What Every Hopeful Parent Needs to Know With the rise of egg freezing, more people are preserving their fertility for future parenthood. But what happens when those eggs remain unused? A new study from Monash University and Monash IVF highlights a growing issue: thousands of frozen...

Even low levels of alcohol use during pregnancy are linked to changes in unborn babies report Evelyne Muggli and Professor Alicia Spittle Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) describes a range of severe neurodevelopmental impairments caused by alcohol exposure before birth. People with FASD can experience a wide...

Why do women get ‘reassurance scans’ ? asks Christopher Rudge.  And how can you spot a dodgy provider? Recent media coverage in the Nine newspapers highlights a surge in non-medical ultrasound providers offering “reassurance ultrasounds” to expectant parents. The service has resulted in serious harms, such as...

Cathy Watson swore that she would never deflect her children’s questions, but lately they have become increasingly complicated. I think I am a victim of deflective parenting. As a child, I found it hard to understand why, at times, my mother sometimes looked tired and absent...

Sarah Jefferson advises how to help your child return to school after a long illness, new diagnosis or an accident It is very common for children to have a day or two away from school due to illness. But children can also miss much longer...

How you react to disability reveals a lot about you writes Arianne Ryecroft, a mother of three with two children living with disabilities. Our 10-year-old son, Xavier*, was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) at the age of five. Four months later,...

Martha Wegner discovers that when it comes to gardening, two’s competent but three’s a clown. It was the kind of day we dream about when we think of autumn: perfectly cool, the kind of cool that requires a long-sleeved shirt and maybe a hat to keep...

Australian midwives and GPs should be allowed to manage pregnancies and births in the private hospital system under a new proposal that would see health insurers funding more options for expecting families. More Choices, Lower Costs for Expecting Families The new proposal aims to make private hospital...

Mothers need proper screening after birth, writes Phyllis Ohene-Agyei A growing number of women experience high blood sugar levels during pregnancy which typically resolve after birth. Known as gestational diabetes, this is the most common metabolic disorder in pregnancy and affects one in seven women worldwide and...