Motherhood is saying ‘I can’t do this any more’ – then doing it

What if we reminded each other that our lives are not naturally unbearable but they are made so by the powers that be?

‘At 45, I grieved the idea of motherhood. Then, by pure fluke, I was pregnant’

After miscarriages and IVF, I decided I was done. A few days later, I found out I was expecting, and the beautiful dismantling of my old life began

UK fertility treatment comparison tool featuring IVF data launched

Dashboard allows people to explore data including egg and sperm donors from 1991 onwards

‘My life will be short. So on the days I can, I really live’: 30 dying people explain what really matters

Facing death, these people found a clarity about how to live

Experience: I woke up from a Covid coma with newborn twins

Even when I saw the babies, I thought it was a dream and they weren’t mine

A moment that changed me: My body seemed like a death machine – until I saw those two blue lines

After cancer, chemotherapy and temporary menopause, I didn’t dare imagine having a baby. But all of a sudden my womb was designing a whole new life

‘There is joy, and there is rage’: the new generation of novelists writing about motherhood

From the shock and awe of labour to domestic isolation, a wave of recent novels captures the transformative nature of being a mother

‘I felt rage. I had traded my sanity for milk’: what happened when I breastfed despite the pain

Women continue to be told that breast is best – even when they are in agony or exhausted. As I discovered firsthand, this message puts new mothers under incredible strain

Two single friends, one radical plan: why I’m having a child with my gay best mate

Tom and I thought we’d missed out on having a family - until a drunken conversation turned serious …

‘I was grieving but couldn’t admit it’: why men cope so badly with miscarriage

When a mother has a miscarriage, men tend to snap into being strong, stoic and supportive. But a father also needs time to grieve. Here, Steve Bloomfield reflects on loss and hears how men are learning to help each other come to terms with what might have been

Don’t quit booze – just drink differently: 15 ways to change your life without trying all that hard

We ask the experts for the small life changes that can make a big difference

The key to keeping new year resolutions? Don’t make them in the first place

Setting endless goals can lead to a downward spiral. Stop wasting your life resolving to improve yourself and you might just find you enjoy it more

Failure to stem rising cost of formula in UK putting babies at risk, say experts

Leading doctors and charities urge children’s health minister to take action to support struggling families

How we met after 60: ‘You trust that instant chemistry when you get to 65’

Alexia and Joel, both 80, met in a cafe – within a week they had arranged to live together. A decade later they still do, splitting their time between California and Colorado

How to defuse an argument: prepare, repair or ‘let them yell it out’

A negotiator, a psychologist, a wedding planner, a conflict mediator and a maitre d’ share their hard-earned techniques for keeping the peace at Christmas