Car sickness advice for 4 year old Locked

[mummybear]

Hi, Does anyone have good advice for car sickness and anything that works on a 4 year old please? Thanks!

[Sheds]

Hi mummybear

1) no mention of car sickness - ever!
2) no expectation of car sickness - ever!
3) no setting the child up with sick bags etc beforehand as you will already be putting the suggestion out there
4) play eye spy so that the child is constantly looking up and out on the horizon instead of down in the car (like a ballerina doing spins has a fixed point)
5) when you arrive at your destination and there has been no sickness, make no mention of that either
6) let the whole car sickness thing fade away out of your lives.
7) relax on your journeys so that your child can also relax before it becomes a habit for you all - you expecting it, your child fulfilling your expectation….

Does that make sense? Or help?

Good luck!

[ladyofacertainage]

I agree with everything Sheds says, no putting the idea into their heads and the playing ispy/distraction...but I have also used "joy rides" tablets to great effect with my kids, especially on twisty Alpine roads/countryside lanes. They are suitable from 3 years upwards. Even now as teenagers if we are doing long journeys off the motorway and twisty roads they will ask for a tablet. I think the active ingredient is the same in Kwells (Hyoscine Hydrobromide). The stugeron ones made them feel peculiar and they didn't like them and they are not suitable for under 5's.

[Lulumoo]

Our daughter is 2 and we make sure to give her a dry breakfast the times we take a car trip (we don't own a car, but often hire them for holidays). Toast only. No matter how cold it is, we have one window slightly open for a bit of fresh air. We find the warmer the car, the more likely she will spew. We also encourage her to look outside Daddy's window (i.e. the front one) and definitely agree with the other posters. We try not to mention it or show the sick bags etc.
One last thing, you can buy wrist bands from the chemist that sit on the pressure point. We tried those and can't be sure that they work because our daughter didn't like wearing them that much. But might be worth a try for your 4 year old.
Good luck!

[Sheds]

Hi there

It would be hard to give a tablet/put on wristbands for a car journey without giving a suggestion that they are necessary. Window opening makes sense so long as it is just window opening and not given a reason. I am suggesting NO 'remedies' other than to act as if the car sickness does not exist.

Ladyofacertainage highlights what I am talking about brilliantly - she used to give tablets especially on twisty Alpine roads and now as teenagers they ask for a tablet under those same conditions. A conditioned, learned habit. It can be unlearned.

It may be possible to bypass that whole scenario by stopping that learning in a 4 year old. It means NO MENTION. 'Trying not to' is not an option. It has to really mean NO MENTION.

Believe it will work and it will. Believe that it won't and it won't. What is your belief?

[Shamummy]

I can really recommend the wrist bands. I personally suffer from terrible motion sickness, and they really do alleviate it. I have a friend with a 3 year old and 1.5 year old who both suffered from terrible motion sickness also and used to vomit all the time. Once they started using the bands, they haven't had any trouble. It was said friend who put me onto them!

Worth a try for minimal expense!

[LizzieTheNappy]

I give my daughter popcorn to nibble on. If you make it yourself is super cheap and if they are under strict instructions to eat it one kernel at a time it lasts a long time. Also listening to a story in the car seems to take her mind off it.
My brother used to be terribly carsick and my Dad (whose a doctor) would give him Phenergan (not sure if I've spelt it right) which seemed to help a bit. I think you can buy it over the counter.

[Rosti]

My 4 year old daughter suffers very badly with car sickness. We have tried many different things to help her but the best thing we ever did was to buy a little portable DVD player by Philips which attaches to the bars under the headrest. We sit her in the middle seat so that she can see the road ahead, through the gap in the front seats, and we ask her to chose her favourite things to watch. This is a brilliant distraction and she is rarely, if at all sick anymore.
We don't talk about feeling sick as it is far from our minds. If we do not have the screen I tell her to look at the road ahead and I point out cars and things for her to put her mind on. (This is what my dad used to do with me and it worked). Obviously no reading or in car toys. We've tried meds but these still don't work once she has got herself convinced she is feeling sick.
So two things... Sit her where she can see the road ahead, the horizon (same as boat sickness) and a new exciting tv to watch in the car

[darlingmummy]

i am sorry Shed but car sickness is not in the mind but in the stomach.
I am well past 40 and still get car sick, and trust me I don't expect to be and want to be but it happens.

