Travel sickness

[Claribel]

My 17 month old daughter has started being very sick on buses / cars / RAC breakdown trucks ... you name it. She is generally fit and well and a fairly sturdy robust build. There doesn't seem to be any link with what or when she has eaten before travelling, or at least nothing that I can think of.

Has anyone got any recommendations for dealing with sickness in little ones? It is beginning to make me think twice before venturing too far from home!

Thanks

[bizzylizzy]

This is happening to us too. My 20 month old started being sick in the car but not on buses etc. The doctor said tat there is no travel sickness medication licenced for under 2s. He recommended giving a dose of piriton 10 mins before travelling - this makes them drowsy so less likely to be sick. It works for us for short journeys but is no good for longer ones and I'm not happy about giving 2 doses (one for the journey there and 1 for the return journey). At the moment we just take spare clothes etc and I'm thinking of going back soon to see if they will prescribe something now she is closer to 2 years old. (It started at about 17/18 months for us too). Bizarrely it is not for all journeys but like you no pattern as to when she might be sick.

I'd be interested in other replies too.

[EDmummy]

Oh gosh have we been there! In our own car for long journeys, always take at least two change of clothes, cover back of car with towels, lots of spare plastic shopping bags, kitchen towel and wipes. Have also been known to travel with a bucket in the car. Also the long search for engaging in-car music.

Also for trips over 2-3 hours long we would break a night time journey in motorway service hotels (much nicer than you might give them credit).

Fortunately, we never had trouble with the bus (as long as he was able to have his face plastered to the window - never, ever sitting in a buggy) so no advice to offer there.

For us this phase only lasted (at full tilt) for about a year but, to be fair, we have probably avoided any long journeys since that time.

Wish you all the luck in the world. We also had wailing on quite a number of journeys for which I would recommend ear plugs (esp if you are the driver)!

[clux]

Hello

I have two very very travel sick daughters but we've managed to find them both a solution that works. From the age of about 16 months both of them started being sick in cars - sometimes after only about 10 minutes - and going anywhere became very stressful. I thank god we live in London and can use trains and tubes and buses!!

Anyway, eldest daughter has been taking JoyRide tablets every time we go on a car trip since she turned 3 and has never been sick since. Littlest daughter has been prescribed Phenergan by our GP. I went to see him when she was about 20 months as we had a big trip coming up and he said although it should only really be used by over 2's he could let us use it as a one off. And again since using it she has never been sick. You have to take it the night before and can then have another dose the following day. Not entirely sure how it works, just incredibly grateful that it does!! For a long time every car trip we went on smelt of sick!!

[sophiechristophy]

Ginger is good for settling the stomach and helping against travel sickness.x

[Peppa]

My toddler started being travel sick at around 6 months old and I have now given up trying to go anywhere by car or bus. He would be sick within the first few minutes and then cry/ scream for the rest of the journey. He was prescribed something at around 12 months but it didn't work and travelling became very stressful and messy. When we needed to take a long journey to see family we would carry him out of bed and drive overnight, if he woke up we'd sit in the car (for upto an hour) waiting for him to go to sleep.

He has recently turned 2 so I should now be able to try other medication, pleased to hear it's worked for others.

[Princess]

I have always suffered from motion sickness which according to my mum was apparent from the day dot. Over the years she tried everything to try and help me but all the tablets etc made me feel sick before we even set off!! 34 years on, the only thing I swear by are sea bands which work using acupressure. You can use from the age of 2 I think (although as long as they fit on the wrist I can't see any harm in trying them earlier but I'm not a doctor)!

[Carrie]

When ours were young and car sick we tried to make sure that every long journey we took was at night so they could sleep through the trip - seemed to work. Beware of carrier bags as a receptacle - they often have little holes in (which I found out to my cost!) We used an empty baby wipes box lined with a nappy sack - never travelled without it!

[nunheadmum]

Our eldest is bad for getting sick - bus to Peckham, car to Beckenham etc, etc. We use Travella homeopathic tablets from the health shop in ED (sorry name evades me for the moment). They've worked really well - got us almost all the way to Devon (and probably only stopped working as we don't tend to give the full dose all the way).

The liners for the Potette work good for catching sick, if your LO is old enough to know what they're doing and catch it. (Handy to keep in your bag too for buses.) Otherwise we always have a potty in the back.

If it's a sudden thing, maybe just get her ears checked in case there's any reason. Otherwise may just be that she's started looking around her more.

[Claribel]

Thanks so much for all the advice, lots of tips to try out.

[marscapone]

The accupressure wrist bands worked wonders for my friend's daughter - can't remember how old she was, perhaps about 2