do babies get motion sickness?

[1blueheron]

nak

at my wit's end trying to figure out how to go places in the car w/o hysterical screaming.

We've tried:
- hanging mobile to look at
- pacifier
- toys
- changing to convertible car seat
- feeding/not feeding
- radio/no radio/singing/talking/silence
- windows open/windows shut

The only thing that seems to help is to have somebody in the back, and even that only works about half the time. I have to go places, and there's not much w/in walking distance. Is it possible for babies to have motion sickness, I wonder? Any ideas??

[crunchy_mommy]

I have wondered this too, my DS is now 16mos & can handle up to 30 minute car rides (longer if he falls asleep) but he used to do exactly what you're describing. I think right around 10 months or so he got a little better, before I couldn't even drive 10 minutes. He also hates being in swings at the park (though he used to love his infant swing, but only in the side-to-side mode).

[Knitting Mama]

We're in the same boat. I hear some babies outgrow it around 4-5 months, others much later. I'm hoping my daughter is in the first category...

I have tried everything you listed to no avail, and like you, my daughter is only calm half the time when someone else is in the back with her. The only time she isn't hysterical is when she's sleeping, and that only works if I can get her into the carseat while asleep without waking her up.

[1blueheron]

makes me sad, b/c aside from the practical (grocery store!), she also LOVES new people and places, but i have to weigh that joy against this unknown discomfort. i don't think it's fear of being alone, since she's actually pretty cool w/being alone, and like i said it's only sometimes better w/somebody in back. i wish i understood.

[Knitting Mama]

Yep, exactly the same here. My theory on it, based on my chica's personality, is that she's just too aware of everything around her, but too little to interact yet. She hates not being able to see everything, do everything, be a part of everything.

The other part of it is that we're definitely attachment parents, and she is never left to scream and cry. The only time she isn't immediately comforted when she's scared or sad is when she's in the carseat. It just breaks my heart.

[crunchy_mommy]

I just remembered the one thing that sometimes helped was reading books to him. (Not fun since I get carsick reading but luckily I had most of his books memorized!) Or if I was driving alone, I'd recite his favorite book. He loves books so that worked sometimes.

Also we tried to go places that were walkable... so we'd only have to get in the car on the way there & the way back... lots of shopping plazas, town centers, malls, etc. I can't tell you how many times I've walked with DS half a mile down a busy four-lane road while my DH drove to our next destination...

[1blueheron]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama

It just breaks my heart.

Mine too. I've been holding her on my lap for the past 2 hours after our 20 minute car ride, hoping to snuggle that stress right out of her.

[kismetbaby]

My LO is 8 months old and we can finally make car rides that last longer than 10 min without a total meltdown. . .if they are timed correctly and he isn't hungry and I put on his fav CD. From the beginning he has HATED the car. My DH has often commented that he thinks our LO get motion sickness. I don't know. . .but it has gotten better. I just structured my life so that we didn't have to be in the car often or long. But we have activities and stores we can walk to.

[Knitting Mama]

Unfortunately, there's nothing within walking distance for me. I seriously hope she'll outgrow this hatred, it makes it so hard for me to go anywhere. And she loves being outside, but the nearest stuff that we can do outside is 15 minutes away.

[blessedwithboys]

both of my kids screamed constantly in the car, it was torture. with ds1, i was really young and turned him forward facing around 9 mos. it made the crying stop but i know now that it was dangerous beyond description.

with ds2, i held out until 11mo3wks, then turned him forward facing. still bad, i know...

anyway, when ds2 was just turning 3yo, i learned about sensory processing disorder. both of my kids are vestibular hypersensitive. my older ds, now 15yo, gets sick on long car rides, but loves roller coasters, go figure, and my ds2, now 8yo cant handle any type of vestibular input whatsoever. he couldnt even sit in the seat of a shopping cart as an older baby/toddler.

the answer is yes, some babies get carsick. some just dont like tight straps (necessary evil of course), but some get physically ill form riding backwards.*



*i am not advocating early FFing! just sharing my btdt

[Jaesun's Dad]

some get physically ill form riding backwards

I wonder if any overfunded, underworked researcher has ever studied if this is more common in girls than boys. I know a lot of adult women that complain of this. DP has this problem too, though it's not extreme but I'm always forgetting when we get on the BART train that it bothers her to move backward and it never phases me. Other women have expressed similar, especially in regard to BART (how many other times do adults normally travel at high speeds backward anyway?)

Whenever we drive anywhere DP is always in the back seat with our son. He has gotten upset back there, but I think it's more boredom and wanting to get out of the seat itself rather than motion sickness. He loves motion in general, he'll sleep when I wear him and he'll sleep in the stroller and while I have never tried the "drive around the block" trick, I have strolled around the block a few times with him with great success.

One thing that worked one day after we had a fairly long drive and he was getting upset: I turned the A/C/Heat to a neutral but blasted the fan on high, so we got a big wash of fan generated white noise. It calmed him down right away. Results may vary.