It is not uncommon for an infant to be rocked in a car, and many parents face it. About 50% of young travelers aged about 2-12 years do not tolerate travel in a car or other form of transport very well. All parents need to know what makes their child feel sick in the car and how to help them move easier.
Baby sleeps in the car with a headscarf
If a child is often motion sick in a car, parents must know what to do with nausea to relieve symptoms and help the baby.
Main reasons
Motion sickness occurs due to conflicting, inconsistent information signals that are sent from the organs of vision and the vestibular apparatus to the brain. During a car ride, the visual organ sends a signal to the brain that the body is moving. The vestibular apparatus gives completely different information that the body remains in place and does not move. As a result, a certain malfunction occurs in the body, which provokes the appearance of nausea and vomiting.
Also, a predisposition to motion sickness in a car or other vehicle can be inherited.
Note! It is very rare for infants under one year old to feel sick in a car. There is a simple explanation for this - their vestibular apparatus is not yet fully formed, and the received information signals from it and the organ of vision do not contradict each other, as a result, do not cause nausea.
A child in a car looks out the window
Symptoms of motion sickness how to diagnose
It is very easy to understand that a child is seasick on the road. Most children have the same symptoms:
- Weakness throughout the body, drowsiness;
- Pallor of the skin and perspiration on the forehead;
- Dizziness and nausea;
- The child is vomiting;
- Saliva begins to stand out strongly;
- Worsening headache;
- Numbness and cooling of hands and feet may occur.
After a while, nausea appears, and then vomiting. After vomiting, the child does not feel better, he is still dizzy and sick. The kid may even lose consciousness.
Note! In children about 1 year old, the body often responds to motion sickness with sleep.
The child has bouts of nausea
How to help a baby under one year old
If the baby is seasick, you need to remove excess clothes from him or unfasten the fasteners. Be sure to open the window. Give the baby still drinking water. Provide fresh air. Try to lay it horizontally, put a damp cloth on your forehead. Sleep will also help to move the road. If the baby failed to fall asleep, you need to distract and entertain him. In the car, position the child seat so that the child can see the road through the windshield. Don't let him look through the side windows. The rapid flashing of landscape elements can provoke a deterioration in the condition, this is characteristic of any transport.
Additional Information. You can't go on a journey with an empty stomach, but you shouldn't overfeed your child before the trip. The last moderate meal should be 1.5-2 hours before the start of the trip. Also, do not allow the baby to eat on the way. Citrus fruits and acidified non-carbonated drinking water can be helpful.
Baby with mom
The child is rocked in the car what to do? During the trip, it is necessary to invite the baby to get distracted, for example, sleep, play quiet games, talk to him, give him a new toy that should be bought in advance. When traveling, the infant should always sit facing forward and look into the distance. So he will not only feel the movement, but also see it.
It is better to plan a long trip closer to the night, so the child will sleep most of the distance. If this is not possible, then it is better to make stops every hour and get out of the car for 10-15 minutes so that the baby can breathe fresh air. To reduce the intensity of attacks of nausea and dizziness, a damp cold towel, which should be applied to the forehead, will help. While driving, the baby can be offered to drink cool lemon or mint tea, eat a sour apple or a slice of orange.
Important! Medicines will help to avoid motion sickness, but before giving them to a child, you should definitely consult a doctor, since some drugs have age-related contraindications.
Child in a car seat
First aid for a child with motion sickness
If the child is sick in the car, what should parents do:
- Stop the car and take the child out into the street;
- If the baby has vomited, wash, wipe his face with a damp cloth, give acidified water to drink;
- Take a walk in the fresh air, calm the child;
- Eliminate strong odor in the car;
- Place the baby on the seat so that he is comfortable. He should sit in the direction of travel, the car seat should be in one of 3 positions: sitting, reclining, lying with his head slightly thrown back;
- Provide access to cool fresh air while driving;
- Occupy the child. Play with him, read fairy tales, sing a song, watch a cartoon;
- Ask him to close his eyes - perhaps he will fall asleep;
- Give the baby a piece of lemon to suck;
- The main thing is to stay calm.
During an attack of nausea, the child should be distracted with a toy.
How to train the vestibular apparatus
Insufficient training of the vestibular apparatus is to blame for motion sickness. To completely get rid of kinetosis, you should perform special exercises with a crumb every day.
A child can often, but not for long, be transported in a car or in public transport, play blind man's buffs with him, ride a bicycle, exercise on a fitball - all this will help train the child's body.
Note! Parents need to train the baby's vestibular apparatus from birth. To do this, you can swing the child on a fitball, swing on hands, turn over on a flat surface, circle in the air, ride on merry-go-rounds and swings, write to the pool for swimming.
Exercises for the little ones
Turns
Fix the feet with your toes. Mom needs to put her index finger in the baby's palm. Make a turn of the body by the legs, the mother's hand will help to keep up with the shoulders during such turns. Turn the baby to one side and the other in turn. At the same time, the second handle of the crumbs should move freely.
Note! The exercise can be performed from the first days of life.
Turns on level ground
Put the child on the back and turn, holding one leg. When turning on the tummy, pull the legs down a little. When turning onto your back, lift up. Throughout the day, you can do this exercise several times while changing clothes.
Fitball exercises
Put the baby on his tummy or back and swing the ball back and forth, left to right. If these exercises do not cause dissatisfaction, you can still rotate the baby on the ball. Such exercises perfectly train the vestibular apparatus of the crumbs.
Wiggle
Lay the baby on your knees with your stomach down and shake it slightly. A floating effect will occur and the baby reflexively tries to straighten its back.
Rotation on the shoulder
Put the child on his shoulder and twist. At the same time, the baby will try to hold the head. If the baby lies on his shoulder on his side, then the lateral cervical muscles will be trained.
Exercises for training the vestibular apparatus
Folk remedies for motion sickness
Such folk remedies will help with motion sickness:
- Mint infusion with lemon juice. Chop fresh mint. 3 tbsp. pour spoons with a liter of boiling water and leave for 15-20 minutes. Add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of lemon juice. Such a remedy will well quench your thirst and eliminate the symptoms of motion sickness.
- Green tea leaves. Give your child some leaves to chew on. This remedy will have a tonic effect on the body and will help if the baby is sick.
- Honey with mint. Take 2 tbsp. tablespoons of honey, add 2 drops of mint oil. Let the crumbs slowly dissolve the resulting mixture, washing it down with small sips of still drinking water.
- Oat milk and spinach juice. Insist 1 tbsp. a spoonful of oats in 1 glass of hot water for 30 minutes. Strain the resulting infusion. Squeeze the juice from several leaves of fresh spinach into a separate cup. Combine liquids. Give your baby a quarter cup of this mixture twice a day for several days prior to travel.
- Ginger root. With motion sickness, you need to give the child a small piece to chew. You can also buy crushed ginger capsules at the pharmacy and give your child the contents of one piece 30 minutes before the trip.
Going on a long journey with a baby, you need to be prepared for the fact that the baby in the car can get very sick. Why on any trip it is necessary to take with you several plastic bags, a pack of dry and wet wipes, still drinking water, change of clothes.
