How to combat travel sickness in kids

The world’s your oyster, but holidays take a downturn if children suffer from travel sickness. Settling advice from Dr Howard Lee.

Sadly, even a trip to see Grandma ten miles away, can be a test of endurance, when travel sickness affects the youngest members of the family. Apart from car journeys – trains, planes and even fairground rides can send children lunging for the sick bag.

Travel sickness is caused by repetitive movements that affect the balance mechanism in the inner ear. It’s thought to occur when what the body senses happening, differs from what the eyes can see happening. Signals from the middle ear tell the brain the body is being moved around, but the eyes say the body is stationary.

Journeys through winding country lanes can be a disaster. Boats are a particular problem, with all the repetitive pitching, rolling or up and down motions. Although aircraft are relatively stable, anxiety can play a part and make children air sick because of worries about a previous attack.

What can be done to help?

  • Plenty of fresh air helps, so keep the car windows open a little
  • Avoid heavy meals, particularly meals with a high fat content, before and during travel
  • Sit children facing forward or backwards in the vehicle; on a ship the centre of the vessel is the best place
  • Get them to focus on distant objects to avoid the mismatch of signals between eyes and the middle ear
  • Avoid reading or focussing on near objects.
Small children may need a ‘booster’ cushion to raise their height – so that they can look forward through the windscreen and focus on distant objects. They’ll be better in the front seat of a car, but do remember all the legal requirements. Playing games also helps to distract children, and things like counting the number of red cars ensures they look at distant objects.

Safe medication
The most effective drugs are those that contain Hyoscine (Kwells is a common variety, with a Junior version, Joy Rides, for the over 3-year olds) Use them before the journey begins. Once an attack starts, they’re of little use. All you need at that stage are wipes and towels to do the mopping up, and a sip of water to clear the taste away.

More information about travelling with children