Car sick 3 year old.

[ShesTheAlbatross]

DD2 (3.5) has started getting car sick. And I think she’s also feeling rough from even just short journeys because she’s started saying she doesn’t want to get in the car at all - this hasn’t come from me, we never talk about her getting sick in the car in front of her.
There doesn’t seem to be any travel sickness pills for her age. Joy-rides seem to have been discontinued, and kwells kids are 4+, and I spoke to the pharmacist who said there’s nothing. We’ve gor a drs appointment in a few weeks but we’ve got to do a long journey tomorrow, is there anything that will help? She’s very small, so sickness bands are too loose on her.

Will piriton help at all - it’s a 1st generation antihistamine which is what anti sickness tablets are, but obviously it’s not a specific one that is actually used for sickness. Has anyone used it successfully for car sickness?

DH is going to sit in the back with her with some Tupperware and tea towels to try and limit the mess. But ideally I’d like to stop it happening at all! She’s already forward facing.

I saw that, but they (and joy rides which also say ok for 3+) seem to be out of stock everywhere, and have been for a while. Not sure if they’ve been discontinued.

Most cars you can turn them off nowadays. Older cars you could not.

When I was young my friend would get car sick (even on short journeys). Her mum always made her sit on brown paper.

My youngest DD gets car sick too, has done since she was 18mos and we went on holiday to Cornwall. All those twisty roads and hills with high hedges set it off.

For her, lollipops to suck on (can be sugar free) helped and when she was old enough, always having a pack of mentos worked. Having the air con (keeping her cool) and not opening the windows also helped as the wind would mess with her ears and cause nausea.

We also made sure to take at least a half hour break every 2hrs on long journeys. Would get out the car, sit outside..breathe fresh air and not be moving.

Oh how I feel for you and your DD. I was that child who was always sick on the bus when there was a school trip. Every. Bloody. Time. From 4 onwards, of course, it so quickly becomes a mental problem. We didn't have a car (talking about the early '60s) so I had no opportunity to acclimatise. I still can't contemplate travelling by coach. Luckily, our son never suffered at all, you could throw him in the back of the car with his GameBoy and drive for hours, very rarely had any problems (now that's what you call parenting...)

Anyway, my experience is that you have to have a view ahead. From what you've said, your car is small in the back with limited visibility, I'd say that's 95% of the problem. Definitely eat beforehand. Travel sickness tablets did nothing to help me, and I'd be very cautious about following age recommendations. Phenergen in particular can act as a very strong sedative (I take it occasionally now one tablet knocks me out for the night). It might solve the problem but I'd say 4 is very young for this (what do I know?)

Finally she may very well grow out of it, and the best way forward is probably exposure. Lots of short journeys.

I share the misery!

OP here's the dosage schedule from the Boots Travel Calm leaflet. This is the ordinary adult one.

You can give a quarter of a tablet to a 3 year old, up to three times a day..

Yes this is true, my local boots says there is a supply issue at the moment so I begrudgingly spent more on kwells instead as I needed some!

my dd has been travel sick from about 18m old and nothing has helped except travel sickness tablets so turning three and being able to take those was a big milestone for us! We found a liquid medicine that was ok from age 2 but it made her very drowsy so we didn’t like using it. The travel sickness tablets don’t have that affect at all.

having checked the selection of boxes I have in the house:

the boots travel calm tablets are the same active ingredient and same strength as adult kwells. They are indicated as suitable from 3+ and the dose for a 3 year old is a quarter of a tablet.

kwells adult, despite being the same strength and ingredient as the boots tablets, say don’t give to children under 10.

kwells kids are the same ingredient but half the strength. The dose for a four year old is half a tablet.

for me, the fact that the boots tablets have a safe dosage for a 3 year old is enough to reassure me that kwells not being marked as 3+ is more of a licensing/marketing than a real safety issue. So when I run out of boots tablets I will happily give her quarter an adult kwells or half a kids one. Ideally I get the adult ones if they are in stock as buying the kids one just doubles the price. Also as I take them too it is handier to have the adult ones.

