Tips/tricks for car sick RFing 3y/o....

brelza

Member
Turned 3 the end of January. I drive a 2011 Toyota sienna. Son is in a graco slimfit RFing. He's 31lbs and approx 38". I know the ideal is to keep them RFing to the max, BUT...20+ minutes in the car and he's usually puking. I tried adjusting the recline and it hasn't helped. Everyone around me is telling me to just turn him and if that doesn't work try various meds. I don't want to have to give him meds every time we go out, because he doesn't always puke (maybe about 80% of the time he does). It doesn't matter, warm, cold, sunny, cloudy,meal/snack/empty stomach etc. We've stopped letting him look at his vtech phone or talking books during the ride thinking maybe that would help since he'd be looking out the window more BUT...no luck. Recommendations? We haven't been much of anywhere because he's always getting car sick. Poor kid puked 3x today when I drove 30 minutes to my dads, took him to a dr appt, and drove back home. He usually can puke in a small container that we have next to him on the seat but it doesn't always work. He always feels miserable and doesn't like to go anywhere because of it.
 
ADS

ketchupqueen

CPST and ketchup snob
Staff member
I would get an eye exam if this is a new thing; vision issues can cause car sickness and are worth ruling out. Other than that, blocking the windows with stick-on shades helps some kids (looking out the window often makes it worse), and ginger tea is a clinically proven remedy that's completely safe for children.

But if you've tried a lot of things and they don't work, it may be worth trying forward facing. He's an age at which forward facing isn't inherently dangerous. He meets the minimums of every seat I'm aware of. And it doesn't help all kids, but it helps some- sometimes the orientation lets them focus on something inside the car better, or sometimes changing the pressure on the stomach helps, or both. It wouldn't be an unsafe choice to make at this point, and severe car sickness is definitely a legitimate medical reason to consider it if other strategies aren't helping.
 

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