Car Sickness - please help!

C

catcurran

Registered User
Hello - we moved here from New York in November, and for the first 2 months, my son was totally fine in a car/taxi/van/whatever. But since January he has been getting horribly car sick in any type of vehicle- and regardless of being on the side or in the middle position. He is 17 months old and the doctor said we must wait til he "grows out of it." Obviously this advice is not helpful and I am just desperate for some ideas because the poor little guys vomits EVERY time and I just don't know what to do (I know I can just not get in the car but sometimes we must, like for doctor visits or to go to the airport)

Any advice would be very very much appreciated.

THANK YOU!!!
 
when i was getting car sick in my early pregnancy, i went to those chinese snack shop & bought some salty ginger. i went to the shop that's on Percival Street in Causeway bay. across the street from the tram station near times square. the shop is called "Yiu Fung", that sells chinese snacks. or you can go to Health Quest (in Logon, Citysuper basement Times Square) & get a wrist band for motion sickness. it works for some people & very safe.
 
Not sure if this helps but my friend's daughter got car sick all the time only to find out she was lactose intolerant. Once she stopped dairy, she didn't get car sick.
 
aren't there some kind of bracelets that should help with this?? i recall hearing about some expectant mums using them to help fight morning sickness...
 
Management of Motion Sickness

So sorry that your son is getting sick. Motion sickness is completely miserable--especially when you're little.

I wear sea bands when I have to travel for a long time on bus or on the ferry. They are pretty cheap. I bought mine on sale for $5 USD. I think they will be too big for a 17-month-old's arm, but from their website, I think that they offer child-sizes as well.

The Principle of Sea-band

Sea-band for 3 and up?

Here is the info. for their HK distributor:

Hong Kong

Laissing & Co.
Suite 806, 8/F
Tower 111, Enterprise Square
9 Sheung Yuet Road
Kowloon Bay, Kowloon
Tel: 2798-7590
Fax: 2331-8075
Email: [email protected]

I've suffered with car sickness almost my entire life and I never really did "outgrow" it--I just learned to manage it.

These are the things that help me:

Car sickness is actually often caused by your peripheral vision. If your son is only seeing things blur by him on the bus out the side of his eyes--that causes queasiness--much like being on a amusement park ride. Solution: Sit in the middle of the vehicle so you can look out the front window--get a view on the bus where he can see where he's going. Sit toward the front next to the driver or sit on the top deck in the very front--don't sit close to the side of the bus because you'll also see glare off the window that can mess with your eyes and make you sick. If you're in a car, his seat should be in the backseat in the very center of the vehicle and up higher if possible so he can have a clear vision of the road.

Dramamine--I don't know at what age you can take this--I never liked it--instead when I was about 6-years-old, I taught myself how to put myself to sleep in moving vehicles--dramamine does the same thing--it makes you rummy and knocks you out--if you're asleep, you don't get sick.

Air--I often get to feeling sick if the carriage I'm riding in is stuffy or has a strong smell. Get a hand-held, battery-operated fan (very easy to buy in HK--check Ladies Market in Mong Kok) to help get air to your son when he's looking woozy. If you can, open a window--cool, moving air can help a lot.

White flower oil--This is what I use now. My mother-in-law had me try it one time about 3 years ago when I was feeling yucky after a bus ride. I rub it under my nose and on the temples of my head and my forehead and on the pressure points of my clavicle. It is a "miracle cure" for me and alleviates all my symptoms within 10 minutes. Walk into any shop in HK (local pharmacy or Mannings--anywhere) and say that you want "Bat Hua You" (White Flower Oil) and you can get it--and it's pretty cheap I think too. It's a local HK product with a long history.

White Flower Oil
 
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My son also used to suffer and sometimes still does vomit in car rides longer than 15mins but not every time anymore. I always carry bags and a change of clothes. It's really hard on the poor kids and stressful for mom/dad.

I found it helps if my son doesnt get into the car on an empty stomach, but no fluids. so before we leave the house i will make sure he's had a few dry snacks, like the gerber puffs, crackers, bread sticks - this also works for adults. We always open the windows and make sure he takes off his jacket/hat - whatever clothing that would make him warm.

I also have learned his signs, he yawns, gets teary eyed or starts saying 'finished' when he's starting to feel sick. if we're close enough to where we are going i will sometimes opt to get off the taxi early before he vomits.

we also have taught him to look further, like not focus on the passing buildings but to look up at the sky, see the birds, look at the trees, anything that is more stable. we also never take the taxi to the airport and opt to take the airport express train instead.

hope this helps...hope your son grows out of it soon...
 
My sister-in-law installed a portable DVD player in the car (you can hang it off the back of the front seat) for my car-sick nephew when he was 2-yrs-old. It really helped stop the car sickness (probably because it meant he focused on something stable and didn't get woozy from fast-moving peripheral vision).
HTH
 
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