I feel for your child, ours suffered really badly from it and she sometimes still gets sick on planes, my advice would be dry food and not lots of it, try Ritz crackers and not too much water, just little sips.

[Sheds]

Hi darlingmummy

In YOUR mind, it is in your stomach…

I notice that your child SOMETIMES still gets sick on planes, so what is different on the times when your child does not get sick?

As you learn more and more about the power of your mind, you will understand and this is why I am pointing mummybear in that direction. I am trying to save her child from still suffering well past the age of 40.

Again, it all depends on what you choose to believe.

I am trying to help.

Sheds

[NYE31]

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/motion-sic ... ction.aspx

[Sheds]

That link, NYE31 appears to give great advice to those who wish to believe it is something that needs to be treated with medication. It serves to illustrate the point that I am making. Whatever your mindset is the outcome you will get…

If you BELIEVE that you (or your child) will be sick WITHOUT medication, you (or your child) WILL be sick without medication…. a self-fulfilling prophesy, which reinforces your belief that it is true, which encourages you to continue relying on medication because without it you (or your child) will be sick. So therefore you are right.

Now how about the times when people who 'suffer from travel sickness' are not actually sick on a journey even though they HAVEN'T medicated beforehand? What is different on those occasions? Or does such a sufferer have to live daily on travel pills?

If my child was 4 years old right now I would not want to be setting them up for a lifetime of daily travel pill taking… but that is just me.

No judgement on your choices, I am only offering an alternative option…..

[mummo]

I'm sorry, don't often post on here, but I'm going to have to leap into this one to back up darling mummy.

Car sickness is not all in the mind. It is a medical condition.

I am a big believer in mind over matter, but travel sickness is more than just a psychosomatic condition.

Like darlingmummy I suffer and there are certain conditions which will mean that some journeys are OK (straight, fast roads, smooth air travel a still, calm sea) and others (stop start traffic in a hot car, windy roads, turbulence on the plane and choppy waters) which mean that I will be sick. These are things that are out of my control. I am not of the disposition to feel the turbulence and sit there and think 'oh I might start to feel sick now' and consequently throw up, it is completely the other way around. It comes over you much like catching a bug and coming down with a cold does. You can be completely distracted and then suddenly feel sick.

For the record, I don't particularly like taking drugs and choose to just deal with the consequences rather than dose myself up (and truth be told the few times I have tried it hasn't worked anyway). I try all the self help techniques - stare at the horizon, fresh air etc if I do start to feel unwell, sometimes its enough to prevent actually being sick, sometimes not. I do agree that once the thought is in your mind it probably makes it worse, but to say that that is all it is I'm afraid is just incorrect.

I too have children who suffer, yes, I agree don't make a big fuss of it or they will work themselves into a frenzy and exacerbate the condition, teach them all the self help techniques and always travel with a bucket! We've tried the wrist bands and some of the meds (including the homeopathic ones), again without huge success so we just deal with it.

A thought to leave you with… dogs get travel sick too.

[Sheds]

Hi mummo

Sorry to have touched a nerve in you. Never my intent.

Am curious as to why you felt it necessary to 'leap into this one and back up darling mummy'?' I am simply offering a different perspective to enable mummy bear to decide on which route it is she chooses to take. No-one is offering her a completely foolproof solution, and the one I am offering will fail at the slightest sniff of disbelief. I wonder why you pick and choose as a 'big believer in mind over matter' as to which thoughts your mind rises to, and which ones it doesn't - and then why the difference?

Wonder what surrounded that very 1st time you were ever sick in the car, how it was dealt with, how those around you reacted, what your unconscious mind took on as absolute truth at that time. And then how everything from that moment on was reinforced unconsciously to have you defending it as more than a 'psychosomatic condition'. In your mind it is. You have made it very real. There are many ways that you can change that blueprint on your mind and go on to enjoy every journey free from sickness. And there again, you can choose not to, you can dismiss it, shut the door on that suggestion and continue with your life as it is, your business, not mine. However, you are helping me to highlight how deep these thoughts are implanted on our unconscious mind as you are not even aware of it on a conscious level and this is my whole point. The 4 year old is at an age where these things are blueprinted onto the unconscious mind, so why not make an active choice to give a positive impression?

As for dogs? They bark. Doesn't mean that I have to.

[NYE31]

I posted the link to back up that it IS a medical condition, I doubt that it would feature on the NHS website if it wasn't. A close friend of mine is a GP & they confirmed that it is a medical condition so that's good enough for me.