‘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

A Christmas that changed me: I ended up on all fours in A&E having my buttocks syringed

It was just a cup of steaming mint tea – but when it spilled into my lap and onto my seat, the enormous blisters were inevitable

Just say no: 13 ways to get out of everything – from extra work to Christmas parties

Do you yearn to set strong boundaries, but are scuppered by a lifelong tendency to people-please? Here is how to stop now

My youth has all but faded. But my three-quarter-life crisis is filled with fascinating revelations and boundless joys

As someone fortunate to be on the cusp of a seventh decade, it’s not often I sense the icy spectre of mortality. But posterity, familial and cultural, really matters now

My parents and in-laws are making inappropriate comments about my baby. Should I let them go?

You are allowed to have rules about how you and your child are treated, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith, but enforcing them will feel awful

‘It’s extortionate’: a mother’s struggle to afford rising price of baby formula

Lone parent Rebecca Anderson feels women in UK who do not breastfeed are being penalised after 25% price rise

My sister is getting opportunities I feel I missed. How do I grieve my past, but support her?

Beware of grass is always greener thinking, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Instead, reflect on what has stopped you before and what is possible now

Births among women over 50 rise 15% in England, figures show

Births to older mothers have increased in recent years alongside average ages for childbirth and IVF treatment