Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Carsickness - do the medicines work (at all)?

33 replies

Octaviapink · 05/05/2012 18:58

3 yo DD is massively carsick (as was I and my mother before me) - she will be sick within five minutes or less once in a car. Now normally this isn't a problem as we don't have a car and we walk or cycle everywhere in the city (she's also sick on buses: don't ask me about the time I had to take her and DS to A&E for a problem he had - a nightmarish forty minute bus journey there and worse on the way back).

We're going to the PILs for a couple of days in the summer - last time we went she was sick 13 times in a 20 minute car ride. (One of the reasons we only go once a year!) So has anybody had any experience with the various medications out there? Now that she's 3 I think she's allowed to take stuff but I remember them never doing much for me - have they got any better? What do you recommend?

I have a faint hope that she will grow out of it, but I never did (still feel sick on buses etc)

OP posts:

BackforGood · 05/05/2012 19:03

Ah, I opened the thread as I was going to say the pressure bands worked well for my dd rather than medication, but she was never that extreme!

Would it be worth going to see your GP ? That level of sickness seems out of the 'norm' to me.

MrsMcEnroe · 05/05/2012 19:04

In my experience all carsickness medicines are completely useless except for Phenargan. DD is 5 now and still throws up if she's in the car for longer than 20 minutes (so not nearly as bad as your poor DD). The only medicine that does anything at all is Phenargan but it either makes her REALLY stroppy and unbearable or, if it works at all, it puts her to sleep. The timing, and the dosage, is everything. It's worth having a chat with your GP about it.

My inlaws live over 5 hours' drive away - after last year's vomiting disaster I have vowed never, ever to take DD there ever again. It's just too stressful and unpleasant for DD and EVERYONE else in the car.

I had loads of advice on MN a few months ago when I asked for carsickness remedies - you may be able to find my thread if your search for it - but I have tried them all and none of them have worked on DD unfortunately!

Having a carsick child is a complete PITA and you have my deepest sympathies!

MrsMcEnroe · 05/05/2012 19:07

P.S. My tip would be: go late at night, when it's past her bedtime, so you can give her the Phenargan (an old-fashioned anti-histamine which also makes you hyper and stroppy drowsy) a couple of hours beforehand, then strap her in the carseat and hopefully she'll nod off .... If her normal bedtime is 7pm, I would suggest giving Phenargan at 5.30/6pm, then setting off at about 7.30pm.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Families General health General parenting

TheCunningStunt · 05/05/2012 19:09

DS is five now and used to suffer from chronic car sickness. We had various medicines from the doctor(they don't usually prescribe them to really young children but they had to for him as he was that bad). We found the wrist bands and his latest medicine work great. He gets stematil(maybe stemetil, can't remember exact spelling). He has only had one bottle, but it's lasted him a year! We only use it for journeys over 30 mins in length, so big car journeys. He hasn't been sick in a year and is gradually growing out of it. We did do a test and didn't give him it one trip, to see if he had outgrown the sickness, he was ill 35 mins into the journey. To us, it's a brilliant medicine.

RandomMess · 05/05/2012 19:10

I've heard great things about the pressure bands too.

I'm also bizarrely wondering about craniel osteopathy - wonder if it's something to do with the angle of eustachian tube??

Saltire · 05/05/2012 19:12

The only thing that worked with my 2 Dses - after trying every over the counter remedy was phenergan. 5ml an hour or so before travelling and they were like different children. Car journeys used to be a nightmare with them both being sick.

TheCrackFox · 05/05/2012 19:20

Wow, she really does have extremely bad car sickness.

DS1 used to be bad but not that bad. We used Kwells, wrist bands and absolutely no dairy food on the day of travel, no reading in the car and we ensured the car didn't get too hot.

Have you thought about taking her to the optician as needing glasses can exacerbate travel sickness.

KateF · 05/05/2012 19:24

dd1 (now 12) has always had bad car sickness. If she has to travel by car or coach we have found the pressure bands to be quite effective. She is still nauseous but doesn't actually vomit. I try to travel by train as much as possible as she dreads the car so much, poor thing.

Original poster

Octaviapink · 05/05/2012 20:13

Yes, we tried the bands after she started getting it about 14m, but they didn't do anything. I'll maybe have a chat to the GP. A nurse I know has suggested it may be an inherited inner ear malformation (we all also have appalling balance).

