Food Poisoning or Tummy Bug? Need to know what is best to do with my 2.5 year old.....

[Toposlonoshlep]

We've never had a stomach issue before that involved vomiting and stomach pain, so I am at a loss as to when to call the ped and what to watch for. He woke up this morning at 6 am, sat up and threw up the pasta with meat sauce I fed him last night. Then about 40 minutes later threw up again, this time water he drank and a couple spoonfuls of yogurt. Now, the pasta/meat sauce was on its third day and was stored in my fridge in a covered Pyrex. I reheated it until the sauce was boiling, but now I think maybe 3 days was too long and maybe it's food poisoning? I went to the CVS because there is a snow storm here and I wanted to get some of those Pedialyte freezer pops in case we got snowed in and things got desperate. Their Pedialyte shelf is cleared off. Is something going around?!? Come to think of it, he has been complaining of tummy aches for about 5 days now, but I just attributed it to ingestion of dairy (he has a milk allergy and my mom accidentally gave him a huge piece of cake)........

He fell asleep again after the last time and is now awake. So I guess he hasn't puked in a couple hours....He doesn't seem hungry and says his belly still hurts. What do I watch for? When do I call the ped?

Thanks for any and all advice. Gosh, I hope it's not food poisoning. I'm 30 weeks pregnant and I ate the same pasta. And my DP is out of town for the whole snowy weekend.....I SO don't want to be puking and on the toilet with my 2.5 year old doing the same.....

[clav]

I hope he's doing better by now, but when they are throwing up like that you want to take things very slowly.  The thing you want to look for the most is dehydration.  What I have been told to do is waity 1/2 hr to an hour after they last threw up and start giving them very small doses of water (spoonfool) every 10 minutes.  If they keep everything down for an hour increase the dosage or give it every 5 minutes.  I usually hold on the food for at least a couple hours if not more but my son is sometimes begging for it.  When you do start giving food again give them applesauce or crackers.  The very last thing you want to give them is dairy products. 

When your child is dehydrated there mouth is very dry and they are extremely lathargic (sp?).  I know the time my son was dehydrated we could barely get him to sit up.  Also look for wet diapers if he hasn't had one in over 8 hours I would think about going to the doctor or at least calling them.