Car sickness in kids - does taking a break every 30 mins help?

[Mamabear12]

Unfortunately, it seems my DD (3 years old) has car sickness if we are in the car more then 40 mins and if there are a lot of turns etc. She used to be fine when younger, but now complains of tummy aches and last car ride said she felt like she would throw up. This is my worse nightmare, as I have a sever phobia of vomitting. I know I must get over this some how w two young kids. But anyway, I read on tips for helping w car sick, but wanted to ask...bc once we got out of car after 15 mins she was completely fine. She never actually got sick...but was close I think. Anyway...we have a two hour drive coming up in a couple of months. If we take a break every thirty mins, does that reset her clock, like we would get another 30 mins before she starts feeling ill again? Sounds stupid I know, but I am not sure how it works. Like if she starts feeling better again and we get back in car, does she start feeling sick again right away, or do we have some time? I never had car sickness..my husband said he did as a child.

Ds2 gets severe car sickness he has travel bands , stergeron tablets , sipping water, sit in front and washing up bowl

Sorry not much use we have 4 hr trip in June god help us .

Kwells and those accupressure wrist band help DD. She can't read or look at a tablet so listens to music or audiobooks. A driver who drives smoothly and relatively slowly on windy roads also helps. She also worse for some reason in expensive cars - she says it's a combination of smell of leather and something about the smoother engine.

My sister and I both had terrible travel sickness as kids (and still a bit now). Breaks did help a bit but weren't the total answer.

Things that helped:
Fresh Air
Story CDs or favourite music
Being able to see out
Being full, hunger makes it so much worse
Regular toilet breaks
Travel bands (I still use them now)

Things that made it worse:
Erratic driving
Reading or playing game boy
Strong smells
Being too hot

Good luck xx

Mitzi, that new car smell always made me sick and it still makes me grimace. Low cars like my uncles Jag were always worse too.

Unfortunately, a 3 year old probably can't tell you what triggers her nausea. You have to guess. She also may not be able to voluntarily keep from doing things that will trigger her nausea. You might have to keep books away from her to keep her from reading in the car, for example. She's 3, with all the lack of judgment and lack of impulse control that implies.

Smells are a common trigger. If you're nauseous around the time you smell a particular smell, it's pretty common for that smell to trigger nausea later on. That's probably what happened with Mitzi50's DD and the leather seats. Associating smells with nausea is probably an evolutionary response that helps animals avoid poisoning themselves over and over.

Are you going to be stopping for a meal on the way? DON'T stop at the kind of places my parents would. Most of these places were "greasy spoon" diner type places, that smelled strongly of fried foods. (I don't know if you have a word for these kind of restaurants in the UK) Remember, strong smells are triggering, and the nausea doesn't always go away immediately when the car stops moving. A place that doesn't smell strongly of any kind of food is a better bet.

DON'T ever yell at her (if you can help it, I know you might panic), lecture her, or punish her for getting sick, or for telling you she's feeling sick. The thing with motion sickness remedies is, they work better if you start using them as soon as you start feeling a little funny, not at the point where you're about to throw up. You want her to feel like she can tell you when she's starting to not feel good, so you can help her in time to keep her from vomiting. Remember, she's not doing this to get attention, to get her own way, to annoy you, or to ruin your vacation. Most if not all people with motion sickness are not doing it voluntarily, and we wish it didn't happen at least as much as you do.

We've just moved my ds in to a high back booster seat...and since then has had travel sickness, even on 20 minute local journey's. So we're moving him back to his stage 2 seat for a little longer. I think it must be because he is lower down in the booster.
So might be a thought if it's the same for your LO.

I used to have terrible travel sickness, apparently when my dad went looking at new cars, when i was little, i used to ask if there was a sick bucket in them.

I suffered w travel sickness from about 3 y/o until being pregnant with my DS last summer. My parents had tried everything with me, even sitting on newspaper! Kwell kids travel sickness tablets used to hold the nausea off for a little while, (Id even take them as an adult!) but I had to have a constant stream of fresh air and being able to see where I'm going helped too. As for regular stops every half hour, in my experience id have to have a long stop each time to 'reset' but wouldn't be able to eat or drink until upto an hour after the end of the journey. As for people who say it's mind over matter, there may be an element if truth in that for older kids but I also think that after years of suffering from it it almost becomes like a fear/phobia of long distance travel and the sickness is a side effect of that, I used to get anxious before going in the car (for fear of feeling/being sick) and couldn't eat anything before a journey. I still get nervous when I am a passenger on a long journey but somehow knowing I have my DS to look after has stopped the sickness.

Great advice from posters here - my DD has had terrible sickness since 7 months (now 5). Just going to add we find a dry biscuit or rice cake to nibble on when she feels sick can help. We also take a few aeroplane sick bags that we stash in the car...

One I've not tried but been told works is covering one eye, pirate style. It's supposed to help with the differential between what the brain and eyes see.

Last one - joyrides can be taken 20 mins before travelling and also when child starts to feel sick as they are almost instant acting - we swear by them although they seem to have been sold out forever...

I've bought a homeopathic remedy from Amazon called 'motionease'. It's an oil you put behind their ears and I use it for shortish journies (up to an hour) on my DD who has suffered since she was 4. So far so good! I would recommend it and it's all natural too so can be used on all ages.