Also, it's the same ingredient as is in Kwells. Hyoscine hydrobromide.

Benadryl.

DD was prescribed phenergan when she was 2. It wasn’t helpful at all as it made her so drowsy there was little point going anywhere.

I know you are not keen to have her sit in the front of the car but tbh it was the thing that worked the most for years. DH sat in the back for years, DD up front.

My aunt insisted on me sitting on newspaper in her car when I was a child, to stop me being travel-sick. I was still sick.

My daughter has always been the same and hates tablets. I have been buying liquid versions when I'm abroad so if you know anyone going to Canada or the US ask them to get those! Also look at the patches - not sure what age they are from but my DD11 has recently switched to them and although herbal they have made a huge difference. Another thing that helped was when she got glasses!

I have found Ginger biscuits really effective and ginger nuts in particular. Always take a packet when travelling with enough for everyone to enjoy, that way the person dosn,t feel like they are only having them for travel sickness. They make a good snack if peckish too.

Interesting about the glasses. My eldest (no car sickness) has great vision. But DH and I are short sighted, DH significantly so (it’s part of the reason he isn’t allowed to drive, as even with glasses he can’t read the number plate at 20m). So it wouldn’t be surprising if DD2 needed glasses, although she’s not been to the opticians yet and there’s no obvious issues.

Our long trip was pushed back tomorrow so I will try out these suggestions then. Thank you everyone for the tips!

My son started at around the same age. Sucking on a sweet helps (although he is 8 now so a safer age) Before that if we had a long journey to make we would just wake him up very early so he was tired and slept through the drive. Sitting in the front has also seemed successful but I don't know where we stand with that in regards to safety.

Is she rear facing? Dd was car sick until I faced her forward.

you could give her Phenergen, it’s an antihistamine used for nausea/sleeping difficulties but it will make her very sleepy.

Looking out side windows is terrible because everything rushes past so fast.

They think travel sickness is a reaction where the brain is confused because the feedback it's getting from the body/muscles is that it's sitting still, but the feedback it's getting from the eyes and inner ear is that you're moving at incredible speed, so these conflicting inputs make the brain think it's been poisoned and triggers nausea/vomiting.

So anything which emphasises the speed you're moving at e.g. looking out the side windows, or swapping between looking at things inside and outside the car, exacerbates it. Looking straight ahead at the horizon can help because you're less aware of the speed that way, and I don't know, maybe it feels more "natural"? It's definitely worth taking her to get her eyes tested - they have cameras which can check now if she's too little to talk about what she can see on the charts.

Let me know if you want car seat advice.

In regard to safety for an 8yo, front seat is OK if their head is at adult head height (use a booster seat if necessary) - if their head is at adult chest height, the airbag is a potentially serious hazard, so check your car manual to see whether they recommend that it's disabled for a child to sit there, or simply to push the seat back as far as possible. Sometimes this does give the necessary clearance, as long as the child is in the appropriate car seat - a high back booster with the seatbelt guide adjusted to their shoulder height will help prevent them from moving too far forward if you were to crash or do an emergency stop.

Make sure they keep their shoulder IN the belt and don't pop it out (it might be set too low if so) and it's also a good idea to discourage front seat passengers from staring down constantly at a phone - which I appreciate they probably aren't doing if they feel travel sick.

Phenergan elixir is licensed from 2 and can be brought from online pharmacies (and yes, including if you give your child’s real age). It’s worked wonders for my 3 year old. Our GP hadn’t even heard of it annoyingly.

DD gets travel sick (so do I) , I always advise her to close her eyes and try sleep. Can’t get sick if you’re asleep or not noticing the movement.
reading always makes it worse as well.
this is the only thing that works for us! Or being the driver which obviously isn’t an option for DD!