ERF and carsick? What do they do in Sweden?

soygurl

Active member
I was on another board promoting ERF and came across one lady who was extremely car sick as a young child and said that she would never have wanted to ride anywhere backwards and wouldn't want to do that to her kids.
That got me thinking, what do people in Sweden do if they have a kid who gets carsick? Would they turn them early? How early? Would the kid then go right into a BPB like most kids do after RF there?
I doubt anybody know what they actually do in Sweden (unless maybe one of our posters from Norway has an idea??), but does anyone want to speculate with me?

(This whole thing came up while discusing what would happen if a federal law was passed requiring RF to 35 lbs)
 
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mimieliza

New member
Well, I think kids don't tend to get carsick until they are a little older (say, past 18-24 months). Serious carsickness is one reason I would turn my DD around. Flame away, but as someone who gets carsick, I wouldn't inflict that on her. I just hope I don't have to make that decision before she's at least 2 and 30 lbs, because it would be really difficult.
 

groovymom2000

New member
Interestingly, I, too was seriously carsick as a child, but so far, my DS(6 years old) never started developing it until this past year. My youngest has yet to show signs of it as well. I believe(totally undocumented theory) that we actually are training their vestibular systems from day one by riding RF. I wonder also, if you see fewer incidents of car sickness because there is less to actually look at when RF, and the sense of motion is processed differently? That said, it is motion that sets it off, and how it's processed, so perhaps the direction doesn't make that much of a difference? Hmmmm...all of this is simply my opinion, but one that I have wondered about. It would be interesting to conduct a study--I wonder if there are fewer or more kids in countries with long RF times who become motion sick--and when it occurs--after they are turned FF, after a certain age, or what? Or maybe it doesn't make a difference at all? :rolleyes: And yes, I am a geek. :)
 

soygurl

Active member
It would be interesting to conduct a study--I wonder if there are fewer or more kids in countries with long RF times who become motion sick--and when it occurs--after they are turned FF, after a certain age, or what? Or maybe it doesn't make a difference at all? :rolleyes: And yes, I am a geek. :)

Well yeah, that's kinda what I was wondering about. Sure, like the PP said, most kids don't seem to get car sick until they are a little older (18-24 months maybe?), but what about where they RF for at least 3 years?!? (Sweden)
Obviously, if a child becomes car sick here with current laws, most people (even ERF supporters) would turn and child who was over the minimum standards for FF, but what if our laws changed?? What might people in Sweden do if their child (under 3) gets car sick? :confused:
 

Leila

New member
A good friend of mine has five children. The four older kids (ages 3-12) all get car sick and Mom says that it started as soon as they turned forward facing in the car. Mom made the wise decision to keep the baby (14 months) rear facing to avoid the car sickness issue (she truly didn't care about all actual benefits of ERF, but she's doing it, so I don't care, lol!).

If my kids had severe motion sickness and were RF AND over 1 & 20, I might try turning them around. If it didn't help though, I'd have to put them back RF.
 

InTheWoods

New member
I get carsick and I FF. ;) My DS never got carsick RFing, but did/does FFing.

Is FFing supposed to be less conducive to car sickness than RFing? I guess if a child were prone to carsickness whether FFing or RFing, I'd go with the way I'd want the vomit to splat, and that would be away from me (so to the rear). And I'd have the child upright enough that s/he wouldn't be sucking that stuff down his/her windpipe.

Kristin
 
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kangato2roos

New member
I get carsick and I FF. ;) My DS never got carsick RFing, but did/does FFing.

Is FFing supposed to be less conducive to car sickness than RFing? I guess if a child were prone to carsickness whether FFing or RFing, I'd go with the way I'd want the vomit to splat, and that would be away from me (so to the rear). And I'd have the child upright enough that s/he wouldn't be sucking that stuff down his/her windpipe.

Kristin

I'm in the same boat... I get horribly carsick if I'm in the back and I'm ffing. So far neither of my kids gets carsick, but my son is still rf, so we'll see when he turns ff in another few years.

I have found if I sit in the extremely unsafe jumpseats in my dh's truck (very rarely do I do so, only in emergency, and I'd much rather put myself in danger there than put either of my children in danger back there) and turn my face to the back of the truck... I don't get carsick. I have ridden on the backwards seats of a station wagon before and didn't get carsick there, but put forward facing in the back seat, I get carsick.

I don't know why, but forward facing seems to trigger it for me. I really feel for the poor kids who get carsick rear facing... would they feel worse forward facing? It's a miserable feeling, no matter how you slice it.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
How does she have any clue what riding RF would be like? It might be better and make her less sick...:cool:
 

Wineaux

New member
Motion sickness is caused by issues with the inner ear. There is a part that slides side-to-side, and it is that part sliding that causes one to get motion sickness. The trick to stopping motion sickness without drugs, etc? Turn your head sideways so that part "locks" in place and cannot slide. Seriously, just tilt your head to the side so your ear is on your shoulder, or as close as you can get it. You should feel relief in a few minutes. You might want to take something for the nausea that is already there, but it won't get worse, and if you do this before you start moving, you won't get motion sickness.

