Any Cures for Car Sickness / Motion Sickness

I was going to write about ginger and see that others beat me to it. It is an old Chinese remedy for stomach upset. It worked for me when I was pregnant to eat ginger snaps. But the best ginger ale you can get rather than a cheap brand. Verners is a good one. It comes in cans and I get it at Safeway. There may be some good bottle brands as well.

The looking out the front window is good to. The person has to watch the road and act as though they are the one driving the car, so they are turning the car mentally as the driver is turning. Just looking aimlessly out the window will make you motion sick. I found that on the flying chairs at the amusement park. It started to make me sick watching the world whirl past me so I focused on my daughter one seat ahead of me, she was moving the same speed as me, so I lost the ill feeling.

My partner gets horrible car sickness and he hates the groggy feeling he gets from Dramamine. We found out that ginger is a natural way to prevent vomiting. He usually drinks ginger tea right before a big trip (and brings some along for the ride.) There are also these really great ginger candies at Trader Joe's. They come in gummy and hard candy varieties. The tea tends to be a little spicy so I would start with the more kid friendly candy.

These are also really great remedies for morning sickness.

Good luck and have a great trip.

I've also heard that ginger really helps with motion sickness. In our pediatric office, we would recommend ginger snaps if you want to go the non-medicine route. Also, it might be good to have some ginger ale with you, too. If you want something like dramamine, I'd call your pediatrician to see if they recommend it and the correct dosage. Best of luck!

I'm not sure if you have had any replies to this, but I use Dramamine for my kids. Both my boys get car sick, as do my husband and I. So far, knock on wood, my daughter shows no signs. Getting them to look straight ahead helps too, along with sleeping. The more they sleep, the less likely they will get sick. We tell our boys to sleep. I hope this helps and good luck.

I get car-sick easily. I've learned that I need to keep my eyes on the road. So sitting in the front seat is best for me, but if I'm in the back then I look out the window for the entire car trip. I absolutely can not read or look at a map or pictures while the car is in motion. So make sure that your son is looking out the window and not looking at a book or a game/toy inside the car. It is easy to forget, and once the car-sickness starts for me it takes a while for it to go away. Also, if my eyes are closed (if I'm sleeping) I won't get sick. Good luck!

My seven year old son gets car sick all the time, the poor thing. It helps him to just sleep most of the time, if we have a long trip. It also helps him to look ahead out the front window to where the road is going...does that makes sense? He watches the road ahead to where we will be in five seconds, ya know what I mean? It helps more to follow the road ahead like that than to just look out the front window. That way your body is ready for the turns or sways ahead. I don't know, he still ends up sick a lot of the time and just has to lie there with his head back and eyes closed. Or he lays over on his side a little with his eyes closed. Ginger ale helps, too.

I forget which magazine I saw this in---it says that peppermint helps, too. Buy peppermint scent drops, put some in a spray bottle, add water, and spray in the car. The scent is supposed to help. I also bought peppermint candy for my son to suck on. He says it helps a little.

My oldest son gets carsick too. Encourage him to look out of the windshield and not out his side window. The motion on the side tends to make them more sick. Also, if you stop for snack breaks, make sure he doesn't combine dairy (like a milk shake or chocolate milk) and then later have juice in the car. We found out the hard way!!! I've also heard (but haven't tried) using ginger like ginger snaps, ginger ale and candied ginger or even ginger powder in some water about 20 minutes before leaving helps. The acupuncture bands you wear on your wrists work pretty well.