How do people travel with a toddler that gets motion sickness?!

[SamPoodle123]

AIBU to not want to ever travel with our two year old who gets motion sickness? I suffer from emetaphobia, so it is literally my worse nightmare, hell on earth to be stuck with someone who pukes and wants be held by me etc....no place to escape etc. How the heck do people do it? Not to mention, I feel bad for my sweet girl when she is not feeling well. It makes me feel like its not fair to put her in the position of not feeling well etc. I know I need to get over it. She loves to go to new places.

So my question is, what is the best way to handle it? It is not like she really understands at age 2.5. I know when older she can learn to vomit in bag, but how old can you get them to learn this? Any way to prevent it? We bought dramamine from the USA, which can be used from age 2, but its a chewable pill....so not sure if she would actually take it!

When kids are young and you know they get sick in car or while traveling, do you just travel and let them puke and then clean up the mess....what the heck do you do?

I had terrible car sickness when young (and now I have to be careful to not read).

My eldest also had car sickness and had to clear it up fairly regularly. When he's been on coach rides as a teen because of school, he found the acupressure bands and motion sickness tablets really helped.

Getting off-license drugs from the internet isn’t wise really especially as one of the reasons it isn’t available here is drowsiness. I suffered from bad travel sickness as have my toddlers. The answer is you carefully consider your journeys and prepare. We have an ice cream tub in the car that can be used as a sealable sick bowl that is full of wipes and bin liners. Timing is important. My 3yo doesn’t travel well on an empty stomach but also needs time for her food to go down before getting in a car. Bendy country lanes at speed are much worse than a straight motorway route.

it is also worth covering the car seat with a tea towel or muslin if you know she’s likely to be sick. There is nothing worse than the continued stench of sick stuck under the seat for the rest of your journey…

Phenergan elixir is the only thing that works for my 8yo. It’s prescription only.

We starve the kids before our big journeys. No breakfast until we get there, or nearly there. Travel bands. Bath mat on lap. Try to let them sleep.

Line the seat in front with a towel (elastic and safety pins works well)
Complete change of clothes or two
wipes for child and upholstery
bags to put all the stuff in
blanket to wrap in at side of road
water
hand gel

try to travel at nap times
minimal food for breakfast (slice of toast, nothing that will stain)
Dress child in button up clothes - nothing that needs to be removed over the head.

limit travel to only absolutely necessary.

My DD used to get travelsick, though it didn’t happen often. If it’s not too projectile and she hadn’t eaten too much, a plastic pelican bib used to work quite well, though I would also use the towel on lap, as advised by pps

For entertainment - audio books, i-spy or other games that keep them looking out of the window.

Only water to sip (No milk - the smell will never come out of the upholstery)

Seat covers (we had disposable paper ones that covered the upholstery, towels etc)

Travel at bedtime if you can.

Deep and wide lidded tubs for puking into.

Wipes, plastic bags

Changes of clothes.

Put the sickest child in the middle seat so they can look ahead.

No books, screens, colouring etc.

No snacks. Stop for proper breaks.

Actually paper sick bags are quite good if you can get them. We were forever acquiring them from planes and ferries!

I used to be very car sick when I was young, and still struggle with being in the back seat or with drivers who are jerky (without fail those who would tell you they are excellent drivers, but they go too fast so it isn't smooth). DS has been sick a few times in the car, but isn't as bad as I used to be.

Best thing to do is travel by train; pack light and save car time for quick hops in a taxi.

Pretty much everything here!

We had an old ice cream tub with kitchen paper (or similar) in which was always put back in the car close to dd so she knew that was where to aim.

Puppy pads or similar are good seat covers

We've found keeping the car cool helps, and making sure she doesn't have too many layers on so she isn't over heating.

Dd used to be terrible and there were some days a 10 minute journey could result in sickness and other days we'd go miles and she'd be fine!
She's 9 now and much better - poo bags are always in full supply both for her and the dog 🤣

None of this of course helps you being in the car with it all too. But I would just make clear up as easy as possible and have plenty to re set once one lot is used.

