Motion sickness is common in almost 70-80% of kids and is likely to exist upto the age of 12 or so. Here are some easy to do remedies which are easily available at home whenever we are travelling with little ones.
How to deal with it?
There are many easy to do remedies which we can do to prevent motion sickness in kids and infants. Mostly they apply to adults also.
1- Lemon
Lemon is a must have if you have to do deal with motion sickness while travelling.
How to use it?
- Carry few whole lemons with you.
- Carry 1 sliced lemon also.
- Either you can keep smelling the lemons or suck the sliced pieces whenever you feel nausea.
How it helps?
The citrus smell of the lemons helps to subside the feeling of nausea. Stomach acids are neutralized by the citrus acid found in lemon and hence the feeling of nausea is alleviated with the help of lemons.
2- Ginger
Ginger’s use during motion sickness is widely trusted and applied. One can either opt for ginger oil or ginger slices.
How to use it?
- In case you can chew on the ginger slices, do it whenever you feel motion sickness.
For kids
- As they cannot chew ginger slices, use of ginger oil is recommended.
- Carry a piece of cloth or a handkerchief.
- Put 2 drops of ginger oil at one spot and make kids inhale it whenever they feel nauseous.
How it helps?
The strong and intense smell of ginger relieves the feelings of nausea almost instantly.
Side Effects
If you are planning to chew on ginger you definitely should be aware of its side effects as well. Some mild side effects include heartburn, diarrhoea or few other stomach problems depending on your body.
I have read somewhere that ginger is not advisable for pregnant women. As an anzyme called as thromboxane synthetase which is present in ginger, may affect the sex steroid differentiation in the fetal brain.
3- Pickle Juice
The pickle juice is one another boon for motion sickness which is easily available at home.
How to use it?
- Just sip few drops or 1 spoon of pickle juice whenever nausea crops up.
How it helps?
The electrolytes present in this juice, alleviates stomach acids and the feelig of nausea almost immediately.
4- Cardamom
Cardamom can be proved to be another helpful substance when you feel nauseated. It helps even in morning sickness of pregnant moms.
How to use it?
- Just open and keep few seeds of cardamom on your tongue and SLOWLY keep chewing it and sipping its juice. (Remember Slowly and not at once)
How it helps?
Cardamom has been a vital part of Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine. Of its many properties it helps calm down and suppress the nausea and urge to vomit.
In case of pregnant women not only does it helps with morning sickness, it is also observed that when cardamom is taken in pregnancy, the children born have enhanced memory, learning and excellent grasping skills.
5- Curb food intake
The best way in most cases especially when none of the above mentioned things are available, avoid stuffing your’s or your toddler’s stomach. This worked with my toddler when I was not aware of these home remedies. I f I do not feed him while in car or when about to board the car for long journeys, he used to be fine. And the moment he was fed while travelling he used to throw up right there.
How to do?
These points will definitely help:
- There should be at least half an hour to 1 hour time gap between the feeding of your baby and the start of your journey.
- Definitely avoid feeding while travelling in car.
- In case you need to feed, take a pitstop, feed. Relax. Give your little one some time to digest.
- Make sure baby burps.
- Give some time even after that.
- And then also drive slowly for a while.
How it helps?
Our stomach needs some time to digest the food we eat. A burp usually ensures that the food has now well settled in stomach especially in case of infants and kids. If the burping has not been done, they are mostly sure to throw up.
But sometimes even after burping we may wind up cleaning undigested food from our car’s seats.
6- Distraction
It normally does not affect much if the kids are asleep. But if the babies or kids are awake, they are most likely to experience nausea.
How to do?
Another best remedy to use if your kids wants to be awake is engage them in some activity/game. Prefer word games, singing songs or extempores sort of games. Sometimes a deep discussion while travelling also helps to take their mind away from nausea.
Another game kids like is to have a checklist of things with them; which they might see outside travelling. And the kid who finishes all from his/her checklist first wins the game. (you can include things like barn, a bird, a cow, wheat fields, hay stock, tumbleweed etc)
Avoid games in which they may require to write or bend down that increases the nausea.
7- Sitting position
Especially when travelling in a bus or train, always avoid sitting in the opposite direction. Sitting in the opposite direction may aggravate the liquids in our stomach more and cause nausea even more.
How to do?
Always sit facing the direction in which you are travelling.
How it helps?
It helps to keep our liquids inside our stomach in place and avoid any unnecessary exertion and stress within our body.
8- Avoiding any screens/reading
Basically we should avoid bending the spine. We should keep it as straight as possible to avoid nausea.
Encourage children to look outside the car and avoid giving them movies or books or games.
9- Sitting in moving direction
This can be done while travelling in a train or a bus. Avoid sitting i the opposite direction of the motion. Face the road. And avoid rear sats. Swap your seats for the front seats. It helps to keep nausea at bay.
10- Air ventilation
Make sure you and little one are getting enough fresh air. Sometimes the trapped air inside the car may also trigger nausea.
Keep circulating fresh air once a while.
11- Eyeing the horizon
This is difficult in case of children, but can be practiced for adults. It is advised to keep staring on the horizon.
How it works?
This practice works because you would be observing something stationary. So basically you are giving a false picture to your brain that you are not moving and you are sitting ideally only.
12- Pressure points
List down the acupressure points for motion sickness. They helped me personally many times.
Nowadays you may find acupressure magnetic bands also which apply pressure on the pressure points and helps in motion sickness.
13- Essential Oils
Pick your favorite essential oil while travelling from this list given below. The following helps to curb feelings of nausea.
- Lavender Oil
- Ginger Oil
- Peppermint Oil
- Spearmint Oil
- Fennel Oil
- Cardamom Oil
How it works?
They help soothe our senses and calm the body and mind and hence helps alleviate nausea and motion sickness.
14- Medication
If nothing works, you can get some over the counter medicines for nausea or a consultation with your physician is advisable.
Here, in India, my doctor had advised me Domstal syrup for my 3 yr old. Along with keeping his stomach a little empty while travelling, this syrup helped me for a 3 hour bus ride with my son.
But still in the end I would say, make sure you are carrying the following to deal with motion sickness.
- Throw up bag
- Wipes
- Tissues Rolls
- May be few old cloth pieces/ towels
- Small garbage bags
