Joy is a word we associate with becoming a parent. But there can be a strange iffiness about sharing the good stuff Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life Everyone knows that...
The treatment for lice has improved since our day, but their presence is no less horrifying My daughter hadn’t been in nursery for an hour when the phone call came. My darling child, I was informed, had head lice, and I was to collect...
Regardless of anxiety by most parents about over-sharing, the president’s aide brought one of his children to the White House If the reversal of declining birthrates is genuinely a preoccupation of Elon Musk’s, recent reviews suggest...
Freedom of information requests show that female prisoners are three times more likely to suffer gestational diabetes Pregnant women in prison in England are three times more likely to be diagnosed with gestational diabetes than those...
Joan always suspected she had been handed someone else’s baby by the hospital when she gave birth more than 70 years ago. Then an Ancestry DNA test seemed to prove her right. Now in her 90s, she is in a race against time. Can she find...
A block for under-16s would soothe many parents’ concerns, but experts are divided over the evidence in support of it, and how it might work in practice Social media has transformed our relationships with our friends and family, brought...
Transgender teenager Brianna Ghey was stabbed to death by two 15-year-olds. The killers had been radicalised on the dark web, while the victim was trapped in an online world of her own. Now her mother has become friends with the parent...
Rightwingers calling for higher birthrates may be disturbing, but having children is the ultimate gesture of confidence in the future for us all Roses are red, violets are blue. Rightwing politicians around the world want women to have...
Fetal acetaminophen exposure increases the likelihood that a child will develop attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to a new study.
A longer paternity leave after the birth of a child can improve the co-parenting relationship between moms and dads in a key way, a new study finds. Researchers found that mothers were less likely to discourage fathers' involvement in...
It may help to view parenthood as a rapidly changing condition, advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith says. It’s also important not to struggle with these feelings alone Read more Leading questions I have two children, aged eight and...
Word back from the cinemas is united – and sniffly: Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy is leaving audiences in surprising puddles. Our writers reveal the moments that made then sob loudest, and why • This article contains spoilers I...
A friend sent me the image by surprise and I felt a lot of things very strongly: love, upset, amusement, pleasure and anger An old friend sent me a photo that caused me to stop whatever I was doing. I stared at it for a long time,...
Is this fun fathering or a cynical and exploitative PR strategy from the tech billionaire? I suspect the latter ... Welcome to the White House, where every day seems to be bring-your-kid-to-work-day if you’re Elon Musk. The tech...
WhatsApp notifications in the middle of the night were the final straw. I switched those off – and every other alert – and it helped my wellbeing, sleep and parenting My phone vibrates itself awake, disturbing my baby, who has only just...
We can’t tell him not to shout ‘Jesus Christ!’ just because it’s rude Our son is defending himself against the crime of blasphemy. A magnet had fallen off the fridge and met the floor with a startling crack, causing him to shout, ‘Jesus...
Most people with small children are worn out – but for some, the pressure of striving to be perfect parents can drive them to the edge ‘I cried like someone had died,” Rachel Stern says of the day things unravelled at home. “I thought:...
As the older, ‘parentified’ child, it sounds like your sister has taken on extra responsibilities all her life. She might appreciate you wanting to show you care • Every week Annalisa Barbieri addresses a problem sent in by a reader I am...
Suggestions include standardised packaging in hospitals to tackle power of branding but CMA decides against price cap Baby formula should be placed in standardised packaging in hospitals and parents allowed to use gift vouchers and...
Many Japanese mothers are reluctant to send their children to childcare before the age of three due to the 'Three-Year-Old Myth,' which suggests that healthy development requires a child to stay at home and be raised by their mother....
Getting at least 30 minutes of daily summer sun in the first year of life may mean a lower relapse risk for children who are diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) later, according to a new study. The study also found if a child's...
Judge takes rare step of naming Robert Charles Albon, who subjected mothers to ‘nightmare’ of controlling behaviour A sperm donor who subjected a couple to a “nightmare” of controlling behaviour over their child has been named by a judge...
Parents write of the agonising attempts to access support for their children, in response to an article about a 17-year-old who killed herself while waiting for therapy The story about 17-year-old Jen Bridges-Chalkley, who killed...
Conflicted about motherhood, Sophia embarks on the physically and emotionally gruelling journey of harvesting her eggs in her 30s. During the process she grapples with taboo feelings of not wanting children at all, broaching the idea...
Maternal stress could leave epigenetic imprints on genes in the placenta associated with cortisol -- a necessary hormone for fetal development -- and this would affect the baby's development from very early stages. The study suggests...
A new study finds that pregnant individuals who were unable to have their desired emotional support persons present during childbirth were more likely to have higher levels of perceived childbirth stress than those who were not missing...
While many studies have reported a link between a mother's health condition during pregnancy and her child's risk of autism, a new study shows that nearly all of these 'associations' can otherwise be explained by factors such as...
Researchers discovered children ages 3 to 5 tested before and after COVID lockdowns had a significant gap in a key cognitive skill, particularly for children from homes with low financial resources and adults with less education. The...
A large proportion of babies born very early need intensive care, which can be painful. But the healthcare system fails to provide pain relief to the full extent. This is shown by the largest survey to date of pain in neonatal care.
Parents attending an adult weight management program, who were worried about their child's weight, would accept support and signposting to services for their child if it was offered.
Boys exposed to violent screen content in the preschool years were more likely to become antisocial and violent themselves a decade later, in their mid-teens, a new study shows.
A new study found that younger siblings generally receive more favorable treatment from parents. Meanwhile, older siblings are often granted more autonomy, and parents are less controlling towards them as they grow up.
A new study adds to the growing body of evidence on the cognitive benefits of speaking multiple languages, finding that multilingualism not only enhances general cognitive abilities but also may help reduce certain symptoms and bolster...
A new study shows that an app can help parents who are mourning the loss of a child. Parents who used the app for three months reported reduced symptoms of prolonged grief and post-traumatic stress, and also had fewer negative thoughts....
Almost three quarters of adolescents in Australia experience clinically significant depression or anxiety symptoms, with most being chronic, according to a new study. And preventive strategies outside our clinics are urgently required to...
Novel research shows that a reduced neural response to receiving rewards in teens predicts the first onset of depression, but not anxiety or suicidality. This is independent of pre-existing depressive or anxiety symptoms, as well as age...
When young children's behavior becomes challenging, many parents resort to threats -- from taking away toys to threatening that Santa will skip their house, a national poll suggests.
In animal studies, boosting serotonin in the cells that line the gut reduced anxious and depressive-like behaviors without causing cognitive or gastrointestinal side effects.
New research shows that mothers have twice the impact on language exposure, challenging traditional parenting advice. In a new study, researchers found that there wasn't a single strategy that could be singled out as 'best' to raise a...
Researchers found that adolescents with more symptoms of gaming addiction showed lower brain activity in the region involved in decision-making and reward processing; this blunted response to reward anticipation is associated with higher...
Teens who think their parents use cannabis are more likely to hold favorable attitudes toward the drug and to consider trying it themselves, according to a new study. The research also reveals that parental monitoring and the closeness...
A Canadian study reveals that allophone children often face learning and communication difficulties in kindergarten, which can negatively impact their educational journey.
Children of mothers who took certain anti-seizure medications while pregnant do not have worse neurodevelopmental outcomes at age 6, according to a long-running study.