Any advice on stopping toddlers get car sick?
Discussion
As titled really, our daughter is nearly 3 and more often than not any car journey more than an hour will involve puking.
We're driving to our family holiday outside Paris next month, now Mrs UTH is getting less keen as she's just returned from a 2 hour drive with more puking.
Any advice please.
We're driving to our family holiday outside Paris next month, now Mrs UTH is getting less keen as she's just returned from a 2 hour drive with more puking.
Any advice please.
Panamax said:
UTH said:
Any advice please.
A good, clear view out of the front windscreen. Remove front headrest if no front passenger. Obscure the rear side window.Definitely no phones, books, small toys.
Appropriate medication for longer journeys (if only to break the habit).
Medication I'm keen for!!
LimaDelta said:
What's the car? Some are far worse than others. In our case a change of vehicles quickly cured the car-sickness. Not the most convenient option I grant you, but it works!
VW T-Cross......would have thought a pretty inoffensive car. She did it once in my Focus RS.....more understandable, that one.
As said above, motion sickness is largely due to some subconscious bit of your brain getting a conflicted picture of your movement. The inner ears' motion sensors are correctly telling the brain that you're moving, but the brain is registering that a lot of the stuff in your field of vision is stationary relative to you. So the data from your ears says "you're moving" but the data from your eyes says "you're stationary" ... and your brain concludes "I might be hallucinating because I've been poisoned" ... so you throw up. That stationary stuff you're seeing is the inside of the car. Hence you want to start looking at the landscape outside the car so you're brain is unambiguously aware that it is indeed moving. The kid needs a clear view of the outside world.
And you need to break the cycle as soon as possible. If you get car sick a lot, the condition gets triggered by earlier and earlier cues ... i.e. your brain starts anticipating that it's going to get car sick and therefore starts you puking straightaway. My sister used to get travel sick on planes. It eventually got so bad that just the smell of kerosene in the car park outside the airport would make her puke.
And you need to break the cycle as soon as possible. If you get car sick a lot, the condition gets triggered by earlier and earlier cues ... i.e. your brain starts anticipating that it's going to get car sick and therefore starts you puking straightaway. My sister used to get travel sick on planes. It eventually got so bad that just the smell of kerosene in the car park outside the airport would make her puke.
ATG said:
As said above, motion sickness is largely due to some subconscious bit of your brain getting a conflicted picture of your movement. The inner ears' motion sensors are correctly telling the brain that you're moving, but the brain is registering that a lot of the stuff in your field of vision is stationary relative to you. So the data from your ears says "you're moving" but the data from your eyes says "you're stationary" ... and your brain concludes "I might be hallucinating because I've been poisoned" ... so you throw up. That stationary stuff you're seeing is the inside of the car. Hence you want to start looking at the landscape outside the car so you're brain is unambiguously aware that it is indeed moving. The kid needs a clear view of the outside world.
And you need to break the cycle as soon as possible. If you get car sick a lot, the condition gets triggered by earlier and earlier cues ... i.e. your brain starts anticipating that it's going to get car sick and therefore starts you puking straightaway. My sister used to get travel sick on planes. It eventually got so bad that just the smell of kerosene in the car park outside the airport would make her puke.
Wow, interesting info, and concerning regards breaking the cycle. We'll start taking this seriously, last thing we need is for this to become a big problem. And you need to break the cycle as soon as possible. If you get car sick a lot, the condition gets triggered by earlier and earlier cues ... i.e. your brain starts anticipating that it's going to get car sick and therefore starts you puking straightaway. My sister used to get travel sick on planes. It eventually got so bad that just the smell of kerosene in the car park outside the airport would make her puke.
UTH said:
LimaDelta said:
What's the car? Some are far worse than others. In our case a change of vehicles quickly cured the car-sickness. Not the most convenient option I grant you, but it works!
VW T-Cross......would have thought a pretty inoffensive car. She did it once in my Focus RS.....more understandable, that one.
Got to sit them in the front seat I reckon. It was the only thing which held my youngest's insides inside her.
Any grown adult who cares about the child and the uninterrupted and vomit free progress of a journey will be magnanimous enough to sit in the back, surely. My missus and I took turns.
Any grown adult who cares about the child and the uninterrupted and vomit free progress of a journey will be magnanimous enough to sit in the back, surely. My missus and I took turns.
