Parents of kids who are travel sick...

[ToriLynn]

When did they start with it?
My DD is 2.5 and always been perfectly fine in the car, but twice now has been sick on longer journeys with no following sickness (so not a tummy bug) but she's also managed other long journeys in between these two occasions with no sickness, so I'm not sure if it's travel sickness or just two random incidents 🤷‍♀️

It probably depends on the journey itself. My DD gets travel sick, but she is worse if she is trying to watch a film on a tablet or if it's winding country roads rather than motorway.

We use Kwells kids, half a tablet lasts six hours. If she takes it half hour before getting in the car, she is absolutely fine.

Oh and she didn't start getting travel sick until about 4 years old.

DS started when he was about 2. There are things that make it worse - looking down, watching a screen, being too hot. It also depends what he's eaten. Sometimes he'll be sick on a short drive, sometimes he'll be okay on a long drive.

DS1 from tiny. DS2 only under certain circumstances…no reading in the car, ever! We really rate the travel bands that put pressure on pressure points on the wrist. That (and not eating just before travelling) seems to keep it at bay.

Veteran here..

1. No screens or books (use audio books instead), games to encourage to look out of window (eg eye spy)
2. Easy round the roundabouts, don't take the scenic route
3. Encourage to tell when feeling sick, open a window, stop/walk around
4. The right kind of breakfast - toast or cereal, not fruit or egg
5. have a sick kit consisting of

• rubber gloves
• apron
• spare clothes
• towel / paper towels/wet wipe
• plastic bags for dirty clothes
• small bucket lined with bag(s)
• large and small bottle of water

6) Cover for car seat

About age 4, still travel sick aged 23

Sick bags are your friend, nothing stops it apart from her doing the driving

Thank you! Most annoying as she's the eldest so sis in the middle seat so difficult to get her out after the fact 🤦‍♀️

It started at about six months here but it took until he was about two and a half for me to put two and two together and realise it was travel sickness and not just "baby" sickness. He's a teenager now and has 90% grown out of it thankfully, can even read in the back of the car which I certainly can't!

My number one piece of survival kit for the intervening years was a disposable bib with a "crumb catcher". These buy you the time to stop the car and pull in without their clothes and car seat being destroyed: www.boots.com/boots-baby-disposable-weaning-bibs-20-10271706
He basically wore one for every car journey as a small child and when he was older had them in the car for emergencies. That and avoiding anything fatty or with chocolate before any car journey.

Boat journeys still involve a stugeron tablet or two. We also had the wristbands but I'm not convinced they do anything!

DD and DS both started around 2, DD grew out of it by about 10. DS still a nightmare at 16 (at least he can hold the bag himself now though).

My worse one was from a small baby,has anybody tried the glasses with the blue liquid in? I saw them on the internet randomly somewhere and was going to try a.pair.

Travel sickness tablets. Special kids ones. Boots do them. Utter game changer.

I think Kwells Kids is the name.

My son started getting sick when he was 1yo, like flicking a switch.

I tried everything - eating, no eating, no milk, no juice, special lollies for travel sickness, pills. Everything. Nothing worked.

I just got used to travelling with a plastic bag and change of clothes.

He's now 2.5yo and seems to have at least partially grown out of it, but it was pretty awful while it lasted.

Eldest, she was about 3 when it started, still suffers now she is 18 😭
No screens (obviously her choice now 😂 but she never even so much as glances at her phone).
Try and set off on long journeys really early, travel sickness tablets and she’s often back asleep fairly quickly. she uses sound cancelling headphones.
No eating in the car and only something very plain like toast beforehand if necessary.
also wears the seabands in addition to taking the tablets.
She sits in the front if we know there is a twisty windy part of the journey.
She can now drive herself though and this has helped - obviously this isn’t going to be a solution for you for a while. You have my sympathy, I just sit and feel very stressed as I always do when there’s sick flying about.

The middle back seat is the worst place for a travel sick person to sit. Where you sit is one of many variables as to whether you are travel sick or not.
I'm old and travel sickness is getting worse so know about it. People tend not to believe you.

My husband is still travel sick in cars, buses, boats and planes in his 40s. Also theme park rides. Trains are his safe option (provided no hangover or long trips...). My firstborn has always been severely travel sick, took us a while to realise due to reflux & cmpa. Dramamine and kwells kids are ineffective for him so far, we just use sick bags when needs absolutely must, and walk or train whenever possible. Just found out baby girl (12 months, no reflux or allergies) is also travel sick - with her dad and brother she had not been tested on transport before.

My lot can last 10 minutes max by car or bus, and it doesn't let up until we stop moving. My parents think I'm being awkward about visiting them (there's a boat involved) but I don't like being covered in vomit and bile, it's really severe and upsetting for the kids :(

Oh god this was me as a child! I did mostly grow out of it but still can't read in a car. Had a fair few arguments with DH about map reading when we're lost!

The wrist bands work really well. Just be careful you put them in the right place or they can be painful.

Personally, I needed to concentrate really hard on not being sick so used to get really wound up when my parents tried to distract me out of it. I just wanted to be left alone. So as she gets older be guided by her!

One thing I find bizarre in hindsight is that my mum always seemed to be taken by surprise even though I was a really vomity child! Make sure you have plenty of carrier bags/wipes on every journey!

Ds2 is only sick on flights, usually coming down. Started at 3yo and is now 11yo. Hasn’t been sick since we started giving him kwells at the airport. It makes him drowsy, so he goes to sleep 30-60 minutes after taking them, and he will generally then sleep for 30 minutes or so.

I only started to get car sick at 17yo. And I am still car sick now at 47yo. I have to sit in the front and keep my eyes forwards. No looking for something on the floor, or checking on the kids in the back. Eyes forwards only.

You can get special travel sick glasses !

I've been travel sick from age 4 to 30 😂

Started at 2.5 for DS, better now he is 6 but definitely not fixed. Things that helped - switching to forward-facing car seat (aged 4, but it made a big difference), never ever reading in the car (he made himself vomit on a train by reading a magazine, never had any issues on trains or planes in the past). No big meals before travelling (and definitely no blueberries or anything else stain-y). Audiobooks/radio/him falling asleep.

@SongforWhoever I know and plan to swap them around when we can, but the younger two are still in rear facing isofix seats so they need to be on the 2 outer seats 😭