An American mum is retiring from surrogacy, after carrying 11 children for other parents.

Meredith Olafson, 47, from North Dakota, USA, has given birth to 15 babies over the past 13 years – but only four of them are hers.

Meredith's carried two sets of triplets, one set of twins and three single babies ...  Continue reading

IVF clinics aren't doing enough to encourage people to donate eggs and sperm, the head of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the fertility watchdog, has suggested.

In a new push to raise awareness of egg and sperm donation, chair of the HFEA Lisa Jardine has said she wanted egg donation ...  Continue reading

Not only are our babies bigger than ever, giving birth is taking an average of two and a half hours longer than it did in our grandmas’ day, according to new research.

Comparing nearly 140,000 births in the USA, researchers have suggested the definition of ‘normal’ labour should be changed to ...  Continue reading

Exposure to radiation from mobile phones during pregnancy may affect the brain development of unborn babies, according to new research on mice, at Yale University in the US.

The study measured the brain activity of adult mice that were exposed to radiation in the womb. They found that these mice tended to ...  Continue reading

Scotland's ban on smoking in public places is linked to a 10% drop in the country's premature birth rate, say researchers.

University of Glasgow researchers looked at smoking and birth rates for more than 700,000 women over a period of about 14 years before and after the ban.

After the legislation was introduced ...  Continue reading

Babies born between 37 and 38 weeks are more likely to have poor health and suffer from illnesses than those born at full term, according to a new study.

Premature babies, those born before 37 weeks, are generally considered to be more at risk of illnesses and developmental problems. But new ...  Continue reading

A record number of pregnancies were reported last year, seeing the UK enjoy its biggest baby boom ever. Over 900,000 pregnancies were recorded in a single year, beating even the baby boom years following the Second World War.

Though the bigger UK population may have some effect, experts have put the boom ...  Continue reading

Due to give birth to twins just three weeks before her 48th birthday, Jill Hawkins holds the record for the most surrogate pregnancies for someone living in the UK.

With no plans to stop, Jill admits her family is concerned due to her difficult time with her eighth surrogate, spending most of ...  Continue reading

The government is investigating claims by a national newspaper that doctors have agreed to abortions when women didn't want their baby because of its gender. 

The Daily Telegraph secretly filmed doctors at British clinics agreeing to terminate foetuses purely because they're either male or female, even though sex-selection is illegal.

Undercover reporters accompanied ...  Continue reading