Travel tips for those that get car sickness during holiday trips

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Jennifer Quintenz and her newborn are about to embark on a 13-hour holiday trip to New Mexico.

It's her baby's first long trip, and Quintenz is worried about her child getting car sick.

At the minute clinic at CVS, nurse practioner Debbie Palaski has heard all sorts of car sickness tales from tired travelers.

"They generally start feeling nauseous and sweaty and clammy, and eventually you hear them in the back saying, 'I'm going to throw up,'" Palaski said.

The first line of treatment are crackers and ginger ale, she said. Travelling parents may even want to carry a few ginger lozenges. Palaski also recommends some over the counter remedies for quick relief and prevention.

"For instance, Dramamine or even boating tablets that can help if taken an hour before travel. [The medications] minimize the nauseousness," she said.

If parents need something stronger, they can try prescription strength patches. The dime-sized patches are worn behind the ear and must be worn four hours prior to travel.

"It cuts the signal from the stomach to the brain as far as the nausea sensation," Palaski said.

And while tablets and handheld video games might seem like a good way to keep kids occupied, the gadgets can make motion sickness worse. Palaski suggests trying a game such as "I Spy," which keeps children focused on the road ahead.

"Make sure they can see the front of the car through the window to the road, and not keep looking out the sides because that's where it's kind of confusing the brain," she said.

If that doesn't work, the child should lay down and close his or her eyes.

Quintenz said she cracks open the window during her road trips because her husband also gets extremely car sick. And she'll need all the ideas she can get because it's going to be a long ride to New Mexico.