Travel sickness describes sickness associated with motion which can also be referred to as seasickness (for boat trips), air sickness (planes) or car sickness depending on which mode of transport you are using!
It involves several horrible symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. Often when people start to get motion sickness they will go a little bit pale and start to produce excess saliva. They may also become drowsy or tired and start to breath more rapidly than normal.
Out of the people who are more likely to suffer from motion sickness such as those who regularly suffer from migraines and those with heavy periods there are two groups which are of particular interest to WonderBaba. These are pregnant women and children between the ages of three and twelve years. Children from two onwards are more likely to suffer from travel sickness but they tend to grow out of motion sickness by the time they are 12 thankfully!
Sometimes motion sickness improves once your body gets used to the change in environment, for example your child may improve a few hours into a journey. Sometimes however the only thing to stop the sickness is to stop the journey! This clearly isn’t always practical so I’ll summarise some treatment options which are worth trying now!
Medicines which help!
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StugeronThis contains cinnarizine 15mg which is an antihistamine that helps to reduce nausea during travel sickness. It is suitable for adults and children over five years of age at the following doses:
It should not be taken if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. It is best to take it after food. It is good to be aware that it may cause your child to be a little drowsy so make sure to give them allowances for this.
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Kwells
The active substance in Kwells tablets is hyoscine hydrobromide. Hyoscine hydrobromide temporarily reduces the effect of movement on the balance organs of the inner ear and the nerves responsible for nausea. Because Kwells tablets melt in the mouth, absorption into the bloodstream is very rapid and they can be taken up to 30 minutes before travelling or at the onset of sickness. These are only suitable for children over ten years of age – so not quite WonderBabas but maybe their older siblings or parents!! The dosage information is as follows:
Alternative Products
- CaldeKids Travel Pops
CaldeKids travel pops are great for settling childrens tummy’s during travel. They contain ginger, peppermint, and lemon juice and a little sugar and some apple flavouring which combined taste really appealing to children and have a positive effect on their digestive system. The recommended usage is one to three lollipops per day. For best effect use them 30 minutes before travelling. These are available by clicking here!
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Ginger
Ginger is naturally helpful for motion sickness but not always the easiest think to get your child to take! Consider giving a luke warm tea (not real tea!!) made just with water, some grated ginger and lemon. Ok well my kids wouldn’t drink it but your might and i’m trying here!! Ok…better idea – grab a pack of ginger biscuits – in moderation of course 😉
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Acupressure Bands
Ok so there is no scientific evidence that these work but honestly I’ve had so many people come into me in the pharmacy with success stories that they are definitely work a go! I’ve no first had experience on this product as none of mine suffer from car sickness yet thankfully! They work by applying pressure to a certain point on the wrist to reduce nausea and they certainly can’t do any harm! They are recommended for children three years and up – just make sure the band is fitting snugly!! I have them available to purchase by clicking here!
Wonder Tips!
- Try to get your child to sit still – this is easy in a car due to the godsend that is a five point harness! For older kids or on a plane or boat try to get them to sit in the one spot and focus on something ahead of them in the distance – like the horizon.
- Use a cushion to support your child’s head in one position.
- Don’t encourage reading or games as this can make things worse!
- Do try to let your child fall asleep in the car as closing your eyes can help you to feel better.
- Try to distract your child with a story – even an audiobook so you don’t have to read yourself! We currently are listening to David Walliams in the car and the kids seem to love it! Also try singing or playing the ‘I spy’ game – In our house we don’t all know our sounds and letters yet so we play ‘I spy colour game’ which works by spotting things the colour red or blue etc!
- Don’t let the car get too warm or stuffy – open a window if needs must or if you are on a plane turn on the aircon or if your on a boat take a trip to the top deck!
- Get your kids to eat small meals often before a journey so that you avoid a large meal just before departure time.
- Encourage plenty of fluid the day of travel to prevent dehydration which may worsen nausea.
- Try to get your child to practice deep breathing – this is such a useful skill for them to have anyway for any time they are trying to focus or remain calm! Good ways to teach them to do this is to ask them to pretend to smell a flower, or to blow bubbles, or even to pretend they are blowing out candles on their birthday cake!
- This last one is pessimistic but practical – always have a sick bag and fresh clothes ready.
I hope you have found this article helpful and if you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to contact me by sending a private message to the WonderBaba facebook page (www.facebook.com/wonderbabacare) or by calling me (Sheena) at Milltown totalhealth Pharmacy in Dublin 6 on 012600262. I’m always happy to help!
