Motion sickness in kids - how would I know in advance?

[Griffith6]

We are first time cruisers and don't know if the kids (or me & DH) will have sea sickness. I bought some bonine to take with but the pharmacist said we should take in advance (1-2 days) because once sickness starts you can't stop it until off the ship. I hate to medicate in advance (and kids don't like to take stuff) but would be so bummed if someone was feeling queasy.

They do fine on car rides, etc. Should we all be fine? Any comments/thoughts are appreciated.

[3mmm]

My older kids never have a problem with any travel, but my younger two both get car and plane sick - and I mean serious puking sick. Didn't occur to me to worry about it until after we booked our last cruise. Turns out they were both absolutely fine on the boat and it was really rocking one night. My 5 year old did get sick in the car on the way home from the airport, but no trouble on the boat for 7 days - go figure. Few are affected unless it is particularly rough. Just trying to alleviate your fears. Have fun!

[addicted_to_WDW]

I drug us all preemptively, so I don't know if we get seasick or not.

Bonine is cheap and we don't have any side effects from it so I'm going to keep on keeping on. It's an easy way to prevent something that could ruin a vacation.

[MelissaE1]

Originally Posted by Griffith6

I bought some bonine to take with but the pharmacist said we should take in advance (1-2 days) because once sickness starts you can't stop it until off the ship.

I can see why this makes sense in theory, but I can tell you that in real life it's not always true. My son gets motion sickness from time to time and last time we cruised there was a lot of motion and he was extremely queasy on the first night -- so bad he had to leave the dinner table. I gave him a Bonine and within an hour he was happily eating chicken tenders from room service. I know of other people and occasions where Meclizine (Bonine) worked after the fact as well. Guess it depends on the person. (He was fine for the rest of the trip. )

That said, it's the only time in 3 cruises he felt ill, and my mom, who is so motion sensitive she gets sick if you spin on a barstool in front of her (no joke), has no issue cruising at all. Since it sounds like no one is prone to motion sickness in your family, it's likely you won't have any problems. My advice would be to take it with you, and just use it if you need it.

Have a great cruise!

[clten]

Have you been on ferries or fishing boats (bigger than the average person's motorboat)? If you have and have been fine on those, you might be okay. If you don't want to medicate in advance, you might want to try sea bands instead. If you are packing and still aren't sure, I'd bring some ginger (or ginger candies) with you in case someone does get seasick (you can also get ginger ale on the ship and green apple and crackers help.) The ginger might get you over the current round and you can take the bonine to prevent future.

[Pluto,]

i take bonine every night just in case. i dont take it in the morning because it makes me drousy and i weigh 220 pounds.

[JKSWonder]

I brought the Bonine with us, but I did not preemptively give it to the kids. They have never had any kind of motion sickness before.

Unfortunately for us, we had huge waves on the first and last night of our cruise and our ship was rocking back and forth. I found it kind of soothing and the kids did not seem to notice the first few days. However, on our last night, My DD (8), after a full day of playing and eating, upon return to our stateroom, turned an awful shade of green and was very sick. I gave her the Bonine then and she wasn't sick again.

I think for our upcoming cruise I will have all of us start taking it a day before, just in case.

[disney1990]

Originally Posted by Griffith6

I bought some bonine to take with but the pharmacist said we should take in advance (1-2 days) because once sickness starts you can't stop it until off the ship.

I totally disagree with this statement. Our friends sailed with us. They didn't take anything and 3 of them were sick the first night. One then put on sea-bands and the 2 older teens did nothing. They were all fine by the 2nd day of the cruise.

[Griffith6]

Thanks for all the input - I think I will try to give them bonine but guessing my little kids will not take it - we were on a friends boat this summer and totally fine so thinking we should be ok. But I know it would be such a bummer if someone felt queasy and could not get over it.

We leave 2 weeks from today - and CAN'T WAIT!!

[cdndizzylizzy]

Hi,

Here's food for thought - my daughter and I both get car sick when riding in the back seat of a car - she does alright in the back seat of a minivan because she can see the horizon, but is in trouble if she travels in a regular sedan. She cannot read a book in the car regardless of what type of vehicle.

I can't even read a map, even from the front passenger seat, for more than a few minutes without feeling queasy.

I took bonine daily on all 3 of my cruises, and gave my daughter children's bonine for the first night out in the Florida straits. My DH and my other daughter never get car sick, and never experienced any queasiness while on board the Magic and went bonine-free.

So - have your kids travel in the car and make a point of them looking down - either with a DS or with a book - if they do fine with that, my bet is they won't have any troubles with cruising...

Hope this helps

[Disney On A Dime!]

From our past experience...

We did not take anything on our first cruise...until dinner time (first seating) on the first night. It has been my observation that if you are going to experience sea-sickness (on a cruise ship that is not in rough waters) you will "feel it" by dinner time when the ship is leaving Port Canaveral. Keep the bonine with you that first evening...give it out the minute someone starts to feel different...and you should have "caught" the sea-sickness before it becomes a major issue.

The family we were traveling with on that first cruise...never has to take anything for sea-sickness. My family...on the other hand...we now take the bonine each evening at dinner. I do have one of those kids that does not like pills, however; on that first evening we gave him the 1/2 pill with a spoonful of soup!

I hope that you all have a wonderful cruise!