Travelling Sickness
Created by
Updated on Aug 30, 2013
Hi, My daughter is 3. 5 years old, and she has Traveling sickness. She gets nausea whenever we travel long distances in our car. She generally vomits whatever she has eaten, and then keeps sleeping in my lap and does not even talk or look outside from the car. She really gets scared of her vomit or the feeling of vomiting. And, this happens mostly the A. c in the car is switched ON. Please advise how do I improve this.
| Aug 30, 2013
Hi Veenus and Hrudaya! The traveling or motion sickness is quite a common problem for children between 3 to 12 years of age. It happens due to getting conflicting messages from 2 or more senses such as eyes, ears, nerves , joints that detect motion thereby making them feel dizzy, nauseated, uncomfortable which could make a pleasant journey unpleasant. It is advisable to make the child wear comfortable loose clothes while traveling. Feeding light meals only as heavy meals or empty stomach could aggravate sickness. the child should be well dehydrated. He should be made to sit in the middle facing forward. To divert attention you could keep talking to the child or play fun games like singing a song, dumb charades, telling a joke. You could tell your child to focus on far away things. It is better to allow fresh air in the car. U cud take frequent breaks to avoid this sickness. It is advisable to make the child sleep in the car while travelling or trips can be scheduled during their naptime. If need be u could keep over -the- counter drugs available for motion sickness available with you after consulting your physician. Hope this helps!
| Aug 30, 2013
yes shikha, even i do the same of giving light meals and diverting the child attention, planning the schedules too. but sometimes it doesnt work. so as u suggested i should take the medicine also along with me. thanku for sharing your thoughts. it makes me feel better that i am on a right track.
| Aug 30, 2013
Dear Veenus, I have had terrible motion sickness all my life. I can completely relate to how your child must be feeling. Over the years I have realized that to avoid feeling sick, the following are a must- 1. Wear light clothing. Do not over dress your child and dress her up in layers so that she take off/remove one layer if there is change in temperature. 2. Windows up and AC on is the recipe for nausea. Allowing fresh air and cross ventilation is always better. I used to literally stick my head out of the window. 3. Avoid any strong scent in the car, whether it is someone wearing a perfume or having a car perfume or even strong smelling food. This will increase her nausea. 4. Let her look out and far away and always in the direction of the motion. Distracting her may help but not with activities such as reading or playing games. Focusing on something else inside the car doesn't help the inner ear recognize the actual motion and this immediately triggers off nausea. Let her look away, out of the windows. 5. Having music played in the background always helped. I used to either snooze or sing along. This distracted my attention from the thought of feeling sick. 6. Carry plenty of plastic bags, tissues and towels. 7. Your daughter should not feel that it is wrong to feel sick and throw up. Her fear could make her sick even if the conditions are ok. Make her understand that it is normal to feel this way and she will soon outgrow it. 8. If she doesn't mind sleeping throughout her journey, then medicines such as Avomine can be given. The downside of such medication is that she will be drowsy all day long and this can affect her other activities once you reach your destination. You may also check out some anti nausea wrist bands (details available in the review section here on Parentune. com). I also second all of what Shikha has written. Hope this helps :)
