Car Sick

Oh boy, do I have advice for you!!!!

1. Sea bands - these are like little sweatbands about an 1" wide that go around each wrist. Inside the band is a tiny plastic ball that presses on a pressure point on the inside of the wrist. We had tried tons of medications, etc but this actually worked. You can get them at the pharmacy dept of many stores; even Walmart. Seriously, you will LOVE how well these work and its without meds!
2. Keep air moving in the vehicle. We used to have to open windows even in the winter (before sea bands)
3. Sunshine is the enemy -- keep sunshine out of your daughters face
4. If you have a portable DVD player, use it. Keeping her eyes focused on something other than outside movement will help alot! Make sure the sun isn't shining on the screen.
5. Don't let her read or play with anything that has small things to try to focus on while moving.
6. Last, and CERTAINLY not least, ALWAYS have a number of gallon size zipper bags and tissues in your vehicle and in your purse. Its much easier to dispose of a sealed bag than it is to clean up a car seat!

Gee, can you tell I have experience with this??!!! :) Happy traveling!

1 mom found this helpful

My now 7 year old son used to get car sick when he was little. I asked my Dr. what I could give him, and he said Benadryl. The children's form of Dramamine isn't really safe for little ones. He said the benadryl is practically the same thing. It works wonders. Find out what the safe dosage is for your child and give that a try. Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful

Our family took a regular weekend roadtrip to the grandparent's house 4 hours away. Almost every week. No matter what time we left, our 2 year old would get sick. Didn't matter if he ate, didn't eat, etc. Finally I got desperate and called the nurse line at our clinic. They told me that I could give him 1/2 of a tablet of dramamine just before we left. It worked wonders and actually put him to sleep as well for the ride. There are 2 strengths of Dramamine 25mg. and 50 mg.. Get the lesser of the 2 and break each tablet in half. No side effects. Now that he is older, he does just fine. Wonderful alternative to throwing up each trip and feeling nauseous.

1 mom found this helpful

I really feel for her, and you :o) I have dealt with this all my life and my oldest daughter (6) also has it. Here are my tried and true tips.
Make sure she's looking out the window and not at toys, books, or a tv. You get sick when you are giving your brain mixed signals. It knows you are moving but can't see it.
Give her a snack. It might sound dumb but keeping a good taste in your mouth and swallowing a lot will keep you from throwing up.
My daughter has a bucket and roll of paper towels in the vehicle next to her seat. Put one towel in the bottom of the bucket to absorb and prevent spills/splashes. Also have a plastic bag so that you can bag it up and bring it into a bathroom to dump in the toilet and rinse with soap and water in the sink. It also stops the smell and hides what it is :o)
Make sure she's never too hot or has the sun blazing on her.
Try to take routes with the fewest stops, stop signs or lights. More starting and stopping means more sickness.
If she starts feeling sick, give her a tick tack or something like that to help her taste in her mouth and open a window. Even in the winter, a big blast of cool air will help tremendously.
Have a car seat on each side of the car and put her in the one that's not in the sun.
Take coats off in winter and just give her a blanket while driving. It also helps catch the mess :o)
Hope this helps,
J.
Mom to 4

1 mom found this helpful

try your local health foods store - they usually have natural products that help stop motion sickness. i suffer from it myself, and you have to suck on like 5 of these little sugary tasting things (they are really tiny - not a chokin hazard) and it goes away ! :D
good luck

1 mom found this helpful

Poor thing! I still get car sick and I'm 43. I have to sit in the front set so I can see the road. Here are some things that help.
1)Air blowing of your face.
2)don't read, color, look at books, or anything that requires you to look down, that really messes with your sence of balance.
3)go easy over hills or around curves.
4) on long trips use motion sickness meds.
5) when she gets old enough let her sit in the front seat.

I hope your daughter out grows this it is really no fun at all.

My son about the same age as your lil one had the same prob and the doctor told me I could you a low dose Dramamine. I would ask your doctor what he thinks but they had me cut of a small portion and put it in his juice. It did work and we did lots of driving at the time cause my husband was gone in Iraq and we did a lot of traveling back home. But check that out and I hope that helps!!!

My neice got car sick a lot when she was younger she is 8 now and has almost grown out of it. She usually had to ride in the middle seat in the back and would say she felt hot. That was my sisters signal to turn the air on so that it would hit my neice, or open the window a little that always helped. Just to get the air moving around.

