Thriving Families

Marlon had been born with a mystery illness just 14 weeks earlier but when he died suddenly without a diagnosis for his condition my fledgling family was crushed. Little did I know as I floundered in bewildered devastation that deep within my DNA lay a fault that would also take the life of my second born.

There was a moment when I knew, beyond any doubt, what it meant to be your mother. But it wasn't the day you were born.

It wasn't the first time I knew about you, even - a long-awaited pink line forming in front of my eyes as I sat, perched on the edge of the cold bath, waiting.

The simple answer is, not much different to being any other mother. We all spam our Facebook feed with pictures of adorable newborns, food-covered weaning babies and exuberant toddlers. We all tell tales of sleepless nights and bodies that are never the same again. We all scan the parks and baby groups for the sight of someone else who is barely existing on three hours sleep and whose baby won't eat anything but bread and ice cream on a continuous loop.

Trying to fit work commitments around the demands of supporting a new family is probably the biggest challenge I've faced, but I'm still loving every second of it. I've never enjoyed two weeks of my life more than the fortnight of my paternity leave. The immediate love I had for my little boy Sonny, the closeness we felt as a family and the sheer joy of watching that tiny baby turn into a little boy full of personality was the greatest feeling I could ever imagine.

Maternity leave is often a time where new mums succumb to sleep deprivation while adapting to life at home with a newborn. But when Karen Edwards, 31, fell pregnant, she wanted to do things slightly differently. Ten weeks after the birth of her first child, Esmé, Edwards and her partner Shaun Bayes set off on a year-long, around-the-world trip.

One woman is determined to change the bad image of what it means to "dress like a mum". Zoë De Pass, from London, believes mums don't lose their sense of style just because they have kids, yet there's an assumption that they do. The mum-of-two launched 'Dress Like A Mum' in 2014 as a way to change the misconceptions many have about a woman's style post-baby.

Two mums are on a mission to prove that being an "imperfect" parent is nothing to be ashamed of. Ellie Gibson, 38, and Helen Thorn, 37, are the comedy double act known as 'Scummy Mummies' - the opposite of a 'Yummy Mummy'. Through their fortnightly podcasts, live shows and soon-to-be released book, the duo want to remind mums and dads that parenting is hard, but that doesn't mean you can't laugh about it.

A good relationship with food and the right mindset can save you from some of the horrors and frustrations that can be seen daily in the accounts of parents. The scale of issues is long and diverse and there is no one size fits all approach type solution.

Here are the most important words that will enrich your family's journey from childhood to adulthood.

At a time when visibility of LGBT people is at an all-time high, and the fight for equality is becoming more and more prevalent in our modern society, the way we view traditional families is also changing.

Just as single-parent families have become the norm as the years have gone on, an increase in LGBT parenting also means that different types of non-traditional families are becoming more and more accepted.

Postnatal depression didn't just make Taylor Glenn anxious, it also undermined her whole identity as a comedian. She felt part of her had been "amputated" because "nothing was funny anymore".

The 38-year-old mum was low and irritable but downplayed her symptoms to avoid having the "PND label" and the perceived consequences of it. But now, the comedian is determined to rebrand the label of PND, so women don't feel ashamed and can get the support they need.

When I was choosing a nursery for my daughter, I thought it made sense to put her in one near my office. I was going there anyway, right? I'd just take her on the commute with me and drop her off on the way to work. We would have fun. It would save time.

Let's just say that it's not going exactly to plan.

Parents are lying about what they cook for their children because they feel guilty about their kids' meals, worrying new research reveals today.

Nearly a fifth (18%) of mums and dads have fibbed about what they make for their children's meals, a new study conducted by YouGov for The Huffington Post UK shows.

In the UK, there is a lost generation who cannot cook and who do not know where their food comes from or what constitutes a balanced diet. The shocking reality that today's children will live shorter lives than their parents could, however, be prevented with simple lifestyle tweaks.

Here we champion five organisations teaching children about their food and encouraging them to make healthier changes.

Going down from two incomes to one is no small matter. It can make the idea of giving up the day job seem like an impossibility, yet mums and dads in their thousands are making it work for their families.

Monday mornings are pretty bleak for Claire Stevens. As an NHS dental consultant, she has to prepare herself for yet another week of pulling out children's teeth.

"I'll see around eight children every week who need to have multiple teeth taken out under a general anaesthetic because the decay is so bad," she tells The Huffington Post UK.

"I find it heartbreaking that these children are going through a procedure that could have been prevented."