2024-08-30 07:19:48
It is not unusual for children to suffer from car sickness. This temporary health problem, which usually disappears around the age of thirteen, can make the family trip a bug, which is why it is important to follow a series of recommendations that avoid looking at tablets and reading during the trip.
EFE/ Gonzalo García Moreno
There are children who suffer from car sickness and others who do not. This is because those who have a balance problem as their brain notices a lack of coordination between movement, through the eyes and the stimuli that occur in the inner ear, and the nervous system.
“The ear and the nervous system notice that the body is there, but the eyes see that there is movement. “This creates a temporary loss of balance and causes this disorder,” Ana Catalán explained to EFEsalud, specialist from the Department of Pediatrics of Clínica Universidad de Navarra.
It is not common in children under two years of age and is common between that age and 13. Then it usually disappears, although in some patients it remains even into adulthood.
Favorable elements
And thinking about what they can do to prevent children from suffering from car sickness, sometimes parents turn to tablets or other electronic devices so that they can watch pictures or play, however, it is not a good option most of all
“What happens is that, at first, the child is focused on these activities, but does not know that the car is moving. If you look up, you see the speed of things around the car and it is more possible to rent even more than if you don’t have this engine,” said Catalán.
But not only the use of screens, but also other activities that involve looking, such as reading, can cause dizziness in children in the car.
“In the end, the effect is the same,” emphasizes the pediatrician of those University of Navarre Clinic.
The solutions
To prevent the trip from becoming an odyssey and children having a bad time, the pediatrician points out that in the case of small children it is advisable to make the trip while taking advantage of their evenings and rest night.
It is also very important that the temperature inside the vehicle is adequate, between 22 and 24 degrees, especially in summer.
It is also necessary to prevent children from having long periods of fasting or very large meals before the trip, that is, without having an empty or full stomach.
“The stops during the journey are also very important. If you want to travel long and long, stop every 200 km or every two hours or more,” added the pediatrician.
When to take medicine?
And there are children who get dizzy even on short trips. These cases, the doctor pointed out, are the most extreme and in which medicine must be used, even on those short trips.
These are cases in which travel must be planned in advance because the medicine must be taken an hour before.
If children under two years of age have dizziness, although as we said before they are not always like that, pediatricians can use antihistamine, -hydroxyzine-. For older children, there are syrups, tablets and gum, which they can take up to three times a day.
Catalán advises that: “If children’s car sickness occurs once in a while, it is better to follow these rules and not to use drugs.
When they are already dizzy, they should stop the car and walk, take a lighter and once they feel better, start the journey again.
We must not forget the importance of hydration, even if it is hot.
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