How to remove baby sick from travertine
Published by The Stain Library. How we research our methods.
- DifficultyModerate
- OutlookSometimes removable
- MaterialTravertine
- Reviewed7 September 2026
The short answer
Blot rather than wipe, then wash with mild detergent and warm water. The holes are the problem: filled travertine has a softer filler that absorbs, and unfilled travertine has open voids where liquid collects. Poultice over the pitted area rather than just the flat surface, and never use vinegar or a limescale remover, because travertine is calcareous and acid etches it.
If it has just happened
Blot it up immediately and look at where the holes are. Liquid runs into them within seconds, and a hole holds far more than the surface does.
Never combine hydrogen peroxide with vinegar
Mixing hydrogen peroxide and vinegar makes peracetic acid, which irritates skin, eyes and airways. Both appear in stone cleaning advice for different purposes, so keep them apart: use one, rinse the surface, let it dry, and only then use the other if you genuinely need to. The stone trade body gives the same warning about bleach and ammonia, which together produce a toxic gas.
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.
Test on a hidden area first
Use only a cleaner allowed by the material's care instructions. Test it on an inconspicuous area with the same material and finish, or a matching offcut. Let the test area dry and check for changes in colour, texture or finish before treating the visible mark.
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.
- A plastic spatula or a spoon Plastic, not metal. Metal scores stone and leaves a grey mark on pale surfaces.
- Kitchen roll and soft cloths For blotting rather than wiping, because wiping spreads a spill across more porous surface.
- Warm water and washing up liquid What this is A little mild detergent in warm water is the routine clean the stone trade body specifies.
- Bicarbonate of soda The absorbent half of a poultice, and the safe way to lift a mark out of a porous stone.
Helpful but not essential
- Hydrogen peroxide, 3 percent The active half of a poultice. The stone trade body names peroxide for organic stains.
- Cling film and masking tape To stop a poultice drying out in the first few hours.
Fresh baby sick on travertine
Speed decides how much soaks in, and blotting decides how far it spreads.
Go carefully with warm water
Travertine tolerates warm water only within limits. Keep contact time short, work from the edge of the mark inwards and stop if the material changes.
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Blot, do not wipe
Press kitchen roll onto the spill and lift. Wiping spreads it across more stone, and porous stone absorbs everything it touches.
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Lift the solids with a plastic spatula
Plastic rather than metal, because metal scores stone and leaves a grey graphite-like mark on pale surfaces.
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Wash with mild detergent and warm water
A soft cloth with a little washing up liquid in warm water, which is the routine clean the stone trade body specifies. Rinse with clean water and dry with a soft cloth.
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Look at it again once it is properly dry
Stone looks darker while it is damp and can look clean when it is not. Give it a few hours, look in daylight, and only then decide whether anything has soaked in.
Dried baby sick on travertine
A poultice draws the mark back out of the stone. It takes a day and there is no faster version.
Go carefully with warm water
Travertine tolerates warm water only within limits. Keep contact time short, work from the edge of the mark inwards and stop if the material changes.
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Clean and dry the area first
Mild detergent and warm water, then let it dry completely. A poultice on a dirty or damp surface works on the dirt rather than on the stain.
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Mix the poultice
Mix bicarbonate of soda with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide into a paste about the consistency of thick yoghurt. The stone trade body names hydrogen peroxide for organic stains indoors, and baby sick is an organic stain. Do not add vinegar or any acid to it.
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Cover it and leave it
Spread the paste about half a centimetre thick over the mark and a little beyond it, cover with cling film taped at the edges, and leave it for a day. The film stops it drying out in the first few hours, which is when it does most of its work.
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Lift it off and let the stone dry
Take the film off, let the paste dry completely, then lift it with a plastic spatula and wash the area. Judge the result only when the stone is dry.
Old or set in baby sick on travertine
Repeats are normal. Knowing when to stop is the useful part.
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Repeat the poultice, fully dry in between
Stone specialists describe two or three applications on an older mark as normal rather than a sign that anything is wrong. Let the stone dry completely between them.
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Check whether it is a stain or damage
A stain is darker than the stone around it. Etching is duller rather than darker, and it is acid damage to the surface. No poultice touches etching.
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Look at it dry, in daylight
Damp stone is impossible to judge. Every decision here is made on dry stone by a window.
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Then call a stone restorer
They can hone and repolish an area, which is a different set of tools rather than a stronger bottle. On a floor, a worktop or a fireplace, a patch that does not match is worse than the mark, so this is a judgement worth paying for.
