Managing car sickness in children

A sick child in the back seat is par for the course for many parents, who ensure that they pack paper bags along with the other travel essentials for long car rides.

Car sickness is a form of motion sickness that usually occurs during long periods of driving as a result of the brain receiving mixed signals from the inner ear, eyes and sensory nerves — the balance-sensing system. One part of this system will sense that the body is moving, but the other parts don’t. In a car ride, for example, the eyes may not be seeing the car’s motion, but the inner ear will sense it, and this conflict might result in nausea, vomiting, uneasiness, cold sweats, increased salivation, headache, pale skin, fatigue, loss of appetite and dizziness.

Dr John Royes, paediatrician at Kidz Klinik on Old Hope Road, St Andrew, noted that motion is controlled by the inner ear, and driving in a car can cause dizziness resulting in the child experiencing car sickness.

“The semi-circular canal in the inner ear controls a lot of dizziness, and if you spin around, the fluid in those canals is disrupted and you can get dizzy,” he said.

Dr Royes added that car sickness is not age-specific, and a child may or may not grow out of it.

“Some people are just a little bit more sensitive (to car sickness) than others,” he said.

He added that the nature of the drive can induce car sickness — like at the popular curvy road Fern Gully in Ocho Rios.

Some Jamaicans had an old-time practice of padding a child’s chest with cardboard or newspaper to prevent car sickness during long drives, but the jury is still out on whether this practice really works.

Here are some tips for preventing car sickness in your children:

1. Plan meals before the drive

If the drive will not be a long one, consider not giving the child any food until arriving at the destination. If the drive will be very long, be careful of the types of food you give the child. Avoid spicy or greasy foods. Dry foods like cereal would be best, but in small quantities.

2. Have anti-nausea medication on hand

Medications like Gravol are available in chewy, flavoured tablets which children six years and older can take.

3. Stop the car at the first sign of car sickness

If the children are starting to feel uneasy, stop the car and let them lie down on their backs for a while with their eyes closed or encourage them to walk around until the feeling starts to fade.

4. Distract the children during the drive

Talking, singing or listening to music can distract the children from developing car sickness.

5. Reduce sensory input

Try to get the children to look at objects outside the car (perhaps through a game of ‘I spy’) to reduce the chances of the brain receiving conflicting information from the inner ear compared to what their eyes are seeing.

“Each parent will know how his or her child will respond, so they will know best how to feed or what not to feed. If they’re going on a drive for 10 miles on a winding road, then don’t give them anything; the 10 miles will go by quickly,” said Dr Royes.