Wetting beds

there is medication for that if he is 10 years old or over. Otherwise . . . are you sure it’s a good idea?

pull-ups, depends, absorbent bed pads (some call them chucks)

did you discuss with his doctor? there is medication that may help a bit. not sure why you are sending him two sleep away camp – sounds like the decision is already made.

as someone who experienced going to sleep away camp as a bedwetter i can offer some advice. Some years it was fine and some years were miserable. most camps have experience with this, be sure that you are in touch with the camp mother and the counselor to make sure it is dealt with every day in a sensitive way .- usually someone will change the sheets while the kids are out at davening or some other time when no one will be in the room. don’t rely on your son to communicate with his counselor he may be embaressed and there is nothing worse then laying in a cold wet bed in camp.

if there is any way possible it would be better if he slept in a private room, like in the infirmary or in a staff room so that he doesn’t have to worry about his bunkmates finding out, but it is not likely that the camp will allow this.

more importantly, make sure that your son knows thoroughly that this is not at all his fault and that this will go away as his body matures. He should be prepared with how to deal with it if some of the other boys find out. A large percentage of boys have “accidents” up till about age 11. Your son should not be ashamed.

There are effective methods of training they body to wake up, specifically with alarms. These can be expensive but they do work especially with older boys. However, this is not an option for camp.

it might be too late for this year but there is a bell that I used for my son – for bedwetting. It really worked for him and I’ve lent it to a few other people who have had success with it too. It rings when it gets wet and wakes up the child. It takes a few weeks but then they either get up by themselves or sleep through the night dry. It is amazing.

I had a camper last year who wet the bed. It’s fine, just as long as you let the camp mother/nurse know and the counselor. But make sure that they know!!! Otherwise it can be problematic. I don’t know what others do, but we made sure she got the bed closest to the bathroom, and i woke her up first in the mornings so that if she needed to get to the bathroom first (so that nobody would see she was wet), she could do it as i was waking the others up. And it’s not so hard to take some wet sheets and throw em in the machine!

also, just from the counselor’s side-bunk houses tend to smell. If your child generally tells me when there’s a problem, and I see that she’d rather I didn’t ask, I won’t, at least not every day. So if she puts her wet sheets in her laundry bag and i ask her if she needs me to do laundry for her/ does she need to change anything, and she says no, please do not scream at me when you come to camp and your child’s laundry smells moldy, and how could i not smell it and on and on… I have other campers, and like I said, the bunkhouse smells. I check, but depending on the child, I am not going to constantly hover. I can’t, and I’m not there to harass. (Obviously if she had been the kind of kid who didn’t tell me I would’ve questioned her. Some kids would rather tell, and some would prefer to be asked.) rant over. Sorry about that! 😀

To all those who say he should not go to camp-this is not a reason.

😀

I would imagine that if you warn the camp ahead of time, they will let you know whether they are prepared to deal with it or if they would rather you just not send him at all.

i 1 million percent disagree with everyone whos saying this child should not go to camp. are you the camp directors??? first of all you do not know his exact age. for whatever reason you are assuming hes 10. where did that come from? what if hes younger? i started to go to sleep away camp when i was 8. to me he sounds young-ish because if he was older and did wet his bed every night, he probably would have told his parents he didnt want to go. and if hes older? so what! these days so many kids have issues with something. guaranteed theres gonna be a kid in his bunk who has asthma or diabetes or is adhd or has severe food allergies and can eat very few things. camps and counselors are so accommodating to people with special needs. definitely DO NOT have him sleep in the infirmary. thats just begging for questions and extra attention where its not needed. but some of you guys sound so mean to say so blatantly that he should not go just because he has this issue. theres different reasons why he could be wetting the bed. sometimes its psychological and it could be because of a certain stressor at home. for all you know hell have so much fun in camp that he might stop. either way i would never want to take away the experience of going away to sleep away camp especially if the boy wants to.

Syag Lchochma made you think the age is 10 years

Achot hit the nail on the head. medicine for bedwetting is available and works like a charm. Send your kid with some of that, and he should be fine.

I didn’t say he was 10, I said he can get medicine if he is AT LEAST 10. Or maybe your doctor gives to younger kids. Either way, I am NOT being mean in saying that maybe he shouldn’t go, I think it would be mean to send a kid to camp knowing his clothes and bed may smell and he may be harassed. Sure, you can change his sheets and wash them in the morning- in WHAT washing machine? and who has that kind of availability? It MAY not be a problem for your kid in that particular camp, but I sure wouldn’t recommend it across the board without looking into it really well.

im a ninth grade girl and im going to sleepaway camp in a few wks and i have a bedwetting problem. i also went to camp 2 yrs ago- that was my first time. before i went i thought i was pretty much cured but the first night of camp proved that i was not! thankfully, i had a rlly good counselor who helped me and no one found out. i did not inform the camp beforehand but when i had an issue they were extremely accommodating. i changed my sheets during activities and washed them in the infirmary. all i cud say is boruch hashem for sewage problems cuz thats what everyone blamed the unpleasant odor on!

a bedwetting issue should not stop your son from going to camp– even if it is every night. if he’s young or the probs really bad make sure to alert the camp. you could get a lysol automatic air freshener “installed” in his bunkhouse before camp starts so it wont smell bad. make sure he has a good counselor. and get him medication and waterproof matress pads.

good luck!

if they can take care of it quietly, your son will have a great summer.

And if not, he will probably have a disastrous summer, with possible severe long term effects.

It’s also unfair to the counselors.