The MMR vaccine is given at twelve months of age and again when your child is in junior infants at school. It is 95% effective at protecting against Measles, Mumps and Rubella. Measles is a highly infections disease which is spread easily and there is a current out break in Ireland so the HSE are recommending that anyone with young children who does not have their vaccines up to date contact their healthcare provider to arrange vaccination as soon as possible.
This vaccine is given at two, four and six months and protects your child against six different diseases in one injection.
I hope you have found this article helpful and if you have any questions at all please don’t hesitate to contact me by sending a private message to the WonderBaba facebook page (
Salt therapy is thought to work through its mucolytic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also a negatively charged ion. The negatively charged ions make contact with the respiratory airways and stimulate ciliary mobility and the ability for mucous to flow through the membranes. In addition to this the salt sits on the membranes and draws the mucous out by osmosis. Now this is cool because a persistent chesty cough is often caused by mucus plugs. In theory, this allows for clearer airways, improved removal of mucus from the chest and easier more free breathing. There are many respiratory conditions which cause a mucus build up where this type of therapy may be beneficial such as asthma, bronchitis, infections, allergies, sinusitis, laryngitis and so on.
The product I discovered is the Salin Plus Air Purifier which is a Salt Therapy machine. This takes all of the benefits of treatment in a salt room and pops it into a convenient little device which can be used in your own home! The benefits of visiting a salt therapy room or cave are relatively short term (and expensive!!) as you need constant exposure for constant relief which is why I love the convenience of this product. It is suitable for children of all ages – and adults too of course!
I hope you found this information helpful and as always don’t hesitate to contact me on the WonderBaba Facebook page (
What do we know?
Place your baby on their back when putting them down for sleep. If they roll onto their tummy with physical ability and by choice it’s ok but don’t place them to sleep on their tummy. Their feet should be touching the foot of the cot.
Eradicate all exposure of tobacco smoke to your baby – quit smoking if your can or if not ensure you smoke outside (another room in the house or out the window will not completely get rid of the smoke – you may not be able to smell or see it but it can linger for a couple of hours in a room.) Don’t handle the baby or let another smoker soon after a cigarette. For support to quit smoking check out this great website – 
Whilst it’s important to be aware of the risk factors and reduce them where you can I think as parents we would find it hard to cope if you thought this was a common occurrence which was a big risk to your baby every day. So using the most recent figure I could see of 34 Cot Deaths per year in 2004 and also looking at the stats for 2016 – it would mean that to the 34 babies who died there were 63,863 who did not. We can’t always fear what might happen, if we are taking reasonable precautions to reduce risk factors and act as responsible parents I think we have to just believe that everything will be fine and enjoy our beautiful WonderBabas as they grow and develop into amazingly unique and perfect individuals with more wonder to reveal each day.
I hope you found this information helpful and as always don’t hesitate to contact me on the WonderBaba Facebook page (
Vitamin D also known as The Sunshine Vitamin!
You should choose a product suitable for babies with just Vitamin D3 in it – if you feel your baby needs other multivitamins you should read my full multivitamin guide by clicking here as there are a few vitamins which you can take too much of, vitamin D is one of these, so you have to be careful. Vitamin D products differ in dosages in different formulations so always read the label on the product you buy to make sure you are giving a suitable dose. Abidec Vitamin D3 drops comes in a slightly aniseed flavour which babies don’t seem to mind at all and you just need to give one drop! I found it useful to give it whilst changing nappy as I was more likely to remember when I saw it beside the nappy things and it was easy to drop into their mouths as they lay back. BabyVit D3 pump also contains one daily dose per single pump and some mums prefer using this to drops – a personal choice!
Protecting your very precious cargo is your priority when pregnant, but does this mean you need to reduce or stop exercising like many people think? Absolutely not is the answer! In fact, so long as you are exercising caution and good common sense, as well as your body, you will actually increase your own health and that of your unborn baby too!
We always get advertising material into the Pharmacy from all of the different multivitamin brands making great claims about the benefits of their own products. Even Pharmacists and Pharmacy staff can find it overwhelming trying to decipher what the actual vitamin content is and determine the benefits and downfalls of one product in comparison to another. The vitamin market is a particularly busy one! There are so many different products and all have strengths and weaknesses so I have done my best to select the 14 most popular children’s multivitamins and I have literally laid them side by side so we can explore which product meets your individual child’s needs. 