ATG said:
As said above, motion sickness is largely due to some subconscious bit of your brain getting a conflicted picture of your movement. The inner ears' motion sensors are correctly telling the brain that you're moving, but the brain is registering that a lot of the stuff in your field of vision is stationary relative to you. So the data from your ears says "you're moving" but the data from your eyes says "you're stationary" ... and your brain concludes "I might be hallucinating because I've been poisoned" ... so you throw up. That stationary stuff you're seeing is the inside of the car. Hence you want to start looking at the landscape outside the car so you're brain is unambiguously aware that it is indeed moving. The kid needs a clear view of the outside world.
And you need to break the cycle as soon as possible. If you get car sick a lot, the condition gets triggered by earlier and earlier cues ... i.e. your brain starts anticipating that it's going to get car sick and therefore starts you puking straightaway. My sister used to get travel sick on planes. It eventually got so bad that just the smell of kerosene in the car park outside the airport would make her puke.
And you need to break the cycle as soon as possible. If you get car sick a lot, the condition gets triggered by earlier and earlier cues ... i.e. your brain starts anticipating that it's going to get car sick and therefore starts you puking straightaway. My sister used to get travel sick on planes. It eventually got so bad that just the smell of kerosene in the car park outside the airport would make her puke.
It can become self-fulfilling. Especially if people keep telling said child that they suffer car sickness, or hand them a Waitrose bag for life 'just in case' whenever they get in the car.I get it, tried ginger, over-the-counter travel sick tablets, under-the-counter travel sick tablets, music, no music. In the end I had best results of being cool to cold, wearing the wrist pressure bracelet things, focusing on the road and chewing chewing gum.
The gum was the most effective.
The gum was the most effective.
UTH said:
As titled really, our daughter is nearly 3 and more often than not any car journey more than an hour will involve puking.
We're driving to our family holiday outside Paris next month, now Mrs UTH is getting less keen as she's just returned from a 2 hour drive with more puking.
Any advice please.
Is she being given a mobile or iPad type device?We're driving to our family holiday outside Paris next month, now Mrs UTH is getting less keen as she's just returned from a 2 hour drive with more puking.
Any advice please.
Keep the car colder than you think is needed. Kids over heat really quickly. Pre-emptive calpol for some sleep might help.
Cold water in bottles (iced). Nothing sweet to eat - neutral things like breadsticks.
No ipads. Front view for them. Add calm audio books on the car audio or calm music.
Keep the driving super calm as if you were driving the King.
Frequent stops with a walk around.
Most grow out of it but it can take time.
Good luck.
Cold water in bottles (iced). Nothing sweet to eat - neutral things like breadsticks.
No ipads. Front view for them. Add calm audio books on the car audio or calm music.
Keep the driving super calm as if you were driving the King.
Frequent stops with a walk around.
Most grow out of it but it can take time.
Good luck.
My daughter used to get car sick a lot as a toddler - never mind trips of an hour, she would be hurling before we were out of town, so less than 10 minutes!
We tried wrist bands, motion sickness tablets and various other homespun remedies, none of which really made a difference. Putting her in the front seat helped (airbag off) as did opening the windows (maybe the rushing air helps to confirm to the brain that you are, indeed, moving).
Never cured it. We kept a collection of sick bags and wet wipes in the centre console of every car, and she was quite capable of hurling in the bag by herself even as a very small child. Oddly, once she had been sick she would be fine for several hours before she felt dodgy again.
She's gradually improved as she has got older, and now aged 16 she is mostly fine in cars, but gets bad in coaches and buses. Hopefully it will go completely once she learns to drive (as I have never heard of anyone getting car sick while driving).
TL/DR
You'll never cure it. Teach your toddler to be sick in a bag
We tried wrist bands, motion sickness tablets and various other homespun remedies, none of which really made a difference. Putting her in the front seat helped (airbag off) as did opening the windows (maybe the rushing air helps to confirm to the brain that you are, indeed, moving).
Never cured it. We kept a collection of sick bags and wet wipes in the centre console of every car, and she was quite capable of hurling in the bag by herself even as a very small child. Oddly, once she had been sick she would be fine for several hours before she felt dodgy again.
She's gradually improved as she has got older, and now aged 16 she is mostly fine in cars, but gets bad in coaches and buses. Hopefully it will go completely once she learns to drive (as I have never heard of anyone getting car sick while driving).
TL/DR
You'll never cure it. Teach your toddler to be sick in a bag
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