Talk to me about car sickness - your best tips please!

[Penguin13]

DD 16mo has been getting car sick since the age of around 9mo. We have found certain things help such as ensuring her stomach is not completely empty, avoiding any mushy/liquidy type foods anything that goes down easily also seems to come back up easily too but it's got to the point where even a 20 min journey ends in a pukey mess.

So please tell me your tips for preventing car sickness and for catching/cleaning the inevitable mess when the worst happens! I am planning number 2 at the moment and have visions of being restricted to anywhere i can walk to as I can't imagine dealing with a car sick incident with DD with a new-born to contend with too!

Has anyone tried those kind of bib/cover type things you get for this very purpose? Worth investing or is a towel draped over just as good?

Oh and also pleeeeease tell me this is something they grow out of!

Hopeful bump! 2 car journeys today and two vom-fests

I feel for you. If I was going on a long journey with DC1 (up to about the age of 4) I used to leave her in her pyjamas and put old towels around her so that when the inevitable happened I could just wrap up the dirty stuff in the towels, put it in a bag to wash later and replace with spare pyjamas/towels from the car boot. This happened on every long journey and about 50% of shorter ones.

When she started potty training we discovered a 'portapotty' which was like a sort of fold up potty with liners that looked like a carrier bag but had a bit in the bottom like the inside of a disposable nappy to soak up any liquid. This is still carried in my car for sickness episodes.

I found that if she had any form of toy to look at the sickness was worse (sort of the same as if an adult tries to read i the car I suppose). We found out when DC started school that she needed glasses. The travel sickness seemed to get much better at about the same time as she started to wear them all the time- not sure if this is coincidence or connected but may be worth asking your health visitor if children as young as yours can have their eyes tested. I have no real basis for thinking there is a link but if you can get a quick sight test it can't hurt.

My DC has pretty much grown out of this- on long journeys she occasionally feels sick but as long as she doesn't try to read etc it's not very often and we give her travel sickness tablets for very long journeys/journeys without us.

Penguin13 - our DD (now 4) has been travel sick since 9months also.
At your daughter's age we had towels dropped over her, did longer journeys at nap or night time and as you said plain food no less than 30mins before we travelled, windows down and music to sing to for distraction. We found plastic bags easy to be sick into with little mess as she soon got used to putting it right under her own chin.
Can't remember what age we started using the travel sickness wrist bands but they were great - not foolproof but better.
When she's old enough polo mints help too.
On the plus side - if she has a tummy bug she is always able to grab bucket first unlike most children who don't know what's coming and end up being sick all over themselves.
Also her little bro (2) has shown no signs so far of being car sick so at least we don't have 2 to deal with.

Towels draped not dropped!

piriton liquid can be used over 12mths. Its an antihistimine, but its pretty effective as an anti-emetic/sickness thing too, as are all antihistamines, but not all are suitable for the very small.

Great if you have a long journey, but ofc you dont want to use it every day.

it does improve with age usually, and of course when they get older and are forward facing and can be in the front, then it is easier still, but thats quite a way off i guess

Mine had it from 8 months and still does, now aged 6 it's much easier to manage although still with us :(

Things that help-

Keep the car cool, open windows, sunshade.
Any strong smells can trigger eg fumes from another car, can be hard to balance with the open window thing!
Something dry to nibble on, or a sweet to suck on.
Keeping eyes closed or looking out of the window - apparently if you cover one eye pirate-style this can help, never tried it though!
Always have wipes, bags, clean clothes in car, but the best thing has been medication, I think it's only from age 3/4 though.

Thanks all. It comes from her dad's faulty genes side so I have no experience! I guess it's a bit of trial and error thing figuring out what works. Not really a fan of the idea of medicating her especially as it is nearly every journey but those wrist bands are definitely worth a try. I thank my lucky stars that nursery is a short walk away!

Our DS1 was awful with it, appeared on a bus trip on holiday and was EVERYWHERE. He was prescribed travel sickness medication from the gp (only from doctor given he was so young - under 3 at the time). Worked an absolute charm. Wouldn't go on holiday without it now. Maybe not for everyday journies but definitely for longer car ones. Hope that helps!

Medication is the only thing that works here. We only use it for over 30 minutes but shorter ones (10-20 minutes) can end in a sicky mess. We have found that sucking sweets can help a bit, as well as the usual not reading, looking out of the window etc.
We keep a stash of ice cream tubs with lids in the car. If the worst happens, we can pop a lid on it, until we can stop and dispose of it.

DS1 was the same. Anything over 40 minutes or involving a windy road (nearly everything round here). While he was too young for medication we put his expensive, extended-rear-facing seat facing-forward and in the middle so he had an unobstructed view out the front.

We made puke-boxes for each car (ice cream tub lined with plastic bag & pull- up nappy).

He's much better now at 5, but we give phenergen for trips we know will be bad.

DS2 is a week old. I hope he doesn't get car sick!

Did any of you find that car sickness was worse during teething? Not sure if it's just a coincidence but I have noticed a bit of a correlation. Not sure if swallowing all that extra dribble could be a contributing factor or if I am clutching at straws trying to explain to myself why it's suddenly worse after getting a bit better for a time

Thanks for the comments about medication. I will definitely consider for longer journeys. Fortunately for the moment DD is still pretty unfazed by it but it's not the most pleasant for anyone.

Indomitable I feel your pain - we live in a village and hard to go anywhere without using some winding roads even when most of the journey is on the motorway.

DS1 had reflux too which was definitely worse when teething, so you may be right.