A couple of years ago I attended a workshop on donor conception delivered by Olivia Montushi and Walter Merricks, founders of the Donor Conception Network in the U.K. and parents of two donor-conceived children. As a psychologist specialising in fertility, I was interested to hear their recommendations regarding telling donor-conceived children about their origins. I was […]

10 years ago

Are you an avid reader of horoscopes? Fancy some celestial input when thinking about baby girl names? Here are my top three picks for each sign. Aries (March 21-April 19) Aries is symbolised by the ram and ruled by the planet of war Mars. Here are some appropriate names for your little warrior: Fianna – An […]

10 years ago

A new study conducted by researchers at New York University, the University of Illinois, and Princeton University has shown that, by the age of just six, girls are less likely to associate ‘brilliance’ with their own gender than boys. The research, published today and led by Lin Bian, of the University of Illinois, and professor […]

10 years ago

Researchers in San Francisco claim to have found a potential genetic key to infantile epilepsy and autism. In new findings released this week, researchers from the University of California have stated that a distinct set of genetic defects in a single neuronal protein can lead either to infantile epilepsy or to autism spectrum disorders. The authors of […]

10 years ago

Research submitted to the Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs has revealed that thirty-eight percent of parents are highly concerned about the weight of their child’s school bag. Over three thousand parents expressed their concerns to The National Parents Council Primary, with twenty-two percent stating that one of their children has experienced pain or injury as a […]

10 years ago

Kids, they are priceless, but they are very, very expensive! We know all about it over here at HerFamily. But if you feel like you’re drowning in outgoings each month, have a peek at our nifty tips on how to squirrel away some budget every month.  An interesting study carried out by *Laya healthcare found that 77 […]

10 years ago

Popular television actress Mary Tyler Moore, best known for The Dick Van Dyke Show and her Emmy award-winning The Mary Tyler Moore Show, died yesterday in hospital at the age of eighty. Ms. Moore’s agent, Mara Buxman, confirmed the sad news to The Hollywood Reporter: “Mary Tyler Moore has died at age 80 in the company of her […]

10 years ago

A ten-year-old boy from Kansas in the United States has been taken into custody by police after stealing his parents’ car and driving eleven miles to go to the shops. Police clocked the vehicle being driven erratically and without headlights, leading to a high-speed car chase which ended when the car hit a kerb. Officers said […]

10 years ago

“If you’re not willing to get wet and dirty, you’re coming to the wrong place.” Cork and UCC were represented on the big US TV station the Travel Channel earlier this week. The people working on the show Xtreme Waterparks visited Kilbrittain in West Cork to do a feature on the West Cork Secret – and if […]

10 years ago

Imagine the feeling of waking up this morning with that winning ticket in your pocket. There’s someone in Ireland that’s now €88,587,275 richer after last night’s Euromillions draw. #EuroMillions results are in.Jackpot: €88,587,275 Winner: 1Location: 🇮🇪#ShareTheDream pic.twitter.com/BQrbEZU0A4 — The Irish National Lottery (@NationalLottery) January 24, 2017 The identity of the person or the location of […]

10 years ago

Actress Laura Prepon of Orange is the New Black fame is reported to be expecting her first baby with partner Ben Foster. Despite various media outlets reporting the star’s pregnancy, the couple have yet to confirm the exciting news. The 36-year-old, who shot to fame with her role as Donna Pinciotti in the eight-season sitcom That ’70s Show, is […]

10 years ago

Children’s telly is getting all the A-list action these days. Straight off the back of Tom Hardy reading us a bedtime story (swoon), the BBC announced today that top Irish actor Andrew Scott will voice a character in a new animated preschool series for CBeebies. The Sherlock actor is swapping his evil Moriarty character for something […]

10 years ago

Mel Gibson will need a brave heart (sorry) as he has just become a daddy for the ninth time. Yes, you read that right – the NINTH time. The Oscar-winning actor-director and his equestrian champion girlfriend Rosalind Ross welcomed their son, Lars Gerard Gibson, last Friday. Little Lars weighed in at just over five pounds and […]

10 years ago

A seven-year-old-boy has died from injuries he sustained in a road traffic accident on the 12th of January involving a truck and the car his mother was driving. Daniel O’Keefe (7) and his mother Emma O’Keefe (26) were involved in a collision with a truck just minutes from the family home in Wilkenstown, Co. Meath. The […]

10 years ago

Monday’s child is fair of face, Tuesday’s child is full of grace, Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go, Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living, but the child who is born on the Sabbath day is bonnie and blithe and good and gay. […]

10 years ago

A new study of five-hundred dads with daughters under the age of eighteen has revealed the top skills that fathers with a little girl have mastered. Dads of daughters know how to do a French plait, who Barbie’s boyfriend is and all of the words to Olly Murs’ ‘Troublemaker‘ according to a new survey. Girl-daddies also […]

