Kids Who Get Car and Airsick

[PrincessWithABlaster]

So DS6 has been slowly developing car and air sickness. It seems to get worse on each trip. He threw up in the plane over spring break. He has never gotten sick from a ride (neither simulator nor rollercoaster and he's been on most at Disney and Uni) but I'm afraid we're on borrowed time. So two questions.

1. Does anyone have a kid who gets sick from reading or watching videos in a car or plane who doesn't get sick on rides (the is-there-any-hope question)?

2. Can anyone recommend a ginger hard candy that kids will eat? I know there is kids Dramamine and probably bonine but if he reacts the way I do, there's no point. Even the allegedly non drowsy kinds knock me out. I'd rather try ginger and save the meds for a last resort. Most of the ginger candies say they are a spicy strong ginger (to help with nausea) but I'm sure he won't suck on something like that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TangledHairDon'tCare]

Ginger ale works for my car sickness and I wear a wristband like this:

 

[AgentMama]

My kids both get car sick and sometimes air sick. They haven't had any issues with rides. We have tried all kinds of things. For long rides, Dramamine or Bonine seem to work the best. Neither can read in the car. If they watch a movie or show, whatever device they're on needs to be at eye level and they need to be looking forward, they cannot watch anything in their laps. We always carry a vomit catcher (bag, bowl, depending on what mode of travel we're using) in case it progresses from just not feeling well. Neither get sick on cruises either.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Ginger ale works for my car sickness and I wear a wristband like this:

Thanks for the suggestions. Ginger ale would be good for the car and I'll see about bands for the park in case we need them.

My kids both get car sick and sometimes air sick. They haven't had any issues with rides. We have tried all kinds of things. For long rides, Dramamine or Bonine seem to work the best. Neither can read in the car. If they watch a movie or show, whatever device they're on needs to be at eye level and they need to be looking forward, they cannot watch anything in their laps. We always carry a vomit catcher (bag, bowl, depending on what mode of travel we're using) in case it progresses from just not feeling well. Neither get sick on cruises either.

Glad to hear they're good on rides and cruises. I never thought of keeping his head up while watching. We are just banning reading and videos in the car other than for short periods of time. It makes the 3 hour ride to Grandma's tough though.

 

[AgentMama]

Glad to hear they're good on rides and cruises. I never thought of keeping his head up while watching. We are just banning reading and videos in the car other than for short periods of time. It makes the 3 hour ride to Grandma's tough though.

Reading is the major issue in our car, we've banned it altogether because even a couple of minutes can cause misery for the rest of the ride. We haven't had any issues with videos as long as they are watching with the ipad or DVD player strapped to the back of the front seat. Test the video thing out on short rides to see if it helps, it'll give you a better idea if you can use video entertainment for longer trips. We play a lot of word games in the car, or can you find xyz item. That helps pass the time too.

 

[siestakeys04]

My dd is 23 and she at times gets car sick while in the back seat, but she said she used our seasick bands we use for cruising in the car and they worked well. I would try those if you don't want to use medication. I picked mine up at Walmart

 

[mcmauney]

Hi! I'm now an adult, but I developed car sickness and motion sickness over the course of my childhood-high school, culminating in a real bad deep sea fishing outing lol. I have learned what motions affect me the most and know that pushing fluids (water or ginger ale), chewing gum, and not getting on rides right after a meal are the things that help me. There are only two rides at WDW that I can no longer ride: Star Tours and Mission Space. Simulators seem to be what hurt me the most, but I can ride TOT or any coasters multiple times just fine! Biggest tip I can give you is keep drinking water and take it one ride at a time Good luck!

 

[Betty Rohrer]

So DS6 has been slowly developing car and air sickness. It seems to get worse on each trip. He threw up in the plane over spring break. He has never gotten sick from a ride (neither simulator nor rollercoaster and he's been on most at Disney and Uni) but I'm afraid we're on borrowed time. So two questions.

1. Does anyone have a kid who gets sick from reading or watching videos in a car or plane who doesn't get sick on rides (the is-there-any-hope question)?

