

Everything on a shower tray runs to the edges. The silicone bead there holds organic residue at its surface, which is what black mould grows on. Once mould is into the sealant it cannot be cleaned out.

The waste is warm and wet

The ideal environment for milk residue to sour, and shower wastes are shallow enough that residue sits just below the grille.

It is surrounded by tile that follows different rules

The tile takes bleach and abrasives; the tray does not. It is easy to clean a shower with one product and damage half of it.

Sources

What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.

  1. Bathroom care guide, Carryduff Designs manufacturer

    UK bathroom supplier guidance that acrylic is softer than china and scratches, that scouring products are not recommended, that chemicals including nail varnish remover, household bleach, perfume and strong disinfectant must never be used on acrylic, that warm soapy water or a mild cream cleaner is the correct clean, that mild limescale removers are acceptable occasionally, that bleach must not go in a cistern, and that cleaners must never be mixed because they give off poisonous gas.

    Checked 7 September 2026

  2. Norovirus: what to do and how to stop the spread, UK Health Security Agency authority

    UK public health guidance establishing that illness related vomit can carry norovirus, that contaminated laundry should be washed with normal powder at 60 C where the care label permits, and that compatible hard surfaces should be disinfected with a bleach based product.

    Checked 7 September 2026

  3. How to remove baby formula stains, Purex Stain Lab manufacturer

    Manufacturer guidance identifying breast milk, formula and baby spit-up as protein stains, explaining the role of enzymes, and warning that the mark should be checked before any drying heat because heat sets what remains.

    Checked 7 September 2026

  4. Cleaning grout, Tile Council of North America trade body

    Tile trade body guidance that grout manufacturers do not advocate the use of acids because acids attack the cement in the grout, that grout is alkaline based and is dissolved by acids, that mildly alkaline cleaners are preferred over acidic ones, that oil and wax based cleaners leave a film that attracts dirt, that alkaline cleaner not properly rinsed leaves a sticky residue, and that cementitious grout should be sealed to prevent staining.

    Checked 7 September 2026