There's no reason why disabled or special needs children dealing with enuresis, also known as bedwetting, can't enjoy swimming, horseback riding and playing sports at a sleep-away summer camp.

"It's really no big deal,'' says Gail Zigenis, an executive at Camping Unlimited in Boulder Creek, Calif., which caters to children with physical and emotional disabilities. "The counselors just deal with it. It's just such a low priority that the subject never really comes up. Homesickness is a much bigger issue than bedwetting."

At Camping Unlimited, all the mattresses have protective rubber covers, and counselors come equipped with gloves to change wet pants, says Zigenis. But she adds that if she ran a camp for children who didn't have special needs, she'd probably still cover the mattresses and recommend to counselors that they know how to change soiled underpants.

There's also a strong staff-to-camper ratio – two to one – at Camping Unlimited, so that if a camper needs to go to the bathroom, or already has, the problem can be taken care of immediately without any delay and little embarrassment. Children who go to Camping Unlimited also sometimes improve their independent living skills by being on their own away from their parents, says Zigenis. That said, she acknowledges that she has no evidence on whether or not children stop wetting their beds more frequently after enjoying their summer experience.

Pat Mejia of California is the mother of 15-year-old Nina, who has cerebral palsy, is deaf, and has other disabilities. On occasion, Nina will wet her pants. So before sending her daughter to the Lion's Club sleep-away camp near Yosemite two years ago, Mejia called the executive director to communicate with him about her daughter's challenges.

"I called them six weeks before camp started,'' she says. "Then I stayed in constant communication, talking, e-mailing, faxing. I brought up everything.''

At first, Mejia thought she might have to send an aide to camp to help change her daughter's clothing, but after discussing it with the director, she felt that the counselors' assistance would be adequate.

The causes of bedwetting appear to be a controversial subject within the medical and psychological worlds. The National Kidney Foundation estimates that between five million to seven million children between the ages of 6 and 12 in the United States are affected by enuresis. The foundation also says that 15 percent of the children will simply outgrow this problem, and that certain exercises, therapy, medication and behavior modification techniques such as moisture alarm bells will help.

But Barbara Moore, founder of the Enuresis Treatment Center in Michigan, believes that drugs, bells and other treatments won't work. Bedwetting is caused by an abnormal, inherited sleep pattern where the brain is in such a deep slumber that it can't wake the person up – and therefore, the bladder – to get up and go to the bathroom, she says.

While bladder exercises can help strengthen the underdeveloped muscles, she says, the real solution is to change the bedwetter's sleep pattern. That takes at least six months, she says. She adds that she has a 95 percent cure rate and sees between 300 to 400 bedwetters each year. Non-Michigan residents who can't attend the center can get treatment through verbal instructions available at www.drybed.com.

As for children with disabilities, there are no studies showing that kids with physical problems wet their beds more than kids who don't have special needs, Moore says. And ironically, children without disabilities who wet their beds might have a harder time adjusting to camp than their peers with special needs.

Moore says most children she knows who don't have special needs simply refuse to go to camp because they're embarrassed. "The fear of discovery is so great that a lot of times kids don't go,'' she says. "They're simply so concerned that someone will find out.''

Children with disabilities often have other, more serious problems, and therefore, bedwetting ranks lower on the list, she says. If children do want to go to camp and want to keep their bedwetting a secret, Moore suggests they secretly put on their disposable absorbent underpants in a sleeping bag when the lights are out so that no one can see. She also doesn't insist that children have to confide in their counselors about their problem. She says, "It's always best to listen to the child and how they feel about letting others know.”

Want to see more?

• Good Mornings: Bedwetting and Your Child
• Wet, but Dry: How absorbent underwear may help your bedwetting child
• The Effects of Divorce on Children -- A Potential Cause for Bedwetting
• Bedwetting and Special Needs Kids
• Absorbent Undergarments and Special Needs Children
• Words That Heal: Incontinence Solutions for Special Needs Kids
• Talk About It!

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