What not to use on travertine
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Scouring powder, cream cleaner and wire wool
The stone trade body warns that scouring powders and creams contain abrasives that scratch stone. On a polished or honed surface that shows as a permanent dull patch, which is worse than the stain.
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Wiping a fresh spill rather than blotting it
Wiping spreads liquid across more porous surface, and every extra square centimetre it touches is more stone for it to soak into.
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Mixing bleach and ammonia, or peroxide and vinegar
The stone trade body warns specifically that bleach and ammonia must never be mixed. Peroxide with an acid makes peracetic acid. Both combinations appear in stone cleaning advice for different purposes, so keep them apart.
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A steam cleaner
Steam forces moisture into a porous stone and into the joints, and heat sets milk protein at the same time.
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Vinegar, lemon juice, limescale remover and acidic bathroom sprays
Acid dissolves the surface rather than marking it, leaving a dull etched patch that no cleaner removes because the polished layer has gone. Dilution and speed do not change this.
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Scrubbing at the holes with a brush
It removes filler and roughens the void edges, which then hold more dirt than before. Work a poultice into the holes instead.
White compared with coloured travertine
Filled travertine has resin or cement filler in the natural voids, usually tinted to match. Acid dissolves that filler faster than it etches the stone, and peroxide can lighten it at a different rate from the stone around it, so a poultice on a heavily filled area is worth testing somewhere hidden first. On unfilled travertine there is no filler to protect and the holes simply stay darker.
Products that genuinely help here
Try the household route above first. These are worth buying only when it is not enough.
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Optional product
Pure Safe hydrogen peroxide 3 percent solution, 500 ml
The active half of a poultice
Baby sick is an organic stain, and hydrogen peroxide is what the stone trade body names for organic stains in stone. There is no household substitute for it in a poultice, and the bicarbonate of soda that makes up the other half is already in most kitchens.
Worth knowing. Test on a hidden area first if the travertine is filled, because the filler can lighten at a different rate from the stone.
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If the mark is still there
Expect the pitted areas to hold the mark longest, and expect more repeats than you would need on a flat stone.
Work the poultice into the holes with a plastic spatula rather than spreading it flat over the top, so the paste is actually in contact with the stain rather than bridging it.
If the filler has come out or gone a different colour, that is a separate problem from the stain and it needs a stone specialist, who can refill and refinish. On a bathroom floor that has met a limescale remover at some point, the dullness is etching rather than dirt and no poultice will help.
When to stop and call someone
Call a stone restorer rather than continuing if the mark is in the holes rather than on the surface, if the filler has come out or discoloured, or if three poultices have made no difference. Refilling and refinishing travertine is a normal job for a stone specialist and is not reproducible at home.
Why baby sick behaves this way on travertine
Travertine is a limestone formed at hot springs, and the bubbles that formed in it are still there.
The holes decide the method
A spill runs into the voids, where it is out of reach of a cloth and where a flat poultice bridges over rather than contacting it. Working the paste into the pits is the difference between a result and a wasted day.
The filler is softer than the stone
Factory filled travertine uses a resin or cement filler that is more absorbent than the travertine and dissolves faster in acid. It is the first thing to be damaged by anything aggressive.
Acid is absolute
Calcium carbonate reacts with acid to leave an etched dull patch. This is the most common damage on travertine, because it is a popular bathroom stone and limescale removers are acidic.
Peroxide is the right chemistry
The stone trade names hydrogen peroxide for organic stains, and it is not an acid.
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Sources
What we checked and when. Where a manufacturer instruction disagrees with anything here, follow the manufacturer.
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Care and cleaning of natural stone, Natural Stone Institute
trade body
Stone trade body guidance that calcareous stone such as limestone and travertine is sensitive to acid so only mild non acidic cleaners are used, that acidic cleaners are still not advised on granite, slate or sandstone because they can hold acid sensitive minerals, that scouring powders scratch stone, that the routine clean is a neutral cleaner or mild washing up liquid in warm water, that organic stains are treated with hydrogen peroxide, and that ammonia and bleach are never mixed.
Checked 7 September 2026
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Sick happens: how to get vomit out of carpet, National Carpet Cleaners Association
trade body
UK carpet cleaning trade body method for vomit: scrape solids with a blunt spatula or spoon, apply equal parts white vinegar and water, blot gently working towards the middle of the mark rather than outwards, never scrub because that drives the vomit deeper and damages the carpet, use only a small amount of warm water on a dried mark, and expect rehydrating it to release the smell again so ventilate.
Checked 7 September 2026
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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
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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