Parents Offer Suggestions for Kids Who Get Carsick
(Pardon the “un-pc” image, but we love Norman Rockwell!)
Traveling Parent – Hey there- my family and I are traveling cross country (in an RV) and my daughter (6 years old) is VERY carsick. We are doing 8 hour days so it doesn’t take us a week to get home. What works for you? Deep gratitude for any ideas!
E – My daughter keeps a bundle of fresh mint with her. Any kind of mint lozenges help. Good luck
J – Kids Dramamine and peppermint candies. The peppermint helps tummy aches. I always buy a bag of the hard peppermint candies for any road trip. Works for my kids.
A – Hard ginger candies work really well.
K – I’ve had luck with the homeopathic remedy cocculus, and there are motion-sickness glasses that I’ve just heard of and haven’t yet tried. I think these will be hard to find, but perhaps for another trip?
I – Ginger chews
C – Bonine helps for us for boat and air travel. We get motion sickness a lot in our family.
K – When I was little it was the new car smell that made me car sick and it took us forever to figure it out. I have to have the windows open at all times which for our 22 hr drive was hard. Ginger was the closest thing. As an adult I have the electric band that helps. It’s pricey but it works. Just thinking about that disgusting, leathery smell makes me feel sick. Lol
A – Maybe a half of an adult dramamine? Also, for some reason, smelling vicks vapo rub helps me not feel as sick.
A- It sounds weird, but my friend swears by sniffing a lemon!
S – I and my son get motion sickness. If dramamine or bonine don’t work, maybe benadryl can help her pass the time asleep? It helps with nausea also.
T- If you get super desperate you could call the pediatrician and ask for some zofran.
A – Sour candy or orange candy help me
E – Sending love, sorry this is happening! R used to get very carsick; we made sure never to drive with a full stomach. Harder to do on a multi-day trip, but even walking around for 20 minutes after a meal may help?
M – Lemon and peppermint! helps a lot. Sucking on lemon heads or peppermint gum can work. … A bit of peppermint or lemon oil behind the ears works.
A- Kids Dramamine 30 min before trip . My friend used to get the hospital grade sick bags that you can just throw out. I use old yogurt containers.
Wayne – Have her sit on newspaper. So weird but it works.
Nora – My son gets carsick and we have found that watching an iPad helps him. We moved cross country last year.
A – My remedy is an Amazon buy so won’t help you for the rest of this trip but on the way back and in the future. I get awful carsickness (ever since I was young) and have found a single solution that works for me. I’ll post the link. I’ve had my sons pediatrician look at them and she gave the ok to use on my son too when we travel after doing a spot test to make sure he didn’t react to the adhesive. My motion sickness is so bad that I’ve gotten prescriptions before but was terrified of the potential side effects. These have been 100% effective for me so far and I just ordered my 2nd box of them. MQ Motion Sickness Patch
J – Sure you heard this before. But, look at horizon while driving don’t look down or read books etc in moving car. Hope this passes. No other suggestions than maybe ginger chews or mint.
M – I get carsick if I don’t look where we’re going. If she’s like me, maybe position her so she’s able to see straight ahead and look forward out the windshield, and no reading or looking down. If she watches an iPad, it should be level with her head so she can look forward, so some kind of seat harness thingy for the iPad. I’m the opposite of the person who suggested an empty stomach – I need to have a full stomach not to get carsick. We’re all different, I guess!
K – Dramamine
A – I used to get suuuper car sick (I still do) and what used to help me is air on my face constantly (either turn up the air if she has a vent close to her or maybe purchase a battery powered fan that she can use when she’s feeling car sick.) I also can’t have an empty stomach, and I was told as a kid to stare out the front window and pretend like I was driving, which helped too. Good luck and hugs! It’s such an awful feeling
S – The homeopathic remedy Tabacuum has helped my daughter many times.
E – Is it legal for kids to go on the front passenger seat? Because for me (haven’t tried the patches suggested below, but I will) it is the only thing that helps. On long bus trips I had to get there early to get that front bench seat, if not, it was a nightmare for me. The wind/air on the face helps a lot too.
Z – Ginger candies. And/or call her physician and ask for a Zofran Prescription to be called into wherever you are. Poor thing!
A – Maybe do part of the drive at night or early morning so she is asleep?
S – If you have a middle back seat sit her there and get strong peppermints also cool air conditioning and make sure she looks out the front at the road. This may be challenging because of her age but I had the same issue as a child and still do if I’m in the back for very long. Watching the road ahead helps that’s why usually drivers don’t feel sick when driving. Good luck
R – Sitting in the front seat, staring straight ahead. Window cracked. Light snacks like saltines or graham crackers and sprite and water. I get the worst car sickness. So sorry
Traveling Parent – Thank you everyone. Today was WAY better! She finally gave in and tried ginger ale- she likes it! And she had a steady stream of it all day. She took another dose of Dramamine midday (which pediatrician said was okay).
