11 replies to this topic

[Black.Ghost]

Ok, I know this isn't motoring in the strictest sense but still related.

 

Our two year old daughter gets travel sick on almost every journey we take, whether its 15-20 minutes to the supermarket, or two hours to my family. Always uncomfortable, and quite often we find ourselves cleaning up a lovely mess. I've had to strip the car seat down more times than I'd like frankly.

 

We currently have a Honda Civic Mk 8 (space ship looking one). It's a great car but she sits fairly low down in the back, and in all honesty I'm not sure how much she can see out the window or even how much effect this is having.

 

So having read up, it seems the travel sick is caused the brain getting mixed signals about motion from the inner ear and eyes, as well as nerves etc. Some quick searching suggests many people suggesting looking forward through the windscreen helps, but I don't think so - we had her in the front of the car for a short while and she still threw up a few times.

 

We were in Colombia around 18 months or so ago, and during that time she was travelling around in the mother-in-laws Toyota Land Cruiser. She wasn't sick once (she was there for nearly three months as well), despite the high temperature and non-opening rear windows. My wife also quite often feels sick in the back of most cars, but doesn't suffer from this in her mother's car.

 

I think we will take her to the Drs and see what they say, but I'd rather not rely on medication for every single trip if I can help it. Advice suggests stopping every time they start to feel sick, but that just isn't practical; it'd take us an hour to get just to the supermarket!

 

I don't really want to change the car, but it's on 183k miles, so it won't be the end of the world. I don't want to buy an SUV if I can help it, but if it turns out to be the only cure, then I'll do it. Interestingly, some people suggested they feel less sick with sports settings turned on (not necessarily in SUVs) to make the ride more bumpy rather than a nice smooth trip. I'd have thought it was the other way round, as the Honda is quite bumpy and crashy.

 

Any reference to 'people' generally means online forums so take it for what its worth!

 

Any thoughts appreciated, or links to actual science / studies surroundng this to try and understand better. Fortuantely, I never experrienced this much as a kid (or at least I don't remember it being the case), although I was playing in the boot of a giant Volvo most of the time when I was a kid.

 

 

[hhhh]

Could try ginger candies as a natural anti-nausea medicine.

[KTS]

..are the side windows lower in a land cruiser ? (..just wondering if it's a peripheral vision thing..)

 

it won't be much consolation to you, but my son did eventually grow out of his motion sickness by the age of about 10.  Any journey up until then meant the 'icky bowl' (..an old washing up bowl) travelling next to him on the back seat

[Black.Ghost]

The ginger could be worth a try.

 

As for the windows, you might have a point, in relation to where she sat. The other thing is that in the Honda, the rear seat seems slightly slanted backwards. When she throws up, a lot of it will end up around her neck and inside her top because of the angle. In the Toyota, the seat is flatter. I wonder if that has anything to do with it.

[Carlos W]

You can get pressure pads for wrists that are meant to help.

[Icey]

This is completely non-scientific but I have some suspicions about the causes travel sickness in cars.

I’ve noticed when travelling with people that say that other people who normally travel with them suffer that they, as the driver, never manage to hold an even speed. My brother is the most extreme example to the point even I was feeling it.

Next time you’re driving, keep an eye on your speed. Do you unintentionally increase and decrease you speed? It might not be much, just a few MPH.

My suspicion is that these gentle changes between accelerating and decelerating are a possible cause.

[Ethel]

Have you thought about tying her to the roof rack? If the fresh air & 'excitement' doesn't cure her, at least you can use a carwash to clean up.

[rich_959]

Is she any better sat in the front (in a proper child seat of course)? I have friends who have a son who can only sit in the front, or in the middle at the back. Something about being able to see forwards through the windscreen. They also found that by encouraging him to watch the road, he suffers no sickness. They get him to pretend he's driving. Reading or looking at an Ipad and that sort of thing is a no-go.

 

I assume it's something about marrying the motion of your body/inner ear to the movement of the car. The same kid is ok in the back of the my Landrover Discovery, so I assume it's something to do with being sat higher up, and having better vision. 

[M J W J]

This is completely non-scientific but I have some suspicions about the causes travel sickness in cars.

I’ve noticed when travelling with people that say that other people who normally travel with them suffer that they, as the driver, never manage to hold an even speed. My brother is the most extreme example to the point even I was feeling it.

Next time you’re driving, keep an eye on your speed. Do you unintentionally increase and decrease you speed? It might not be much, just a few MPH.

My suspicion is that these gentle changes between accelerating and decelerating are a possible cause.

Glad someone else said this as I didn't want to sound like a d***, but I think you might need to look at your driving style.

To the OP. You said when your mother in law was driving your daughter and wife seamed fine.

At a previous company I worked at we had a colleague over from the China office and the woman said I was a smooth driver and she didn't feel travel sick when I was driving. She hated being in my bosses car when he was driving (so did I).

I was surprised when she said it as I wouldn't exactly say I'm the smoothest of drivers nor the slowest, I was just driving as I normally do but compared to my boss I was a hell of a lot better. In the three weeks my colleague from China was here both my boss and I drove the same vehicles (company mitsubishi phev and Navara pickup) with her in it so I think the car being the issue can be ruled out.

If there were a number of us going out so had to take more than one car she always avoided our boss and had no issue coming with me in the 17 mazda with no air con that I had at the time (no doubtedly the worst car anyone in the company that anyone owned).

[jamesmpi]

As suggested above, you could try these sickness bands

https://www.amazon.c...0niL&ref=plSrch

[Shifty]

What about fitting the car seat to the middle of the rear seat, that way she  can see out of the front window.

[Black.Ghost]

Thanks for the thoughts all.

 

As for the idea of my driving style. My general driving is fairly smooth, I don't brake overly harshly and my gear changes are fairly smooth. However, I will stick my hand up and admit I don't tend to keep a constant speed - often because conditions dictate, and locally the roads as well. In more recent times, I have taken to using cruise control for this though, and it doesn't seem to make a huge difference. When the mother-in-law is driving, it's in Colombia. That's very stop start around town, the majority of the time there isn't enough movement to feel sick!

 

I have known plenty of people (one of whom is one of my best friends) who are sick at the back or middle of a bus but ok at the front, which does suggest being able to see the way ahead helps. However, when we had her in the front, she was still sick a few times (although not every time, but she's not sick everytime in the back either).

 

We came down to London on Friday night and she was asleep for 90% which was good, although she was screaming towards the end (not convinved it was travel sick though!).

 

I'll keep going and trying different things, including my driving style and see what happens. I might even try her in the middle seat, although from a safety point of view, not a massive fan of that idea.

 

I think we will hire an SUV, or maybe a van at some point and see how that goes as a test. Thanks for thoughts / ideas though, keep them coming!