One of the truly useful tidbits that I picked up from a nurse I dated long ago.
 

Mama!

New member
Well, I think kids don't tend to get carsick until they are a little older (say, past 18-24 months). Serious carsickness is one reason I would turn my DD around. Flame away, but as someone who gets carsick, I wouldn't inflict that on her. I just hope I don't have to make that decision before she's at least 2 and 30 lbs, because it would be really difficult.

My dd was violently carsick until we turned her FF at 1. We didnt know about ERF, but I was carsick and still am, (even as an adult. )

She vomited constantly until the day I turned her around, and its never happened again.

Carsickness is its own brand of misery. I wouldnt wish it on my worst enemy.
 

Relish

New member
Motion sickness is caused by issues with the inner ear. There is a part that slides side-to-side, and it is that part sliding that causes one to get motion sickness. The trick to stopping motion sickness without drugs, etc? Turn your head sideways so that part "locks" in place and cannot slide. Seriously, just tilt your head to the side so your ear is on your shoulder, or as close as you can get it. You should feel relief in a few minutes. You might want to take something for the nausea that is already there, but it won't get worse, and if you do this before you start moving, you won't get motion sickness.

One of the truly useful tidbits that I picked up from a nurse I dated long ago.

Wow, I had no idea. I seriously hope this works because we've got some long drives coming up. I only developed car sickness as an adult (started around age 17) and I'd love to be able to make it stop. I hate how the nausea lingers even after we've arrived at our destination. A sure way to ruin a good day.
 

Patriot201

Car-Seat.org Ambassador
I don't see how RF vs. FF would make any difference. :confused:

If you get carsick, you get carsick. I guess I don't see the difference. :confused:
 

SPJ&E

New member
I got carsick as a kid on long, curvy roads (to my grandparents house) and still do. I know that I wasn't rear-facing...heck, I wasn't even wearing a seatbelt most of the time.

Pacey gets carsick on that exact same road (or ones just like) and only in my car. He started getting sick on that road right around 1 year old and everyone's first thought was to turn him around. Of course I replied with a big fat NO way in he**. He doesn't get sick because he's rear-facing, he gets sick because of the road and the fact that he can't see out the windows well in my 2-door car. He has never gotten sick on any other car ride or in anyone else's car. Turning him FF was never an option for him.

Now if I had a kiddo that got sick on every single trip AND kiddo was over 2 year old, I would probably try turning him FF to see if it would make a difference. If it did not make a difference, kiddo would be turned back around immediately.

It's hard for me to be objective though when answering, because I'm a hardcore RF'er and my kids won't be turned around until they HAVE to be...no matter who likes it or who doesn't and that includes them.
 

scatterbunny

New member
I deal with horrible motion sickness if I am not the one driving. And when I was pregnant, even while driving. :( Hayley never started getting carsick UNTIL we turned her forward-facing (well, about four months after we turned her FF; we turned her at about 13 months and her carsickness started around 16-18 months). While rear-facing, I think she couldn't focus on the landscape moving, so it didn't bother her. When FF she could see everything, and the moving landscape is what set her off, IMO. Had I known better then, I'd have turned her back rear-facing in her Alpha Omega, but I had no clue.
 

twokidstwodogs

New member
I don't see how RF vs. FF would make any difference. :confused:

If you get carsick, you get carsick. I guess I don't see the difference. :confused:

It makes a huge difference to me! I spent much of my childhood car days facing backwards in the "way back" of one of those massive 70s station wagons. I was carsick nearly all the time. Riding forward is much better, and driving is best of all. (I still get carsick easily.) I also get more carsick when facing backwards on trains and buses. It's all about the visuals. (I will have to try Wineaux's suggestion! I do have lousy inner ears.)

I turned DD#1 FF at 15 months or so for just this reason. I wasn't quite as sold on ERF then, but even knowing what I do now, I still would have turned her FF early (though maybe not quite *that* early). She vomited all the time when she was RF, and then when I turned her FF, she never did it again. I can't believe it was just a coincidence.
 

Melizerd

New member
I deal with horrible motion sickness if I am not the one driving. And when I was pregnant, even while driving. :(

I thought I was the only one that got carsick WHILE driving when pregnant. EVERYTHING made me sick though so I wasn't surprised. I don't get car sick usually, I can read, close my eyes and I'm fine but pregnant I was sick all the time, I guess that's part of HG though huh
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
And to add yet another twist: I never got car sick in my entire life until I was pregnant with DS#1. But now I get sick whenever Im not driving.
 

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