Even though it's gross to talk about, if anything I've learned or picked up on the internet and can pass along here can spare one kid the misery of car sickness and spare adults the chore of cleaning up, then that's a good thing as Martha Stewart would say.
It's sometimes called "motion sickness" but that really doesn't tell the whole story. In most cases, it's not just motion that's the problem. The problem with backseat car travel and kids seems to be a disconnect between what the eyes are seeing and the inner ear is balancing with the result confusing the brain until car sickness is the result.
When you ride in the backseat, your view of the road is through the side backseat passenger windows unless you really want to get a sore neck trying to see around the adults in the front seat in order to look out the front window. Most kids are going to look out that side window.
The world whizzes by in a blur and your eyes are sending funny signals to your brain. The brain can't compensate fast enough because your inner ear (the Balance Center of your universe) is telling your brain its own story as in, "Hey! This car is moving, this body is moving and I have to adjust for it to stay balanced but what the heck, Brain, you're telling me the Eyes are seeing one thing when I'm actually feeling something quite different!"
Somewhere in this conversation, The Stomach pipes up, "Okay, you guys did it to me again and now I'm gonna PUKE!" And uuuuuurrrrpp, there she blows.
Kids who are sensitive to this sort of thing would be greatly helped by being allowed to ride in the front seat so their eyes are only seeing out the front window and if the front seat is not attainable, allow them to sit in the middle of the back seat and encourage them to look out the front window and avoid looking out those side windows. To keep their eyes front and center, make up games that can only be played by looking through the FRONT window at the distance ahead. What's seen out the side windows does not count.
Letting them sleep is also another possibly helpful idea because that shuts down the eye-brain-inner ear conflict. If you have more than one child in the car, this may not be possible. Also, their chin should not be allowed to slump down onto their neck as their head drops forward. If this happens, wake them up and/or tilt them over against an arm rest or an adjacent sibling. The head dropping and chin coming forward thing can restrict the intake of oxygen which can produce feelings of nausea almost immediately upon awakening and it may take some time to get over that sensation.
If you plan on car rides that last for more than an hour, build bathroom break time (i.e., activity and moving around time) into the trip even if nobody has to go to the potty. Make them go, anyway. Yes, that's what I said. Everybody has to take a turn at least trying to go. You'd be surprised how many really do have to go but just don't want to admit it. Mandated bathroom breaks on long car rides relieves kids of any embarrassment of having to ask for a break. Surprising how that works miracles.
We all dread those windy mountain roads when kids are in the back seat but did you know that altitude has as much to do with the problem as the winding turns? Lots of people unaccustomed to higher altitudes (and it can even be a difference as small as sea level to 3,000 feet) can feel a bit queasy as the car keeps climbing.
Even after the car's stopped, all your gear is unpacked, you're safely in your motel room or campsite... you or the kids can still get the urpies at the higher altitude and it's caused many times by dehydration. If one or more of your group starts with the vague complaints of headaches or upset tummies or "flu-like" feelings when you are in a high altitude zone, make sure that person has a glass of water and does not get too physically active for a while. When you are at altitudes higher than you're used to, remember to drink water at least every hour. Even at snow camp. Yep, even then.
Even though kids in a backseat are supposed to not look out a side window, I did find that being next to a window and letting my face get hit with a constant blast of fresh air did wonders to combat car sickness. I sure couldn't see out the front window if I was sitting behind my Mom in the front passenger seat but the air felt good. So you have to figure out what will help the most.
The old original chalky-white awful tasting Rolaids also did miraculous wonders to save me from the brink of barfing so many times I can't even remember how many times. Chewing Doublemint gum also helped, but not any other flavor. I think the act of chewing gum also did something to help relieve the inner ear problem.
My Grandma used to give me a peppermint (the round pink ones, not the white ones) for upset tummies and though they did relieve very mild nausea they would not have stopped a full-blown onset of barfarama if that was imminent. Rolaids could have, though. Stopped it dead in its tracks every time.
When I had to go whale-watching and knew I couldn't take Dramamine because it would put me to sleep on the boat, my Mom told me I could avoid sea-sickness by constantly eating while on the boat, even if it was only oranges and crackers. Sounds weird, huh? You eat to avoid getting seasick. You know what's even weirder? It worked! Some of my classmates were practically gagging and saying, "How can you eat???" but hey, it worked for me.
Years after that whale-watching trip, an R.N. told me that an empty stomach can actually cause nausea. I take care of my bedridden mother and she was complaining of an upset tummy one day when the nurse was there and I said I was afraid for my Mom to eat and the nurse suggested I give her something mild, but just something. She said the empty stomach was "more aware of itself" if that makes sense to you.
