Would you ever drive..

[asoko]

from MI to Disney with a child who can get car sick? DD 4 sometimes gets carsick. It's happened on rides just over 1 hr long if it is earlier in the morning. She's never gotten sick under an hr or if she's been awake for a few hours. We've flown with no problems, but I'm trying to save money by driving.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

My neice used to get carsick when she was that age. They stopped giving her milk before a long car ride and she was fine. Can a child that age be given anti-nausea medicine? Maybe check with her Pediatrician before making the decision.

 

[toobie75]

I get motion sickness and it is one of the worst feelings ever. If it weren't for Dramamine I would never go anywhere. Mine is like your daughters, it doesn't kick in until around an hour if I'm in the front seat, but if I'm in the back seat it kicks in within 10 minutes.

I would check with your pediatrician to see if they recommend something. If there's not anything to give her, I would fly instead.

 

[Ava]

My sister used to get car sick when she was young, and my mom would give her Dramamine. I don't know what dosage she gave, but it put my sister right to sleep.

 

[mitsybella]

My 4 yo gets travel sick, and we give her chewable dramamine, the box gives instructions for younger children, we drove to Disney last time from NJ and she did great, without it she would have been sick within 1 hour.

 

[mom of princessx2]

I always ( and sometimes still do) got car sick when I was young and we drove on every vacation. Most summers it was from Chicago area to TX. Just took Dramamine and would lay down most of the trip and never ever read.

 

[wshupnastar]

Me and my daughter (she's 12 now) have always gotten car sick. In fact, I even have to take Dramamine on a plane, so motion sickness is always an issue with us!

Anyway, the pediatrician recommended Sea Bands. You wear them on your wrists, and the push your pressure point, and, somehow they keep you from getting car sick. I am not a doc, so I have no idea why they work, but we drive from Indiana to Disney with no problems at all.

Of course, we also watch the sweets (they seem to make DD worse) and I usually pack Altoids (peppermint is great for an upset stomach) just in case, however, the bracelets have been all we have used for the past couple of trips.

You can find them anywhere. We bought ours years ago at CVS....they have been through the washer and everything and they still work.

 

[unionville]

My son and I rode across Alaska on a tour bus for over a week with our daily dose of dramamine. We wouldn't have survived without it!

 

[CathrynRose]

No.

Have you ever been car sick? It sucks. Its a miserable feeling.

So what if the dramamine doesnt work? Then your child is looking at hours of miserable-ness.

I dont know... I wouldnt do it.

 

[ktkerber]

My 10 year old DD gets the same type of car sickness. She only gets it in the morning. My daughter is allergic to the yellow food dye that is in the Dramimine for kids so my ped recommended that we give her Benedryl instead. She said that it is basically the same thing. We have been giving this to her since she was 3 and it has always worked. I usually only give her 1/2 the dosage recommended for her weight.

 

[kileybeth]

I have a few kiddos who are very prone to car sickness. We normally drive overnight to relieve them of some of the awake time. I can not ride in the back of a car myself. completely miserable is an understatement so I know first hand what the kids feel like.

Having said that, we just tried Bonine (commonly given for peole who get motion sickness, car or plane or cruises) and my kids were estatic! Neither of them were sick at all the entire 16 hour trip up to Maine in 12 passenger vans and then a week later, back again after some fevers/flu stuff while they were there.

Bonine is actrually a brand name. It is meclezine25 miligrams. It comes in adult and childrens versions (chewable cherry tablets.).

The kids had absolutely no side effects at all using this. The problem we have had with dramamine is they get headache, dry mouth, super sleepy and a few other symptoms from time to time.

So yeah, as a large family of 6, we often have to drive if we want to go. And we have to have kids "in the way back" as they say as we drive a van.

Give her a trial run before you take your trip and see how she does with it.

Oh and the two kids who are the worst sufferers, they even feel bad just riding to church on Sunday mornings for 1/2 hour- 45 minutes so pretty same scenario. We know all about the wipes and plastic grocery bags and such.

I second the no milk but do keep hydrated with sips of water, seems to help.

 

[Octoberbabiesrus]

I wouldnt. If the meds dont work, she's gonna be miserable and sick. No telling how often you'll have to stop to clean her or the car up.

 

[Va-bear]

No, I wouldnt. My older son gets bad car sickness. Meds help sometimes but not alaways. I always wanted to save money too - but when I thought about how miserable he'd be I would spend the extra to fly (and w/ watching for good deals and the saved time, it ended up being a smart decision otherwise, too). Good luck.

 

[bgbodnar]

Why not try Bonine or Dramamineit first at home with a few hour car trip? Then you would know if it would work or not.

 

[kileybeth]

yes, that is what I was suggesting, try it on a short trip.

Our drive to Disney can be made in under 15 hours but normally takes a good bit longer with stops and all. So it is no picnic but when you are multiplying airfare by 6 people it is often what you do. Our kids know we will get there and all will be well.

Now when we can fly we sure do but flights are not always great either, just shorter!

 

[dakuhn]

I got carsick all the time when I was little and still do, but now I know how to deal with it. We would never have been able to travel if I didn't just deal as a little one because we couldn't afford flights.
I found ways around it. Used dramamine, sucked on green grapes or sour pickles, put my hand out the window, put a cool cloth on my forehead, etc. Laying down also helped - for me being able to see out the window was a lot of the problem, so we tried to keep my focus within the car. I think that now I might use "get better pops" for kids or any other remedy used for nausea when I was pregnant (anti nausea pops). I've also used the pressure point bands that go around the wrist (I think you can get them in travel stores) and they really helped too. Cool air on my face also helped, so a small handheld fan would probably work.
BTW my 3 yo DD is showing signs of severe motion sickness too and we're planning to drive from Ohio to Disney in September. I'll definitely be taking my many remedies with me (especially since I have an illness which causes me to constantly feel like I'm going to be sick).

 

[SandrA9810]

If she's the only one that gets car sick easily. Let her ride in the front seat in the morning. If her chair can go in the front seat and you have a way to turn off any airbags. And when you leave in the morning, don't eat before leaving. Stop and get food on the road so it breaks up that first stretch maybe after an hour. So it's long enough to get some distance, not long enough for her to get sick, and when you start out again, she'll be more alert.

Thankfully I don't get car sick... very easily, because all family trips were in the car. My first plane flight wasn't till I was 16. But I've noticed when we visit Kari's parents in Georgia mountains, I start getting car sick from sitting in the back seat. Me and Kari always fight for who sits in the middle to see out the front window. But I'm perfectly fine driving/sitting in the front seat.

 

[dyna]

Dramamine worked for taking away DD's motion sickness but the other side effects was worse than the motion sickness for all of us. Turned her into another person who no one could get along with even herself lol Band director even told us he'd rather have DD puke all over the school bus than have the side effects of dramamine.

 

[cheesekate2005]

My DD 12 has been getting carsick since she was a few months old. She can get carsick in a trip of less thatn 1/2 hour! We used to always use Dramamine. The trick, we found, was to give it to her one hour before getting in the car. If we gave it to her once in the car, it had no effect. These days, she just doesn't eat in the car and that seems to work. Chewing gum helps too. We can drive from NY to Orlando and she will just have very very small amounts of food to eat and she is just fine (with no dramamine).

Good luck! I hope it works out for you. Have you thought about driving at night when she is sleeping?

 

[Lisa_M]

I wouldn't do it.