When I worked at a pharmacy, my boss got motion sickness. She swore by the product called "sea bands" They make them in adult and childrens, they are a wrist band that you wear. I think they are about $10-15 for a set. I don't have this problem, but as I said she swore by them. This would be a lot better than medicating her with that stuff that makes you so drowsy. That is if she would leave them on.

My daughter is 4 and we've been dealing with this for a few years. It isn't very fun since we live 45 minutes from town. I'm a little worried about her going on the bus next year for kindergarten! She is now old enough to usually realize when she is feeling sick and we are able to put the windows down. When i was in college I worked in a pharmacy and found a product called Emetrol(sp?) for neasea. I asked why it would work since it was almost pure sugar. The pharmacist said that the high sugar content can calm a queasy stomach. We started taking suckers in the car for my daughter to eat when things started getting bad on long drives (my parents live 12 hours away). Skittles also work. There is one part of the highway on that trip which is really curvy. We realized that she would throw up in almost the same spot each time. We realized it happened when ever she was watching the dvd player so she now knows that during that stretch the movie is turned off and she has to look out the front at the horizon. She also isn't allowed to color or read books in that area as it just makes the motion sickness worse. Try not to look out the side window...the blur of what is next to her will be too hard for her to focus on. The front window will be better.
So I would say:
1. Open the windows and stop if necessary
2. Try something really sweet to eat
3. No dvd players, books, coloring on curvy areas
4. Look at the horizon
5. Teach her how to told a bag up when she feels like throwing up (it doesn't take long to teach since they aren't thrilled with getting their clothes dirty either!)
6 Always carry baby wipes and plastic bags in the car.

I'm still hoping my daughter will grow out of it! I only get sick in the back seat of my in-laws Silverado now!
Good luck to you guys.

My daughter had the same thing. Those wristbands work wonders. They are basically stretchy fabric with a little plastic part that gently pushes on your wrist. They are only about $15, used by pilots and people who work on boats, etc, and they even work for nausea from being pregnant!

I have some AWESOME advice for you! I found it by accident while buying Dramamine for my child who I couldn't imagine was old enough to eat those pills, but had no choice.

I had a pharmacist at Walmart helping me with the Dramamine (and it is OK to give part of a tablet crushed up in a drink to a toddler) and then I saw this jar called Motion Ease. He said he didn't know if it worked or not, since it was herbal.

I had just come from a short 20 minutes drive that made my dd puke, so she had already gotten sick. We walked around a long time to get her feeling better, and then I bought the Motion Ease and tried it.

You tap the bottle 3 times on your finger and rub it behind the ear lobe. Thats it! Once on each side and NO sickness. I couldn't believe it!

So I tested it. I took it on a youth group trip to VAlley Fair. There were 3 people with motion sickness problems. One teen and two adults. All of them found that it worked. My youth pastor cannot do roller coasters and he loves them. So he called his wife and said "Guess what I am doing?" He was so happy that it worked and he could do them! However, both my husband and the pastor got slightly ill from The Wild Thing, but no throwing up. One ride was the only thing they couldn't handle.

You apply 5 minutes before travel and you can apply after symptoms start, too. It stinks to high heaven, but it is worth it, lol.

100% natural, too. So it is safe for your little one. I don't leave home without it! I keep it in my purse. It is completely worth the money. I know it was under $10 and I have had it nearly a year.

Here are a few good website that I use:

http://www.momsminivan.com/article-barf.html
http://travelwithkids.about.com/cs/cartripstips/a/motions...
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/motion-sickness/AN01651
http://www.wegoplaces.com/Article_514.aspx

I know some of the tips repeat on the websites but I have not had the time to condense it yet. I have delt with motion sickness since I was 6 or 7 years old so had the previlage to ride up front a lot on long trips (my brothers never really understood why).

Hope you find something to help your little one coup with motion sickness!

I have given my two children (ages 8 and 3) Benadryl and it works for us. I try to make a couple "pit stops". I tell the kids it's for bathroom breaks, but it's really to get them some air and walk around. Although my husband would rather not take the pit stops (unless someone really does need to take a bathroom break), it's much better than taking the chance of cleaning up after them. My son (the oldest) has got better as he gets older. If I am able, I try to have the traveling at my daughter's nap time (even if it means her napping at a different time).

I like the idea of the Motion Ease that someone posted. I may try that one next time. Sounds like it may be a better alternative.

Good luck with finding what works for you.
~SR

This may sound strange but have her eye's examined. She may need glasses. If a child is unable to focus on what is going by the car window they sometimes sugger from car sickness.