OP posts:

MrsMcEnroe · 06/05/2012 12:35

In that case I really would ask the GP about prescribing Phenargan, and discuss when your DD should take it wrt to the drowsiness (it doesn't cure carsickness as such, it just sends them to sleep so they can't feel/be sick!)

CogitoErgoSometimes · 06/05/2012 13:21

The only thing I've found that works is instructing DS to face forwards at all time and look out of the car via the windscreen rather than side windows. We make up 'finding' games that mean looking forwards or, at the very minimum, the horizon. If it means you have to sit in the back so that they can face forwards without having to look at the back of someone's head, that's where you sit

crikeybill · 06/05/2012 13:25

Yep I agree with pp. My dd2 suffers badly. She also has tinnitus so I really do think the two things are connected. I sit in the back with her, and we play games that involve her looking far away. We keep the car cool, no reading, no Nintendo ds. She is still usually sick at least once but its better now she's 7 and can tell me, at least we can quickly get the bag out in time !!

FallenCaryatid · 06/05/2012 13:29

Mine used bands and they worked for her, as did sitting on a thick pad of newspaper. She now travels by train whenever possible and avoids long car journeys. If she has to travel by car she uses bands and sleeps if she can.
Yes to cool car, no reading, texting or DS playing and having a smooth and unwobbly drive where possible.

FallenCaryatid · 06/05/2012 13:29

Medication never seemed to make any difference.

kickassangel · 06/05/2012 13:46

Bands never worked on me.

You may need to try different meds to find the best one, as everyone is different.

I also found that I build up resistance the more I travel. Can you do some very short journeys for a week before you travel?

Always face forward. Keep the car cool. Fresh air is better than stale air so open the windows.

Can you do 10 mins then stop for a break?

I am also better at night, and if she sleeps she may well be better, although she may wake up and vomit when you stop.

kickassangel · 06/05/2012 13:47

And sitting in the front or being able to see out the front makes a huge difference. Can you put her in the middle at the back, so she can see out?

startail · 06/05/2012 14:36

Yes both DH and DSIl say sitting the front and looking at the horizon help.

Both are fine if they drive

TheCunningStunt · 06/05/2012 14:37

Isn't the middle seat in the back the most dangerous if in a crash?(I may be wrong)

RandomMess · 06/05/2012 14:41

If properly restrained middle seat in the back is safest.

Lap only belts are very dangerous though which is what those positions always used to have - so perhaps that's where that thought has come from?

BackforGood · 06/05/2012 14:54

Agree re sitting in the front. I ended up squashed in the back for a few years, as it was preferable to dd being sick.
Now she doesn't need that anymore, I seem to be back in the back, as ds is now a low bigger than me so it's comfier for everyone (well, except me) if he gets the front seat!

Takver · 06/05/2012 19:16

DD was never that bad, but still reliably threw up in car journeys over about 15 minutes.

Sitting in the front, absolutely no looking down, windows open all helped but I'm sure you know that.

The one thing I did read in researching medicines etc. is that the placebo effect is very strong for carsickness medicine, so if you can absolutely convince your child that the medication will definitely work, no question, it is much more likely to do so.

I don't throw up these days but often feel sick even when driving

catyloopylou · 06/05/2012 20:15

I used to throw up on journeys over 20 minutes. My mum gave me phenargan which made me sleepy but made my brother hyper. I used to always sit by a window, with it open whatever the weather, a plastic bag in my lap and a pack of polo mints handy.

I did pretty much grow out of it but still feel a bit nauseous on windy roads and then the polos come out again.

BeauNash · 06/05/2012 21:03

Travel eze works.

Original poster

Octaviapink · 07/05/2012 07:35

Thanks very much for all the advice and suggestions. We'll definitely try the front seat (it's not illegal, is it?) - we always have the windows open but haven't put her in the front before. Polos sound interesting - will definitely give that a go and I'm also going to speak to the GP about it.

OP posts:

katcatkat · 07/05/2012 07:45

I have appalling travel sickness and is related to my eyes not working together. Getting glasses improved the situation loads.
Sitting in the front with no reading,and concentrating on the road is also essential.

Flip

1 2