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New seat, new car sickness

2 replies

SingingWaffleDoggy · 15/09/2020 09:39

DD is 2.5 years old and 17.8kg so we have recently upgraded from a Joie 360 to a radian 5. The radian 5 was chosen as it harnessed RF up to 25kg with the option to FF also in the future. She can be a bit of a monkey for unclipping herself when RF but never did it FF in the 360 as she knew mummy could see! Also, as a side note my Audi A3 (61 plate) does not have top tether fixings so she cannot FF in this one until we get a new car.
Since having the radian she has been getting car sick on any journey >20 minutes. Is this likely to be that she’s just hit that car-sick stage now as a coincidence or does the lower position of the radian mean she can’t see out as well and that is causing it? I can put her back in the 360 to see if it resolves it, but she is on the cusp of weight restrictions for it. I feel so sorry for her, but don’t want to compromise her safety Sad
Any ideas wise Mumsnetters?

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NeverPromisedYouARoseGarden · 15/09/2020 11:18

Aw, poor thing. Car sickness is horrid. My kids are older and I don't know anything about the types of car seat you mention but, from experience, I would hazard a guess that she has a propensity to car sickness that's been triggered by not being able to see out so well.

My DD started with it at around the same age when she was in her own FF car seat but in a different car (hire car on holiday) that had much lower seats than our car at home. Looking back on it, her view out was definitely restricted by that.

Once we got home she didn't have another incident of sickness until she was 4. Then we were in our own car, own car seat and no obvious trigger. From that point it became a regular occurence.

She is a teen now but still suffers with it, mostly on very twisty/turny roads - she will be absolutely fine on a 5-hr straight drive up the motorway but even driving round the industrial estate 5 mins from home can set her off - and it is always much worse if she can't see out. She is almost 100% better in the front passenger seat with a clear view ahead.

Bit of a long-winded response but I would definitely try swapping back to the other seat if only to see if it makes a difference. Any chance you could borrow a FF seat in the right weight range that would fit in your current car and see if that helps? If it does, you'll maybe have to buy a different car seat, but at least it's cheaper than a new car!

It's so hard when they're little and can't articulate how they feel. DD rarely actually voms any more but the nausea makes her feel dreadful. A tell-tale sign for her is excessive yawning. That's always been a warning for us that we need to crack open the windows and swap seats if necessary. And even now we still often resort to I-spy type games to get her looking out of the window!

Hope you're able to resolve it at least for another few years.

BertieBotts · 15/09/2020 20:18

I would try her in the higher up seat to see whether it's that, although I don't know of any 25kg seats which are high up so I am not sure that will help you very much, as she's soon going to outgrow that seat anyway. The ones which fit using isofix might be higher up on bases than the Radian 5.

It could just be coincidence. Travel sickness tends to start around 2.

When I was little the thing which helped me the most was being able to see out of the front, but this will be tricky as all the 25kg seats need top tether, and most cars don't have top tether in the middle or the front (some do, but it's rare).

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