‘It’s the most urgent public health issue’: Dr Rangan Chatterjee on screen time, mental health – and banning social media until 18

The hit podcaster, author and former GP says a failure to regulate big tech is ‘failing a generation of children’. He explains why he quit the NHS and why he wants a ban on screen-based homework

‘We almost lost you in the night’ – the life-threatening rise of measles in the UK

It is one of the most infectious diseases around, and can cause blindness and hearing loss – and can also be fatal. Why are cases now soaring and what can be done about it?

Schools that cultivate the mind but neglect spiritual education leave children unanchored in a challenging world

Young people are hungering for meaning. A lack of spiritual education in childhood can reverberate across a lifetime

Coroner calls for circumcision safety measures after baby’s death in London

Six-month-old Mohamed Abdisamad’s death from infection prompts concern at lack of training for circumcisers

Victoria could become first Australian state to ban unnecessary surgery on intersex children

Exclusive: Legislation would prohibit deferrable, irreversible procedures until child can give informed consent, bringing state in line with ACT

My schoolmates mocked me for being a UPF-free, ‘weird lunchbox’ kid. Turns out my mum was right all along

In the 90s my mum embarrassed me with her rejection of ultra-processed foods – but the growing body of evidence about them is vindicating her, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Peanut allergies have plummeted among US kids since 2017 – what happened?

Blockbuster research has upended assumptions about the allergy. Experts shared what parents should know about introducing food allergens

Stop obsessing over what parents eat – we’re spinning too many plates to worry about what’s on our own

Most parents aren’t able to eat like a wellness influencer when we’re chasing tiny humans who refuse to get dressed

We all want big personal change at the push of a button – but here is how to actually achieve it

Real growth develops from the inside out. The process involves giving up the illusion of control and discovering the liberation and limits of your own agency

Experience: my babies were born seven weeks apart

After years of miscarriages, I had abandoned the prospect of giving birth. Then, as we prepared to conceive using a surrogate, the impossible happened

Measles cases are surging in Europe and the US. This is what the anti-vax conspiracy theory has brought us

Nearly 30 years after Andrew Wakefield’s discredited study linking the MMR vaccine and autism, we badly need an injection of rationality

‘I feel like a drug dealer’: the parents using black-market melatonin to help their children sleep

Desperate dads meet in car parks to exchange packets; exhausted parents slip it into their kids’ drinks; families waiting months for prescriptions buy it ‘off label’. But is it worth the risk?

The latest Andrex advert is a life-changing masterpiece

In scraping the bottom of the barrel to find something new to say about toilet paper, they’ve struck gold. If I had seen this as a kid, it would saved me years of fear and shame, writes Adrian Chiles

Baby food pouch hysteria? It’s just another way of making mothers feel guilty

We need a society that supports parents and makes good food choices achievable – not more lecturing of exhausted mums, says Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Leading baby food brands making high-sugar meals, study finds

Food from brands such as Ella’s Kitchen and Heinz are often nutritionally poor, researchers say