This column will change your life: if it’s good for you, it can’t be nice

Oliver Burkeman: 'When told food would make them stronger, or better at counting or reading, children came to think of it as less tasty, and ate a smaller amount'

I’m a woman with severe facial hair – and zero confidence as a result

Annalisa Barbieri: I’m too self-conscious to socialise and desperate to find the confidence to work again and be ‘normal’

Baby Gammy’s sad story is not the only side to surrogacy – I know it can work

Bonita Dordel: International surrogacy could do with some regulation, but it’s all too easy to pass moral judgment

If you cheer breastfeeding women and jeer bottle-feeders, you’re the problem

Jessica Valenti: By judging mothers’ choices, we reinforce the idea that women can’t be trusted to decide what’s right for their bodies

What are growing pains and should I worry about them?

Reports have suggested that growing pains could lead to osteoarthritis. So should children who experience them have blood tests and MRI scans? Luisa Dillner reports

Finding inner peace in a green space

There is such a thing as on-the-move meditation and my local park is the perfect place to do it

My thalidomide family: Every time I went home I was a stranger

Louise Medus was one of the last babies born with the effects of the drug thalidomide. Brought up in a residential home from infancy, She’s had to fight to overcome her tough start in life and build a family life of her own

Criminalising pregnant women who drink is a ploy to restrict their freedom

Rebecca Schiller: If the UK apes the US and punishes pregnant women, we will be heading towards a dystopia akin to that in The Handmaid’s Tale

Alcohol abuse in pregnancy could become a crime, legal papers claim

Advice groups bid to combat ruling they believe could undermine pregnant women's freedom to make decisions for themselves

Why I don’t like hugs and what it says about me

I used to think that getting naked with a man meant being close to someone