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【科普】预防儿童晕车小贴示
Your little ones get carsick? Here's help
The first time Lisa Chamberlain's 2-year-old daughter threw up in the car, Chamberlain, a pediatrician, assumed the toddler had a stomach virus.
The second time, she got the hint. "Both times, it happened on a winding road," she says.
Diagnosis: carsickness.
Carsickness, a variant of motion sickness, happens when the eyes, inner ears and joints get conflicting clues about how fast and in what direction the body is moving, says Chamberlain, a clinical instructor at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. Typical symptoms include nausea, paleness, cold sweats and vomiting.
Children, thanks perhaps to immature nervous systems, and the fact that they sit in back seats with poorer views of the road ahead, are especially vulnerable. Up to half get carsick at some time, and the condition peaks between ages 2 and 12, says the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those prone to migraines appear particularly susceptible, says Andrew Racine, director of general pediatrics at Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York.
Though not a major health problem, carsickness can cause a lot of misery and pose a safety hazard: Violently ill back-seat passengers tend to distract drivers.
So parents of queasy riders may have perked up at recent news that there was a new carsickness drug for dogs (Cerenia, made by Pfizer). But, sadly, as summer car trip season gets underway, pediatricians say there's nothing new for similarly sick kids.
"A lot of it is just trial and error and figuring out what works for your child," says Tanya Remer Altmann, a Los Angeles area pediatrician and spokeswoman for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Here's what pediatricians say you can try to prevent carsickness:
•Make frequent stops. Many children need to get out and walk around, both to burn energy and to prevent motion sickness. So stop and see a sight or two — or at least take bathroom breaks. If a child already has vomited, you'll need to take a longer break to give her time to recover.
•Offer light snacks and drinks. Empty stomachs or those full of greasy fast food can cause trouble. So pack some water, crackers, fruit and other healthy fare and let kids nibble.
•Urge sensitive kids to keep their eyes on the horizon. Thanks to booster seats and higher-profile vehicles, many can get a good view — something that can minimize queasiness. Avoid rear-facing seats (except for infant car seats) and give the most sensitive children middle-row rather than way-back seats in minivans, station wagons and SUVs.
•Ban books, DVD players and handheld video games. While such distractions may be welcome on long trips, the act of focusing on something inside the car can intensify the nauseating sense of disconnection from the movement outside. Better bets: listening to music or books on tape — or engaging in old-fashioned conversation, songs and verbal games.
•Open a window. A breeze can help keep the brain oriented to the outside world.
•Consider traveling at night and encouraging children to sleep.
If you try all that on your next trip and your child still gets sick, ask your pediatrician about medication. Some long-sold over-the-counter sedating antihistamines can be safe and effective, especially when taken before getting in the car. Patches containing the drug scopolamine, used in adults, are not recommended for children.
Or just stock your car with some cleanup towels and plastic containers — and talk up your destination.
"If you are going to Disneyland or the Grand Canyon, that takes some of the sting out of it," Racine says. 本人已认领该文编译，48小时后若未提交译文，请其他战友自由认领。 Your little ones get carsick? Here's help
您的宝宝晕车吗？教你几招
The first time Lisa Chamberlain's 2-year-old daughter threw up in the car, Chamberlain, a pediatrician, assumed the toddler had a stomach virus.
The second time, she got the hint. "Both times, it happened on a winding road," she says.
一次 Lisa Chamberlain两岁的女儿坐车时呕吐，身为儿科医师的Chamberlain以为她蹒跚学步的女儿胃受到了感染
当再一次发生同样的情况，她明白了什么。“两次风都很大，”她说。
Diagnosis: carsickness.
诊断：晕车
Carsickness, a variant of motion sickness, happens when the eyes, inner ears and joints get conflicting clues about how fast and in what direction the body is moving, says Chamberlain, a clinical instructor at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. Typical symptoms include nausea, paleness, cold sweats and vomiting.
Chamberlain告诉我们：晕车是一种运动病，由于眼球，内耳以及关节对躯体移动的速度和方向存在不同的感知而导致其发生。典型的症状包括恶心，面色苍白，出冷汗以及呕吐。Chamberlain是Lucille Packard儿童医院 的临床讲师，该院位于加州帕拉阿图的斯坦福。
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-02-24 05:11
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