Breathing and air seemed to be great nausea-relievers and you're like, "D'oh. Of course you need to breathe." But, I'm talking about the slow drainage of fresh air from the back of a vehicle that the adults never notice and a lot of kids are unaware is part of the problem they are having. A window needs to be open somewhere. Even in cold weather. It's not enough for the front dashboard to have the fans on, kids in the back seat never get the full benefit of that but you should probably have the air conditioning on if it's very hot outside. The problem with using the air conditioning is that it uses up your gas faster and your car will overheat if you are going up an incline. So, you can't really use it then. Plus, it takes an awfully long time for kids in the backseat to feel ANYTHING from that air conditioner.
And NO SMOKING when kids are in the car! If you need that cigarette, pull over and take a cigarette break outside the car while the kids get out and stretch their legs.
Plain club soda is a good nausea reliever. I was a waitress for a while and many times adults and kids would have a tummy upset while the rest of their hungry group would order food (and they couldn't). I'd bring them a glass of club soda and some saltine crackers and they always felt better afterwards.
Speaking of crackers, plain unsalted matzo crackers are fantastic for upset tummies but there's a trick to it. They come in a box and one large matzo cracker looks like a huge king-sized saltine cracker (but without the salt). The trick is to take the teeniest tiniest nibble you can possibly bite with your two front teeth and chew it as slowly as you possibly can and let it just absorb into your mouth rather than swallowing a chunk of food and then take your next teeny tiny nibble and repeat. Again and again and concentrate on the act of nibbling then absorbing then slowly letting each morsel just melt.
The concentration involved takes your mind (or your child's mind) off the focus on the upset tummy and by the time the entire huge cracker is absorbed, the nausea is usually gone or greatly relieved. I suspect this will not work with regular saltines since part of the magic here involves the blandness of the matzo.
There are now acupressure wristlets or bracelets that can be worn to relieve motion sickness and reports are good on their success rate. There are numerous brands and companies involved in the manufacture and sale of these items and even though I am not advocating one over another, I will give you a short list of some places where you can find them online (and there's lots more):
Biobands
Travel-Eze Bands
Sea Band Motion Sickness Wrist Bands For Kids
Psi Bands® Drug-Free Wrist Bands for the Relief of Nausea
NO-QWEEZ™ Motion Sickness Wrist Bands
These motion sickness acupressure bands are also reported effective for pregnancy-caused nausea and the nausea you might feel after having anaesthesia for surgery.
Avoid having your child be involved in any activity while inside a car that makes the child have to look downward in their lap (such as reading or playing handheld games or watching a small DVD player). Do not keep your child's focus INSIDE the car and all of those things I just mentioned will do exactly that. Play "I Spy" games or the alphabet game or any other game that brings your child's attention to the world outside that FRONT dashboard window.
As much as possible, help your child's brain orient to the OUTSIDE. Fresh air blasting in, eyes out the front, chatter about what you'll be doing once the car stops... anything to relieve the feeling of being stuck in a car. And remember... lots of pit stops and activity breaks.
Okay, so I have to tell at least one barfing horror story. When I was a Girl Scout Troop Leader, I allowed my carload of girls to have something to drink just before getting into the car and yes, with the assumption that we would not be driving straight home, that there would be at least one potty stop along the way.
The girls fell alseep, every one of them and I thought, hey it's lonely but this is fantastic because I'll just get them home sooner (unless someone woke up and that would mean the potty break).
We did get back to our own neighborhood after about a 90-minute drive and I gently woke up each girl as we pulled up in front of her house, making sure she got inside okay. The girls were considerate enough to not wake each other up as each one left so each girl was sleeping almost right up to her own doorstep.
Then I pull up before the last girl's house whose Mom was one of my best friends. I gently woke this girl up who'd been sleeping completely bent forward and leaned over for the entire ride (yes, her seat belt was on the whole time).
As we walked up to her front door she mumbled, "I don't feel so good..." and the very moment her Mom opened the front door, she barfed all over her Mom, the front door, the porch, and her Mom was screaming, "Get her to the bushes!" and I was tugging this poor little thing over to her Mom's plants to let her finish the job right there in her own front yard.
It seems the slight carbonation in the fizzy drink she had before getting in my car had nowhere to go once she fell asleep leaning forward and compressing her stomach. So, the very moment she was upright again, that carbonation had just been waiting for its opportunity to set itself free... all over Mom's rose bushes.
And before she actually made it inside her house, she said to her Mom, "Don't worry, I don't feel sick. I'm fine." It was just the compressed carbonation but I never dreamed of that scenario and it just didn't sink into my brain it was going to be a problem for that child.
So, I guess there are certain foods and drinks that are not good for travel or just before we go on the road. And the tummy should not be squished in and the child must be in a normal relaxed posture and not all the way bent over at an awkward angle. Live and learn.
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