My ds wasvery severely travel sick from age 2 until around 14/15. He's almost 17 and fingers crossed appears to have finally grown out of it. We tried absolutely every method going and in the end the only thing that worked was prescribed medication from our gp. That worked so well. It was a liquid when he was young then a melt when he was older. He took them on a ski trip with school at 14 and judged himself if and when he needed to take one.

This is all excellent advice.

To be honest, we just avoid travelling by car as much as possible and, if we do, we try to ensure that DS will fall asleep. I don't think you can get meds for it until they're 4 so we're just resigned to not going anywhere until then other than by public transport.

Put the sickest child in the middle seat so they can look ahead
The other advice is useful, this is AWFUL for so many reasons. Absolutely don't put a sick child in the middle seat. For a start, they are more likely to be sick because of the car suspension movement in the middle, I have long experience with this in a range of cars! Other reasons: open window helps a lot, not being squashed helps, it's not ideal for being able to quickly get out for a little walk at the side of.the road or to be sick at the side of the road, and finally the last thing you need is a driver distracted by vomit actually hitting them.

You could try ginger as well. Possibly in biscuit form.

I'd also try different seat positions.

My dad used to get a new car most years, I never had a problem until he bout one particular model and I suddenly developed car sickness.

That was the year my dad drove us all to Spain, I had motion sickness tablets and slept most of the way.

I'm not saying go and buy a new car but try her in different positions in your car and if a friend will let you try taking her in their car.

I didn't have a problem for decades, and then I went to test drive a new car and the old feeling came back.

Someone told my dad it was the suspension, I don't know if it was or not.

I'd there anything GP can legitimately give? Have you asked? Used bands round wrist. And kwells, which are supposed to be aged 10.

My DS is so bad that he is often sick on the short (rural) journey to school. Goes to secondary in a year and will be on a bus for 40 minutes.
OTC Kwells sometimes works for him. We always travel with towels and a bucket in the car. We don’t ignore the green face or ‘I feel a bit…’ and pull over if we can.

It worked for one of mine, so worth a go.
Said DC is 20 now and still sits in the middle seat for preference.

Large bowl and a passenger with lightening quick reactions. We had one with a handle on which meant that the passenger could reach her in the back without having to find a place to pull over. I would value the handle over the lid as the bowl can be sluiced out when you pull over.

Never travel without extra clothes, water, plastic bags.

Experience tells us that the smell of milk and quavers never leaves. Please learn from this mistake - we ended up selling the car.

A friend's toddler gets terribly car sick. Day to day they do restrict their journeys which is a bit miserable. Now she's over two they get something prescribed by the GP for longer journeys.

Once the child is in the car seat they put a painting apron and pelican bib on her, restrict food etc.

After getting caught out one day on the motorway during lockdown, we now have a bag that lives in the boot with spare clothes for all of us, wipes, clothes, water etc.

@Bunnycat101 I did not buy anything off the internet...I am American, so got them from the USA. Why is this a problem that it causes drowsiness?

My GP won't prescribe anything for under-fives 😫

My 4 year old has been terribly car sick from the age of 2. He will now reliably puke into a bowl which as been a massive game changer.

When he was younger:

Turning him forward facing in the car
Plastic bib
Adult sat in the back of the car with a bowl (obviously only works with 1 DC)
Poncho towel (adult size with hood) over the seat in front
Towels to protect the rear seat and footwell
Travelling v early in the morning so he had an empty stomach, and giving him breakfast when we arrived
Travelling when he was v v knackered so he slept in the car

Switch the air con off and open windows?

Air con, unless set on freezing, makes me puke, and fairly quickly, and does the same for my kids.

You don't have any air fresheners in the car or anything? They're also a culprit for us.

Also, a constant supply of tuc biscuits and water (salty plain crackers) seems to help.

Hopefully it will improve.

If your child will wear headphones, the try the nevasic app. Basically it plays sounds that take away nausea. It works for me and my kids with travel sickness (and for my morning sickness). It needs headphones to be effective though (as the stereo sound is important).