Readers offer advice for dealing with motion sickness

September 26th, 2010

DEAR DR. GOTT: Please tell your reader about Sea Bands. They really work. My local doctors are even giving them to chemo patients, pregnant women suffering from morning sickness and patients suffering from postoperative sickness.

DEAR DR. GOTT: I guess you don’t have motion sickness. In my opinion, the worst thing you could have a kid do is look out the side window of the car. Watching the trees and things flash by would always set me off as a child, whereas looking out the windshield was fine. The best thing that helped me was having the window down and the air blowing directly on my face. Even now, if I become queasy in an airplane, adjusting the vent to blow onto my face takes care of it.

DEAR DR. GOTT: Your suggestions for the carsick child are a bit off. Looking out the side window will make the child sicker. Take it from someone who knows. A better suggestion would be to have the child ride in the middle of the back seat, where he or she can look straight ahead or up at the sky. A cool vent blowing on the child will also help. What helps me and my son the most (as we both suffer from this) is quiet music in the background with no talking. It often puts my son to sleep. We have also had success with using baby Vicks under the nose, a little swig of ginger ale before or during the ride and soda crackers, as well. Stimulation is not good, in my opinion, so the car should be kept quieter with a source of fresh air. Driving at night also reduces the amount of visual stimulation, reducing the sensation.

DEAR DR. GOTT: My daughter had the same thing as the carsick toddler. We realized early on that as long as she had carbs in her stomach, she was fine. If her stomach was empty, she would throw up everywhere. It seems counterintuitive, but it worked for us. We found that a few crackers before and during the ride worked best.

DEAR DR. GOTT: No, no, no, no! I suffered from motion sickness from the time I was a small child until a friend told me to keep my eyes on the horizon while traveling. Do NOT look out the side windows, but keep focused on something steady ahead of you. I would get terribly ill while waiting in a car at a railroad crossing if I watched a long freight go by.

I realize getting a small child to look straight ahead all the time may be difficult, but it will help. It is the reason I never got sick while driving myself and rarely if I rode in the front seat, where you tend to look ahead rather than out the side windows. Also, stop often and let the child get his “land legs” back.

I enjoy your column and have tried many of your suggestions, but this time, I must disagree based on my personal experience.

DEAR READERS: Clearly, I missed the mark on this one. As one reader pointed out, I have never had this problem. I apologize.

I have chosen to print several of the letters I received because they share themes. I have no experience with Sea Bands. Upon investigation, I found that these are simply elastic bands with a button that work on an acupressure point on the inner wrist.

Thank you all for writing. I hope your suggestions help others who suffer from motion sickness.