Camping incontinence?

This is embarassing to ask, but I need to figure out how to prevent this since he has started into Boy Scouts this year.

My 11 y/o son has never in his post-potty-trained life wet the bed. Yet, on 2 of 5 recent backpacking trips, he has woken up wet (claims once to have sweat, and another to have had a water bottle leaked).

Since he's sort of in denial, this is a hard one to talk to him about. About the only cures I can come up with are cutting him off of water or tea (all 3 of my kids are hot tea drinkers) two hours before bedtime, and forcing him to void himself before bed.

Anyone else had a problem like this? Could it be fear of going out of the tent in the middle of the night? Too warm of a sleeping bag?

This problem seems to be genetic in my family. I had accidents until about 10, my sons (but not my daughter) had occasional accidents until age 9-10 and two of my grandsons had them until they were 13-14. My youngest grandson is almost 9 and still has them almost every night.

Yes, definitelycut back on fluids at night and eliminate the tea altogether. Tea is a diuretic (kidney stimulant) and contains caffeine, therefore is really not a good idea anyway, especially at bedtime. Because it's a diuretic, it's dehydrating so not good at any time when backpacking. Do this for all the kids so he doesn't feel singled out. If that doesn't work, get the kid up a couple hours after bedtime, too.

The most important thing, though, is attitude. Treat these accidents as matter-of-fact, nothing to worry about, these things happen. Talk to him privately, not in front of siblings. Do make sure he has a synthetic sleeping bag, not down. If he's having accidents, he's more likely to be too cold than too hot!

Since this is something that hasn't been occurring previously, definitely check with his physician--there may be a medical problem and your young man definitely needs to be tested for urinary tract infections. Whether or not there's something organically wrong, I'll bet that one of the first things the physician says is to eliminate the tea!

I had not thought of the diuretic properties of tea (I'm one of those people who can have a 16 ounce cup of Starbucks before going to bed and not need to get up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom).

Now that you mention it, the occasion of the first accident included a whole lot of hot cocoa before bed. This last one was only a 6 ounce cup of mint tea (but he had a cup at each meal).

My 6 year old son is a bed wetter. I thought he was just lazy and I punished him for it. (Bad parenting BTW) Then one time we got home late, he had fallen asleep in the minivan in his car seat. I scooped him up to take him to bed but he was OUT, like DEAD ASLEEP! I grabbed him by the feet and held him upside down and NOTHING, the kid was OUT! So I tossed him in the air, and not even a smile, just sound asleep. Then I realized that if he ain't waking up from being upside down, or in zero G's, a bladder discomfort ain't going to do it either.
Conclusion? He is a hard sleeper.
I don't have answers that haven't been addressed already. We just make him pee before bed, put on a pull up, and sometime's he wakes up dry.
Boy Scout Solution? Get a one man tent, and put a pull up in with the sleeping clothes. He'd have all the privacy he wants, and no one is the wiser. 11 and 12-year-old scouts can share a tent with their dad, so if you join him, no big deal either.

It's all about consumption and content. I think you will be successful if you monitor everything he drinks after7ish. Good Luck