It's very important for parents to teach their child to be independent in this area otherwise they'll feel ashamed and this will adversely effect their self-esteem,perhaps for a long time. I've read about a case where the parents diapered their older child who wet the bed in front of the whole family in an attempt to shame him into stopping. There are many other things I've heard parents do to shame their child into stopping bed-wetting but out of sensitivity to my readers I won't mention them. These practices are despicable and a form of child abuse. In terms of diapering older children that wet the bed,it seems that the situations described above are atypical but even though this is the case, my friend's experience concerned me and it made me feel that this issue needed to be addressed.

  There are a couple other points regarding discretion that I'd like to talk about. The first has to do with various caretakers of the bed wetter. These include babysitters,relatives,friends of the parents, and other people along these lines. Many children who wet the bed and have to wear diapers for the problem dread when their parents go out for the evening. If the parents have a good relationship with the caretakers and they feel comfortable discussing the issue of the bed-wetting and diaper use with them and they feel the caretakers will be understanding about it,this shouldn't be a concern. If however they don't feel comfortable discussing this issue with the babysitter or other caretakers and the parents feel they won't be understanding about it,then it's advisable to make sure the protective garments are laundered(if the parents are using garments such as cloth diapers and plastic pants) and made available to the child beforehand;that way if the child wakes up wet in the middle of the night and has to change,he or she can be discreet about it.

  If the parents are considering hiring a nanny to take care of their child or children and one of them has to wear diapers for a bed-wetting problem,the parents might want to discuss this with the agency and perhaps during the interview with the nanny also. Most nannies have dealt with these types of problems in the past therefore they should be very professional regarding this issue. The second point has to do with spending the night at other peoples houses(such as a friend's house) and going away to camp. Again if the parents have a good relationship with the parents of the friend and feel comfortable discussing this problem with them this shouldn't be a concern. There might be a place that the child can use to change into their garments before going to bed and after waking up in the morning.

  As far as camps are concerned there are a couple of programs geared toward individuals that suffer from nocturnal enuresis and other incontinence related issues. One of them is called Camp Brandon for Boys in New York state,the other is Camp Kirk in Canada. There might be other camps out there of a similar nature. In order to find out you can do a Google search. You can try using the following key words-(or key words of a similar nature) “ camps with programs for disabled/special needs youth” or “ camps with programs for bed wetters.” The contact information for Camp Brandon for Boys is-14 Jerry Drive, Plattsburgh, NY 12901,Phone:(518)570-5184. The contact info for Camp Kirk is 1083 Portage Rd., Kirkfield, Ontario KOM 2BO. Phone:(705)438-1353.They also have an off season address and phone number- 115 Howden Rd.,Scarborough,Ontario M1R 3C7. Phone: (416)782-3310 These might not be an option for many people so in this case the parents need to talk to the head of the camp program and find out what types of provisions are available for youth that wet the bed. For example if the parents use diapers and plastic pants for their bed wetter are there facilities available to wash the diapers and plastic pants?