If you suffer from motion sickness, you know how horrible it can be. I’ve had to endure motion sickness since I was a kid and I remember how terrible it was to travel in cars and take ferry rides. If your child suffers from motion sickness, knowing all of the motion sickness remedies is key to making traveling easier. It will save your child the nauseating experience and it will save you from possibly having to clean up vomit in your car. It’s a win-win for everyone!
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To make traveling with your children more enjoyable for everyone, here’s what you need to know about motion sickness.
What is Motion Sickness?
Motion sickness is nausea caused by motion, and usually occurs during travel in cars, trains, airplanes and especially in boats. Anyone can be susceptible to motion sickness, but it’s quite common in kids, and that’s why finding motion sickness relief for children is so important.
Peak motion sickness usually occurs in kids under the age of 12 and symptoms of motion sickness include nausea, sweating, headaches, queasiness and vomiting.
What Causes Motion Sickness?
Before digging into what causes motion sickness, it’s important to understand how the brain works. Your brain senses movement by getting signals from inside your ears, your eyes, your muscles and your joints. Motion sickness happens when the signals don’t match up.
Have you ever noticed you start feeling queasy while you read in a car? That’s because your eyes are focused on reading a book that’s not moving, but the inside of your ears sense motion. Looking out into the distance can help match up the signals, as can sitting in the front seat of a car, forward seat of a train, or upper deck of a bus.
5 Tips to Prevent Motion Sickness
1. Eat bland foods while traveling
Skip greasy, rich fast foods when you’re traveling. Although it may be convenient to stop off at McDonald’s on the way to your destination, these types of meals are likely to cause an upset stomach.
If it’s a short trip, you should skip food in the car entirely, but if it’s a longer trip or your child is hungry, stick to bland foods like crackers, bread or bananas. Also, make sure they eat a light snack before travel as traveling on an empty stomach can make nausea worse.
2. Don’t read or play games while traveling
Instead of getting your motion sick child to read or play a game on the iPad to pass the time in the car, encourage them to look at things outside the car. Otherwise their brain is going to get conflicting signals and the end result won’t be good.
3. Travel during nap time
If your child is asleep, they won’t notice any motion sickness. If possible, travel during their nap time to eliminate nausea and queasiness.
4. Give them a kid’s nausea medicine
A good nausea medicine for kids is Children’s Dramamine. It’s formulated for kids from age 2 to 12 and prevents nausea, queasiness, dizziness and vomiting. It works best when taken an hour before travel, so remember to give it to your child prior to leaving on your trip.
5. Seat position matters
Make sure your child is in prime position to not get sick when traveling. Make sure they are always forward-sitting and are high enough so they can see out the windows. If you’re on a boat, go to the highest deck and look out to the distance. In an airplane, get them a window seat and try to get a seat over the front edge of the wing, where the degree of motion is the lowest.
4 Essential Oils for Car Sickness
If you want to use essential oils for car sickness, there are a few ways you can use them. Please note that these are only suggestions and you should always check the correct dilution formulation and types of essential oils that are okay for children of different ages. Here are two ways to use essential oils when your child is experiencing motion sickness.
1. Add it to a gentle carrier oil like coconut oil or jojoba oil and rub on the back of your kid’s neck or the bottom of their feet
2. Add it to a compress and place it over their head
Here are the best essential oils for car sickness:
1. Peppermint
Peppermint is known for its ability to ease nausea and settle queasiness. It decreases nausea, vomiting and motion sickness due to its antiemetic and antispasmodic effects.
2. Lavender
Lavender is loved for its relaxation properties. It helps your mind decompress, which can be effective in fighting nausea.
3. Chamomile
Chamomile is used to treat numerous gastrointestinal disturbances such as nausea, vomiting and motion sickness. It helps get rid of nausea by dispelling gas and soothing the stomach.
4. Ginger
Many people swear by ginger essential oil as a remedy for motion sickness and nausea. Just like the ginger candies, ginger essential oil can be a huge relief.
3 Motion Sickness Remedies for Kids
1. Eat ginger candies
Ginger is known to help with nausea, and there are a few options for ginger candies you can give to your kids to help fight motion sickness. You can also try gingersnap cookies and ginger ale to help ease the nausea.
2. Increase air ventilation
Proper air ventilation can go along way when it comes to eliminating motion sickness. If you’re in charge of the air ventilation (like when you’re in your car), make sure there’s adequate air and that it’s not too hot.
3. Get out of the car to walk around
If other remedies aren’t working and your child still feels sick, stop at the next pit stop so they can get out of the car and walk around. This will help them regain control of their senses and help them feel better.
Motion sickness is never fun. But luckily with these remedies, you can help your child through it and travel easier!
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