Hospitals are treating lots of sick children this fall. Doctors have been dealing with the flu, RSV and other respiratory viruses since the beginning of the school year.

One local pediatrician said the past two months have been bad for sickness, and it does not look like it is getting better any time soon.

"I couldn't count how many kids I've had in the ICU this year. It's much worse than the last couple years. But, the last couple years we had the coronavirus so we didn't see this," Dr. Joe Matusic said.

Over the past few years, most children were masked up, so there were not as many infections. Now, many children do not have a high immunity to these viruses.

Unfortunately, there is not much a parent can do to stop their child from getting sick.

Matusic said many parents worry about viruses and specifically RSV, but he said parents should not stress. Most children get the infection within the first two years of their life, and it is all about monitoring your child.

"I've seen kids with bad medical complications never get bad with RSV. I've seen kids who are normal and have nothing wrong with them, there in the hospital in the PICU because of RSV or Picornavirus. There are a lot of other viruses that can do that," he said. "It's really unpredictable. But when they get bad, they get bad quick. They're breathing hard, they're breathing fast. You don't need to think about it. You will look at your child and see, they are breathing really hard I need to call the doctor."

Matusic went on to say that in the past two weeks, he has seen a decrease in flu cases, but he is seeing more RSV.

He also recommends not going to the emergency room unless it is necessary.

If a child does get sick, he recommends staying away from cold medicine.

"They have way too many side effects. They simply don't do any good," Matusic said. "There are a lot of studies that show they land a lot of kids in the hospital constantly for side effect or overdoses."

Instead, just focus on giving the child some TLC.

"Vicks Vapor rub is okay. Elevate their head in bed. Suction their nose out. Use saline in the nose. Run a humidifier or vaporizer. And TLC, good old tender love and care," he said.

If a parent is worried a child is getting sicker, do not hesitate to call the primary pediatrician.