When a reader asked for advice on how to help her child who struggles with bedwetting and will be going to camp, many of you were quick to offer advice.
Sometimes it’s best to turn to those with experience. Lots of you either have a child who has dealt with this, or remembers dealing with it as a child. So we rounded up all the advice we got in the hopes of helping even just one child enjoy a carefree summer at sleep away camp.
- Know that this is a much more common issue than most people think. And make sure your child knows that, too.
- Speak to the camp mother and/or camp nurse. Don’t try to keep this information from them in the hopes of sparing your child embarrassment. They’ve had possibly hundreds of campers in the same situation.
- Medication. Many of you said a simple dose each evening prevented bedwetting for that night. Speak to your pediatrician and the camp nurse about this.
- Send multiple sets of the same linen for discreet changes.
- See if the camp mother can have a counselor wake the camper to use the bathroom in middle of the night.
- Waterproof mattress protectors are a must.
- There are products you can use to help with this problem in a discreet way.
- Washable underwear that functions like a pull up, or period underwear. It locks in liquid, as long as it’s not too much.
- Disposable peelable fitted sheets.
- Waterproof pads that go above the sheet but are not visible under the blanket. If it gets wet, only the pad needs to be washed and changed instead of the whole bed. This disposable version can be thrown out in a scented bag in the bathroom garbage.
- Scented garbage bags to contain wet laundry until it gets to the camp mother or whoever will be washing it.
With the right plan in place, and the support of the camp staff, your child can have a great summer at camp!
If you have any advice to add, please do so in the comments below!
My sons camp had a whole set up for this situation. You send 3 sets of the same linen to camp. And bring a specific kind of pillow/teddy bear something not embarrassing. Everyday during davening the camp mother or nurse would go into the boys bunkhouse and see if the pillow/teddy bear was on the bed. If yes she changed the linen and took the soiled one to wash. The dirty pajamas were also left with the dirty linen to be washed. The clean linen was returned to the camper the next day and no one knew. Obviously a waterproof mattress cover is a must.
Wow! What a beautiful, discreet system! I’m impressed with this camp.
i’m actually touched!!! That is so nice! Mi keamcha yisroel
Wow that is amazing!
Identical sets of linen definitely a must. This way it’s noone has to know that the linens were changed
Thanks for this post! What would this camp mother or camper do about the smell? I would think boys may notice is every time an accident happens before the camp mother has time to make her rounds
Arrange for a counselor to wake your child for bathroom breaks during the night.
I arranged with my son to keep a water bottle in his bed so he could pretend it spilled out if there was an accident. BH he didn’t have a problem in camp because the schedule was so crazy that he didn’t end up sleeping so deeply.
very cute but what do you do when she gets her period?
if one girl gets it, probably others do too