Ok, so we have been going to see my MIL who is terminally ill every other weekend for the last year and the past two times we went Ash has thrown up in the car. We are not even out of Durham which is 35-45 minutes from Clayton and he is sick. He doesn't get sick at any other time in the car, not coming down from VA, not coming back home from Greensboro, I don't get it.

Does anyone know of anything you can give toddlers that is safe for motion sickness?

Ash is almost 2-1/2 and 32+ lbs.

I am waiting to hear back from his peds dr, but they are not really receptive to giving him anything other than me holding off on feeding him an hour before we leave.

I don't mind, but when he and I go to SC for the weekend to see my folks it is 3 hours and I don't want to have to worry about cleaning up puke on the side of I-95 by myself (for safety reasons).

Any tips, thoughts, herbal or traditional would be helpful.

Thanks.

Just a thought....If this is only happening when you leave for this particular trip and never any other time....maybe it isn't car sickness at all...kids can express stress in many ways and if this trip is becoming stressful or getting off is stressful for the family or being there is bothering him in some way....he could be expressing himself by being sick physically (and not even knowing it). Just a thought to check out and make sure that nothing is stressing him right when you leave or when you go there and stay.

Myth Busters did a thing on this. They found ginger to work miracles and nothing else. The drugs just make you sleepy. I would ask the doctor about giving ginger to one so little. You can buy ginger root and juice it into some juice and there are ginger capsules. I don't know about dosing for one that small. I would likely juice a small amount into ome juice if I had a toddler with that problem, but I strongly suggest you run it by the doctor. Myth Busters episode on this was amazing. The two people who took ginger got horribly sick with anything else but not even nauseous when they took ginger an hour before! IT was convincing. I hope you find an answer.

Thanks. My advice nurse called back and the peds dr said that we could give him 1 tsp of children's benadryl once every six hours as needed.

This may make him sleepy, which would be ok for a 3 hour ride, also I found a website by Dr. Andrew Weil and he said ginger worked best.

He said to use ginger snaps, gingerale and powdered ginger (1/2 tsp) in a glass of water about 20 minutes prior to the ride.

I don't know if Ash will drink it, but I think I will try the Benadryl, the ginger and the ginger snaps just to be safe!

Breezy, you said it may be him being a little stressed too and I thought of that, but he always seems happy about going to see Nana & Papa.

We will see how it all turns out. I leave with him by myself to go to SC on the 28th.

Thanks ladies.

yeah, kids are smarter than we think....even though he loves his Nana and Papa, if Nana is terminally ill, he may be picking up on your feelings being expressed or may notice her sickness more than we ever realize, especially if he is so close to them! Good luck and many prayers!

It is a shame you can't see a doctor who is more sympathetic to your dilemma! DD used to suffer from horrible car sickness and my doctor told me to go and buy some Phenergen which you can purchase over the counter but to UNDERDOSE her as she was young (about the same age 2)

To me it wouldn't matter if you didn't feed him because he could still throw up bile and it still makes for an unpleasant trip for your child, along with all the other emotional distress you are suffering at the moment :cry:

Over here you can buy phenergen over the counter so I am not sure if you can in the US or not? But the benydril sounds great, or just the same.

She also said I can try and get her to eat a Travelcalm, but only quarter of a tablet because of her age/weight (this is also an OTC medication). It tastes chalky but not unpleasant, similar to a Rennie.

Other than that ginger products (ginger beer could work) like everyone else said. It's fanastic.

When I go on a plane I get airsick so I find that soda water helps to (just plain fizzy water, nothing else).

and also do you have one of those plastic stastic strips on the underside of the car? My BIL is a doctor and he told us to get one of those, although he wasn't quite sure why or how they work. We have a strip on the underside of our car and DD has never vomited in the car.

What plastic strip? That has peaked my interest.

I was intrigued with the static strips on the cars and so I looked it up
plastic strips (http://elektral.en.ec21.com/GC00974058/CA00996553/Anti-Static_Strip.html)
They look like they are coming out of the trunk of the car. I'm not sure where they are attached though. Supposed to help with car sickness.

Ours is located underneath the car, we bought the car off people who had 4 kids so I think that was the reason they installed the rubber strip.

I have NO IDEA of the correct name for them, it may be a static strip. In Australia they actually have them attached to shopping trolleys to stop people from getting electric zaps from the trolley, they are attached by wire with a rubber nobble on the end.

They do work, DD has never been carsick in that car !!! (no drugs, no nothing required, just one happy girl)

I am sure if you went into an auto shop and described what you wanted you would have no trouble getting hold of one, they are common.

Wow! I've never heard of a static strip before. Thanks for educating us! Hopefully we won't have a need for it...