Travel Sickness

[surreyman]

The weekend before xmas i am taking my brothers and his missus kids away for a couple of days to stay with me and my girlfriend who lives about a 2 hour drive away. Both of them get very carsick. Have you guys got any good tips to avoid some unhappy children and me having to get out the carpet shampoo. The girl is 10 and the boy is 8 tomorrow.

[woofgang]

I am an ex travel sickness sufferer who still needs to take care on occasion. I find the following helpful

Try to keep the kids and yourself calm about the journey. Stress and exitement are contagious and can contribute to a rebellious stomach.

Encourage the children to focus outside the car and watch the scenery go by so that their eyes see what their inner ears are feeling. I find that reading or looking at things inside the car make me feel awful very quickly, especially over bumpy or bendy roads.

Keep the food light and plain before travelling and hold off the burger stops. Don't offer junk food snacks or drinks en route, but a little cold water to sip can help.

Drive as smoothly as you can, try to avoid jerky accelleration and braking.

Ginger in any form is good for nausea if the children will eat it, try a litle crystallised or a ginger biscuit, but not the whole packet.

The usual reason that travel sickness medication doesn't work is that it is not taken long enough before the journey, check the instructions on the packet. If you use this, expect the kids to be drowsy during and after the journey.

Many care spares shops now sell those disposable plastic seat covers that garages use, you might want to put these on and then put towels or sheets on top if the kids have a history of up chucking.

I hope all goes well for you all and that your worst fears are unfounded!!

[natalie_1982]

I don't suffer with it now but did as a kid, and from what I remember it was brought on through panic. I would worry that I would get car sick, so would be sick, so next time I'd worry again, and so on......

 

I remember I used to feel really hot and that there was no air, by opening the window a slit I could feel a breeze on my face and it made me feel tons better.

 

Also, don't know if this is obvious or not, maybe some people aren't affected by it, but dont let them read in the car!

[spudqueen]

A tape of a book can help while away the time and take the childrens minds off the fact that they are travelling.  My kids enjoyed The Hodgeheg by Dick King Smith, or anything by Roald Dahl (Fantastic Mr Fox is a good one).

[cassimer]

When i was at school we had a teacher who made anyone who might get travel sick sit on a newspaper. I cant offer any explanation about how this worked, but no one was sick! Maybe it was the convincing way he told us WE WOULD NOT BE SICK!

[fbg40]

My wife suffered terribly from travel sickness - she even threw up on the Isle of Wight ferry. We then saw an advert for "Travel Bands", available from travel shops and major chemists. They work on the principal of acupressure points on the wrists. She has been using them for at least 15 years now, long haul flights, cars, we even went whale watching on a very rough sea - no sickness at all. I would thoroughly recommend them.

Happy travelling.