Car sickness, much like motion sickness can bring about feelings of uneasiness, nausea, and vomiting in children. Mostly, car sickness is noted in toddlers and preschool age children. The movement of the car along with petrol odors, and food the child may have eaten contribute to this.
1. Make sure that the child is not on an empty stomach and that he or she has not overeaten or had greasy or difficult to digest food.
Rather, let the child have some dry crackers or similar snack to settle the stomach.
2. Engage the children in games and divert them by having them focus on the distant horizon. Looking outside the car can help relieve the feeling of being in one place.
Let the child listen to some music while looking outside or play games such as I Spy which involves scanning outside objects.
3. Let the child sit beside an open window. Fresh breeze blowing on the face is known to help reduce feelings of car sickness. This will also help to dispel any strong smells within the car such as food, petrol, etc.
4. Make frequent stops on the way. This helps to alleviate boredom in kids (fewer ‘are we there yet’ comments) and also helps to avoid car sickness.
5. Drive smoothly, without any unnecessary braking, or swerving. Less motion means less feelings of uneasiness.
6. Be on the lookout for signs of uneasiness, pay attention to what the child says or symptoms he or she shows and if required make a stop.
7. Over the counter pediatric medications can help to prevent car sickness as well. They work best when administered before the commencement of the journey and should always be cleared with a doctor first.
8. Acupressure or sickness bands are also known to help kids deal with car sickness.
