[sak9645]

When I was a child who became nauseated in the camp bus on the way to day camp each day, the counselors told my Mom to buy some Coke syrup -- the stuff that is mixed with soda water to make the Coke we all know and love -- and to give a spoonful to me in the morning before I got on the bus. She tried it, and it worked beautifully.

Nowadays, it's a little harder to buy Coke syrup, since most stores don't have old fashioned "soda fountains" that mix the syrup and water. Yet it's still a good tool in fighting nausea, according to my daughter's young, well-trained pediatrician.

When my daughter had some illnesses that involved nausea and vomiting, the pediatrician said that, if I could not find Coke syrup, I should take a can of Coke (regular, not Diet) and either stir the bubbles out or wait for it to go flat, then give it to Becca.

He said that it would help to quell the nausea, AND to rehydrate her. (She was totally unwilling to drink Pedialyte.) And, lo and behold, it did.

She also developed a taste for the stuff, alas, and now that she is ten, she often bugs me for it. I don't happen to like to give caffeinated beverages to kids, except when medically necessary, so I'm afraid that I say no most of the time. She can have Sprite on special occasions.

Becca doesn't get carsick, but when she was younger, she had such a well-developed upchuck reflex that vomiting happened a lot. It was nice to know that there was something I could do about it that didn't involve sedating medications or medications with other side effects.

Sharon