2. Can anyone recommend a ginger hard candy that kids will eat? I know there is kids Dramamine and probably bonine but if he reacts the way I do, there's no point. Even the allegedly non drowsy kinds knock me out. I'd rather try ginger and save the meds for a last resort. Most of the ginger candies say they are a spicy strong ginger (to help with nausea) but I'm sure he won't suck on something like that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

not that I am any help but for me unless I am driving none works for me. this includes drugs and ginger. to this day I can ride most coasters with the best of them but anything that goes in circles even kiddie ride I close it down. I have heard people say that ginger snap cookies work like candy but I have never tried as ginger doesn't work for me. I am lucky I can fly so long as we don't circle the airport for some reason. and the couple of cruises I was on I was okay of I didn't look out the windows. so yes there is hope he can ride most rides

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

My 8 yo gets car sick a lot. We too noticed that watching a movie or reading are triggers. Another big one for her is if she falls asleep and wakes back up in the car, she often gets sick. Two things that seem to help her are Hyland's Motion Sickness Tablets (you cancget on Amazon, it's safe for ages 6 and up and you dissolve the small pill on your tongue, they don't really have a taste, and don't cause drowsiness) and chewing peppermint gum. We used both on our last flight and thankfully she did fine. We tried ginger candy in the past but she couldn't stand the taste (I never could either, most of that stuff tastes terrible).

She doesn't generally have issues on rides. None of the ones at Disney got to her. If we go to a carnival and she rides a bunch of spinning rides back to back, that bothers her a bit, but the vast majority of Disney rides don't have that same level of spinning (although we did not go on the Tea Cups and Alien Swirling Saucers wasn't there on our last visit). Those two rides I think would be the most prone to causing motion sickness. Well, Mission Space as well, though DD did ride the green side and had no issues.

Good luck and I hope you can find something that works!

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Oh, one other thought. I get dizzy and nauseous easily too, and one of my biggest triggers, especially at Disney, is changes in brightness. For instance, going from inside a dark queue/ride like Pirates or HM, them back into the sun makes me dizzy which triggers nausea. A good pair of dark sunglasses worn constantly outside was a life saver on my last trip. That might not help everyone, but it's something to consider if you notice he starts feeling funny going from a dark ride into the sun.

 

[mel2014]

My son is 8 and since he was 5, he has gotten sick on airplanes and only airplanes (and the bullet train in Japan) and it's gotten progressively worse over time. We've been to many, many, theme parks, amusement parks, and fairs and he's never been on a ride that makes him sick.

We tried pretty much every over the counter and homeopathic remedy for his airsickness (ginger, Dramamine, bonine, benadryl (trying to knock him out to sleep), hyland's motion sickness, nauzene, seabands) before getting a prescription for Phenergan from his pediatrician after a 14-hour flight where he threw up 17 times and took two days to fully recover and start eating again. The Phenergan is absolute magic; before we tried it, I was at the point of thinking we'd need to restrict our travel to road trips for the foreseeable future. Now the world is our oyster again. He hates the taste of it, but knows that it stops him from being sick, so he reluctantly gulps it down. That may be an option for you to try if his motion sickness gets worse.

 

[PollyannaMom]

So DS6 has been slowly developing car and air sickness. It seems to get worse on each trip. He threw up in the plane over spring break. He has never gotten sick from a ride (neither simulator nor rollercoaster and he's been on most at Disney and Uni) but I'm afraid we're on borrowed time. So two questions.

1. Does anyone have a kid who gets sick from reading or watching videos in a car or plane who doesn't get sick on rides (the is-there-any-hope question)?

Yes. My teenage DS gets carsick in the back seat, and especially if he's looking down at a screen. And I have never been able to read in the car. For both of us, the key is looking out the front window. (I know your DS is too little for the front seat, but if you have a middle seatbelt in the back, try having him sit there.)

But both of us are OK on rides.

2. Can anyone recommend a ginger hard candy that kids will eat? I know there is kids Dramamine and probably bonine but if he reacts the way I do, there's no point. Even the allegedly non drowsy kinds knock me out. I'd rather try ginger and save the meds for a last resort. Most of the ginger candies say they are a spicy strong ginger (to help with nausea) but I'm sure he won't suck on something like that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I second the ginger ale, and the seabands!

 

[HaveKidsWillTravel]

seabands have helped my son (and myself) with motion sickness. I also second ginger ale. I personally avoid ginger chews because ginger burns coming back up!! We always travel with emesis bags (Amazon). They are a life saver. We bring them with us everywhere. And they’re great for when kids get sick at home too.

 

[Elephantay]

Motion sickness is actually related to an ear issue- a decongestant before and during the trip can help. Also, wear the wrist bands that have a button on a pressure point. Those help!

 

[LaurieRL]

I've gotten motion sickness since I was a child. I'm 41 now and I still sometimes get car sick, almost always seasick and rarely air sick. When I was a child my car sickness was really bad. Turned out I needed glasses although that didn't completely get rid of it. I get really sick on carnival rides like the Tilt a Whirl and anything that spins really fast. But I was ok on the teacups when I went to WDW last year. I went on Mine Train as well and I was fine with that. Planning on doing Star Tours at DL this year and taking some ginger gravol before. I wore the bracelets that other people were talking about when I took a cruise a few years ago and those seemed to work well for me.