Asthmatic mothers-to-be and their babies at greater risk of health complications

Maternal asthma 'significantly increases' the risk of pre-eclampsia, while infants born to mothers with the condition are much more likely to have a low birth weight, a study has found

Birth defects linked for first time to smoking in pregnancy

Clubfoot and missing limbs among malformations in newborns proven to be associated with expectant mothers who smoke

Frederick Leboyer: ‘Babies are overlooked in labour’

In the 1970s this French obstetrician enraged the medical profession by suggesting a baby had 'rights' during labour. Despite initial resistance, his ideas for less medicalised birth changed the face of the labour ward

Locked-in syndrome: Shut out by a stroke

Huma Qureshi's father was paralysed by a stroke, unable to talk. Family life was changed for ever. She meets other people who have experienced a similar loss

Problem solved

I am sure my teenage son has anorexia. I can see he is suffering, but I don't know how to help

Taking care

What is it like to be a carer? And when another adult has to wash you, put you to bed or even take you to the toilet, how does it affect you? In National Carers Week, five people and their carers share their experiences

Link found between stillbirth and sleeping position in pregnancy

Risk of stillbirth for women sleeping on left on night before birth is half that for those who sleep in other positions, study shows

The Mumsnet Rules by Natasha Joffe and Justine Roberts – review

Mumsnet's peer-advice guide to being the perfect parent suggests that common sense should take precedence over rules, writes Eleanor Birne

But is she really asleep?

As a new father, Adam Mansbach was smitten by his daughter but driven to despair by her resistance to sleep. Nick Duerden hears how it inspired his X-rated bestselling book

Family under the microscope

How teenagers lose sleep over their school days