Turning two year old around

Caroline162 · Jul 8, 2012

I have a 2.5 year old who is not quite 30lbs and in a True Fit. I had planned on keeping him RF for a while longer, because he had so much room and fit beautifully RFing. But he gets car sick - bad. He is a barfer anyway and throws up from coughing too hard, being upset, etc. Even very short car rides he would be all sweaty and drooly and miserable. So I turned him around recently to see if it helped, and sure enough - no more car sickness when he's forward facing. We're taking a road trip (about 10 hours) to the beach next week. I'm so conflicted about which way to face him...

Anyone dealt with this? WWYD?

BeautifulChaos · Jul 8, 2012

A trip that long I would definitely want to RF if at all possible (however if he's gonna throw up the whole way it isn't really feasible). Motion sickness is caused when our bodies become confused about whether or not we are moving. Seeing scenery flash by, but feeling our bodies "stationary" in a carseat is a major aggravater. I might try moving him to the center if he is outboard, and giving him some dark glasses to see if that helps. If not, I would FF him

Caroline162 · Jul 8, 2012

BeautifulChaos said:
A trip that long I would definitely want to RF if at all possible (however if he's gonna throw up the whole way it isn't really feasible). Motion sickness is caused when our bodies become confused about whether or not we are moving. Seeing scenery flash by, but feeling our bodies "stationary" in a carseat is a major aggravater. I might try moving him to the center if he is outboard, and giving him some dark glasses to see if that helps. If not, I would FF him

We don't have a center seat where he is - it's an Expedition with captain's seats in the middle row where he is (I guess I could move him to the third row and put one of the big kids in the middle... but I'm not sure that would work, that middle back seat seems teeny). It is darker in the 3rd row with smaller windows - you think it would be better in one of the side seats back there? I always thought it would be the opposite and the windows would help... Maybe I'll try that out this week? Hmmm

bree · Jul 8, 2012

One suggestion that I've seen is that if you have room in your vehicle and a spare seat, you could have one seat installed rear-facing and another forward-facing. You could try RF as long as possible during the trip. If the car sickness kicks in, move him to the FF seat and just try to RF when possible.

I know you have likely tried things like changing the angle of the True Fit when RF, trying outboard versus center and vice versa, ginger, Sea Bands, having windows cracked open, a different seat if you happen to own a spare, angling vents toward the kiddo, and all the other motion sickness suggestions, but I thought I'd mention some just in case. Often there are things that can be done to combat the motion sickness to allow young kids to rear-face longer.

I dealt with the issue, but my son was about 3 years & 11 months old by the time his motion sickness became a big problem. I was okay with FF him at that point, but I know it must be a more difficult choice with a 2.5 year old. Have a fun and safe trip, and I hope that maybe something can work to help keep him RF as long as you planned!

careynj · Jul 8, 2012

If you have room, the double seats is a good idea. That's the set up in my brother's van. My niece has a RFing RXT and a FFing Ma65.

Turning two year old around

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