Parenting

A Pediatric ER Doctor Would Never Let Her Kids Do These 3 Things—’After Bedtime’ Explains Why

October 5, 2025

You baby-proofed the outlets. You cut grapes into quarters. You’ve got the car seat buckled tighter than Fort Knox. But what if the real dangers to your kids aren’t the ones you obsess over?

On After Bedtime with Big Little Feelings, cohost Kristin Gallant sit down with Dr. Meghan Martin—aka Dr. Beachgem, a pediatric ER physician and mom of four—who sees every parent’s worst nightmare play out in the emergency room. She shares the three things she’d never let her kids do, plus the surprising fear parents can actually let go of.

Whether you’re raising toddlers or teenagers, this one will have you rethinking what really keeps kids safe.

E-bikes = ER visits waiting to happen

Between 2019 and 2023, one children’s hospital reported e-bikes skyrocketing from just four percent to nearly half of all micromobility injuries they treated. Kids under 14 make up more than a third of those cases, even though they’re less than a fifth of the population. And every year, more than 20,000 injuries across the U.S. are tied to e-bikes—with hospitalizations and head injuries showing up at much higher rates than with regular bikes. So it’s not surprising that Martin puts them at the very top of her “hard no” list. “My kids are not going to ride e-bikes,” she says. “We just see so many injuries right now with e-bikes.”

The issue isn’t just falling, but the speed and power. E-bikes move faster than kids expect, they’re heavier to control, and when something goes wrong, the crash impact is way more serious. In the ER, Martin sees the aftermath: broken bones, brain injuries, hospital stays. It’s a level of risk most parents don’t realize until it’s too late.

If you’ve got a kid with a need for speed, experts suggest channeling that energy into safer options. Think supervised skate parks, BMX tracks designed for beginners, or even go-kart courses where speed is controlled and helmets are non-negotiable.

Trampolines: strict rules or skip it

Trampolines look like harmless backyard fun until you realize there’s an actual fracture named after them. Pediatric ER docs call it a “trampoline fracture,” a lower leg break that happens most often when a smaller child gets double-bounced by a heavier kid. And that’s just the start. Head, neck, and spine injuries are also common, which is why the American Academy of Pediatrics flat-out discourages home trampolines.

Martin’s take? Pretty much the same. “When it comes to trampolines, I try to avoid them altogether, but I don’t want to limit my kids to degrees,” she says. Her compromise is letting her kids jump at a friend’s house or party, but only with strict rules—no flips, no multiple jumpers, and never owning one themselves.

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Wheels = helmets. Always.

“If we’re moving faster than our feet, you’re going to have something on your head to protect it,” Martin says, and she means it. Bikes, scooters, ATVs—if wheels are involved, helmets aren’t optional.

That’s because head injuries from wheel crashes are brutal. Nationwide, about one-third of ER visits and two-thirds of hospital stays for bike accidents involve the head, according to the National Safety Council. Helmets slash that risk—studies show they cut serious head injuries by up to 60 percent and traumatic brain injuries by more than 50 percent. “The head injuries that we see with bikes and ATVs and all of these things…are tremendous,” Martin says, “and if you’d just been wearing a helmet, we could’ve avoided all of the lifelong problems that we’re going to have.”

But it’s not just about the ride—it’s about the habit. Martin stresses that kids need to start early, even when they’re just wobbling around on a balance bike. “I think it gets them in the habit of understanding that we need to wear a helmet on a bike. Even as a two-year-old, they can start to understand,” she says. Wait until they’re older and faster, and you’ll be fighting resistance. “They’re going to go, ‘No, I haven’t done this before, I don’t want to do this,’” Martin says.

The hack is to make helmets cool. Pick one with their favorite color, slap stickers on it, and make it part of the routine from day one. And yes—that goes for parents too. Because the injuries Martin sees in the ER aren’t just scrapes and bruises; they’re lifelong consequences that could’ve been prevented with 30 bucks of protection.

What you can actually stop worrying about

One of the biggest fears Martin wants parents to release is “feeding babies.”

“We all want the best for our baby,” she says, and while many moms feel pressure to exclusively breastfeed, she reminds us: “It doesn’t entirely matter how it happens, because when they get to kindergarten, they’re still going to be bright and excited.”

Martin knows the shame firsthand. During her residency with her first little one, she was juggling 80-hour weeks, pumping between shifts, and feeling crushed when she had to supplement with formula. “I felt so much shame,” she admits. She doubled down with her next babies—exclusive breastfeeding, no formula allowed. And yet the outcome wasn’t what she expected. “The first one that got formula is like 50th percentile for everything,” she shares. Meanwhile, two of her exclusively breastfed kids “are on growth hormone,” she says.

The research backs her up. When you factor out things like family income, education, and access to healthcare, studies consistently show no measurable differences in IQ, development, or health outcomes between formula-fed and breastfed kids by the time they hit school age. So whether you breastfeed, pump, combo-feed, or formula-feed… your child is going to be fine.

“Just feed the babies,” Martin says. “Make sure baby gets fed.”