Travel sickness in children/babies
Travel sickness often occurs in infants and children. Longer car journeys or ship crossings can therefore sometimes become a real torture for them. Infants from the age of 2 years are particularly frequently and severely affected by the travel sickness.
Often this period extends approximately up to the beginning of puberty. Children are plagued by sudden nausea, strong vomiting and dizziness. Travel sickness occurs rarely or not at all in babies.
In them, the organ of equilibrium in the inner ear is not yet as strongly developed, so that there is no discrepancy between the signals of the eye and the signals of the inner ear as in older children. They still perceive their environment differently than older children. From puberty onwards, motion sickness gradually decreases in affected children and can sometimes disappear completely in adulthood.
For parents of affected children, there are useful tips that can improve the situation when travelling a little. Contrary to the usual opinion one has, it is exactly the wrong impulse to distract one’s children by means of coloring books, reading books or television. This kind of distraction aggravates the symptoms, because the coloring books are a resting object, but the inner ear signals a movement.
It is better to let the child look out the window without restriction. If he is old enough, it may be helpful to put him in the passenger seat. You can tell the child stories or sing with him or her as a distraction.
Affected infants can also be helped by playing search games with them while driving. Classic games of this kind include “guessing license plate numbers” or “I see something you don’t see”. Even if the symptoms are very pronounced, one should not cancel trips and should not be restricted too much by motion sickness.
Travel sickness jet lag
Jet lag often occurs on a long-haul flight when a few hours of time difference upsets the body’s own rhythm. All processes in the human body follow a natural rhythm that has the length of one day. This is called circadian rhythm.For example, blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature are controlled and we have an “inner clock” when it comes to things like eating or sleeping.
If you land in a different time zone, the time of day or night and the internal clock no longer correspond and this manifests itself in different ways. The sleep-wake rhythm is confused and there are often problems falling and staying asleep. Nevertheless, there is often tiredness during the day.
Jet lag also affects appetite and digestion. At night, for example, there is hunger and the urge to defecate or urinate is felt at unfavorable times. However, the discomfort caused by jet lag subsides of its own accord after a few days.
It is important to immediately make sure that you adapt to the time of day in the destination country. This helps the body to get used to the time change.
