Has anyone any experience of travel sickness in a young toddler? Can you advise me please?

[Twinklemegan]

Just today it dawned on DH and I that our 17 month old DS suffers from travel sickness. We now both feel mighty guilty for being less than sympathetic when he's started to whine after an hour or two in the car. Since we have now had two journeys where he has been violently sick on the way home, I think there is no doubt what the problem is.

So what can we do about it? Can you get those sea sickness bands for toddlers and do they keep them on? I'm guessing there won't be any medication available. He's too young for us to make sure he looks out of the window etc. or to distract for long with songs and games.

hmm i was a very travel sick child its awful and i still am travel sick in the back....

not sure what to advise other than always be kind to the wee soul its rotten i still remember how I felt and my dads lack of sympathy!

You can get those sickness bands for children although I do not know if they are ok for 17mth old! Boots sell them, have to say they did work for my DD, but she was 4!

Oh, don't worry, we will always be kind to him now. I feel so so guilty for not realising before.

There is medication available actually. I know Phenergan (sp?) is one for older kids.

I've always suffered from this and have found that ginger does help, maybe give him a ginger snap (check ingreidnets for real ginger in it) or even some of those chocolate coated ginger peices or sweetened stem ginger they sell in health food shops to eat at the begining of the journey. That might help..

Also would just like to add, we keep the car as cool as anything - literally, also do not put the heating on even in winter, just let it on at the normal setting. Also do not let DDs wear coats in car, or let them eat anything milk based before we go on a car journey or let them eat sweets whilst we are travelling.

dont honey.....I dont think i would have realised in your position infact you have made me think.... my ds2 hates the car and I am wondering if he feels sick too like your wee man!!!!!

We had the same thing with our DS, he was a pukey baby and often threw up in the car. It took me ages to realise that it was because he was car sick, poor darling.

He has grown out of it a bit, it definately go better when he went into the forward facing carseat and when we avoided certain food before setting off. No milk or jogurt or fatty foods.

He is ok now (at 3.6yo) as long as he does not look at a book.

I did read somewhere that when you get them to sing then it helps. Won't be any good to you yet, but before you know it he will be singing away. I think it was something to do with regulating the breathing.

That's funny Kindersurprise, because this has only started since he went forward facing. Strange huh? I'll try the ginger thing, thanks Pinkbubble.

I get very travel sick. Sucking on something helps a bit, but the only thing that really makes it bearable is to sleep through it. (I'm guessing the Phenergan mentioned would have that effect anyway?) It is really miserable, poor little thing. When he's a bit older - looking out the window helps, and for me focusing on anything inside the car/on my lap, or even just bending down - not even reading, though that's deadly - is disastrous. Worth bearing in mind in the future?

I used to get travel sick as a child, but not enough to actually be sick - I just felt shocking. Totally agree about looking down - horrible.

Just out of interest, I rarely feel sick now, but I do get really really tired in the car. After about 20 minutes I just have to go to sleep. This also affects me to a lesser degree when I'm driving, which can be a bit of a problem. Is this a form of travel sickness does anyone know?

Not sure Twinkle but I always sleep too unless I'm driving - actually learning to drive (rather late) was a complete revelation, no more sickness! I've always assumed the sleeping was a kind of adaptive response to always feeling ill - but also any kind of problem with an element of balance disturbance (eg vertigo/labyrinthitis/morning sickness) is very tiring so perhaps its that. I think we just have suggestible ears.

I was also a travel sickness sufferer. I also do not read in a car or do any type of close work, and I also fall asleep within 20 minutes of starting on a journey. Mind you that could just be tiredness.

My ds was/is a readily travel sick child. I am the same, so recognized the symptoms early on. Now that he is older (7) we just hand him a puke kit before setting off and he has very good aim after lots of practice. When he was a toddler, we did things like try to plan trips around nap time, so that he would sleep while we were traveling and not get sick. Also, make sure you plastic proof the area around his seat because you won't be able to complete prevent his getting sick and you want to be able to clean it up readily and continue on with your journey without the whole car stinking. Always bring....ziplock bags to put sicked up on clothes in and at least one, if not two changes of clothes. Try not to feed them too much before a journey.
Other things that I found were that ds was much more likely to be sick if dh was driving (something to do with stop start tendencies). And when we sold our Golf GTi and switched to a large slow landcruiser, he got sick a lot less.
Don't give them toys to play with in the car (or books when they are older). Try to encourage games that involve looking out of the car like who can spot the first red car or counting things that are outside the car.
Good luck.

I was a carsick child. Tricks were:

1. Look out of the window, never read
2. Sing nice tuneful songs that make you breathe deep and regular
3. Suck boiled sweets (perhaps not for young toddler)
4. Window would down; Frequent stops for air.

It's really miserable, so be sympathetic

As an adult I've also grown to believe in the restorative power of salt and vinegar crisps

i was very carsick as a young child and still am now. ever since i was young i had to open the window a few cms and have my fingers stuck out the window for the whole duration of the journey.

Also holding something small like a coin is supposed to helf... but then maybe not that good an idea with a toddler

i used to wear them wrist bands that go in your pressure points. maybe they would work for a toddler?

We tried medication a couple of times, but I wasn't comfortable with it: It's really powerful stuff. It would instantly knock the kids virtually unconscious for 30 mins or so, then when they woke up they would be hyper and bouncing of the ceiling. It was quite disturbing.

The most helpful tip we had was for dealing with the sick! Use a nappy sack to line an empty ice-cream tub or similar, and use that to be sick in.

Eat fairly normally, but lightly, before travelling. Avoid fatty foods.

Lots of fresh air, and encourage to look out of the windows.

I was very sceptical about travel bands, but we tried them with ds2 when he was about 3.5, and they worked for about 12 months.