10 years ago

An Irish company have been listed on the annual royal gift list after the Prince of Wales was gifted Lottie and Finn dolls on behalf of Princess Charlotte and Prince George of Cambridge.  There was great news for the Donegal toy company Arklu last week when royal officials released the list of presents formally received by the Royal Family and […]

10 years ago

Dee Devlin has shared a snap of herself, Conor, and bump, on a night out in Dublin and the mama-to-be is absolutely glowing. Stunning Dee, who is expecting the couple’s first baby in May, and her partner, champion fighter Conor McGregor, were pictured celebrating MMA coach John Kavanagh’s 40th birthday at House on Leeson Street. Dee wore […]

10 years ago

Four units from of Dublin Fire Brigade from Rathfarnham, Dolphins Barn, and Donnybrook, battled a blaze at a Dublin primary school for over two hours this morning. The fire was reported to emergency services at around 4 am after smoke and flames were spotted coming from a window at Scoil Naithí in Ballinteer. Dublin Fire Brigade fought […]

10 years ago

Weekends are hectic, we get it, but if you can manage to carve out some cooking time on a Saturday and Sunday to make-ahead these beauts, they will become instant crowd-pleasers, and part of your weekend routine, leaving you less stressed during the week. We promise. These three amazing recipes are tried and tested by the HerFamily […]

10 years ago

Martin Finn, a 60-year-old dad from Ballyfermot in Dublin who died after being struck by an SUV while out walking, has been hailed a hero after saving his daughter’s life. Mr. Finn and his eighteen-year-old daughter Abbie were hit by a vehicle while out walking on the Newcastle Road, between Newcastle and Lucan, at around 9pm […]

10 years ago

Can’t decide if you’re ready for the pitter patter of tiny little fat (kissable) feet? If you’re down with the sentiment that it turns your life upside down (in the nicest possible way, of course), then you might really be ready to reproduce. If you nod to at least 9 out of 11 of these […]

10 years ago

The 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, will spend his first full day in office tomorrow as more than one million women prepare to march in protest. The Women’s March On Washington is expected to attract unprecedented numbers of people to the US capital and over six hundred parallel protests in hundreds of cities across […]

10 years ago

Sadly, not all pregnancies result in a baby, and a significant number (between 15 and 20 percent) of pregnancies end due to miscarriage. Making a horrible situation even worse, some parents-to-be still find that miscarriage is viewed as a medical event or something that was ‘just not meant to be’ and not necessarily as a […]

10 years ago

Two of the country’s leading obstetricians issued stark warnings about Irelands “unacceptable level of risk” to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health which resumed this morning to consider Ireland’s National Maternity Strategy. UCC’s Professor of obstetrics Louise Kenny and former Master of the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dr Peter Boylan, told the Committee that they […]

10 years ago

The US government have just released new food safety guidelines classifying fish into three categories to help pregnant and breastfeeding women to make safe choices. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have sorted sixty-two varieties of fish and shellfish into three different sections: best choices: eat two to three servings a […]

10 years ago

Education Minister Richard Bruton has announced a new model for allocating special need education resources to schools, that will come into effect by next September. The Minister made the welcome announcement yesterday at Dublin’s Marino College while speaking at the launch of the new resource allocation model. Mr. Bruton has promised an additional nine hundred teachers to […]

10 years ago

A day-old baby passed away in the arms of his homeless mother at a bus stop in the United States. It is unclear if the newborn froze to death in Portland’s snowy weather conditions or if the baby boy was stillborn. The city’s local paper Williamette Week reports that the infant, who was found on the […]

10 years ago

A baby girl has been born in Ukraine using a new three-person IVF method called ‘pronuclear transfer’. The infant, who was born on the 5th of January, is thought to only be the world’s second baby to have three genetic parents. The world’s first baby was born in April last year as a result of the […]

10 years ago

Mary. Fanny. Hoo-Ha. Va-jay-jay. Lady garden. Foof. Front bottom. That’s right girlos, today we are talking about what you call your Lady China. A quick vagina survey amongst the HerFamily team has thrown up a few hilarious muff monikers – ‘lasagne’ or ‘tuppence’ anyone!? Trine informs me ’tissesjur’ is the name you need to know […]

10 years ago

New research using data from over 5,000 Irish families participating in the Growing Up in Ireland study, has looked at the relationship between children’s weight gain and their parents perception of them as being overweight. Psychology researchers Eric Robinson (of the University of Liverpool) and Angelina Sutin (of Florida State University College of Medicine) found that children whose […]

10 years ago

Fancy being a Cambridge Professor of PLAY?! Yes, so do we. But hurry, time is running out – you only have three more days to land yourself the most eyebrow-raising business card ever. The world-famous English University that has produced alumni including royalty, William Wordsworth, Hugh Laurie, and Stephen Fry, will take applications for the newly-created post […]

10 years ago

Actress Katherine Heigl and her musician husband Josh Kelley have welcomed their third child, a baby boy named after his daddy – awwww! Baby Joshua Bishop Kelley Jr. is a brother to Nancy Leigh (8) (who also goes by the cute name Naleigh), and Adalaide Marie Hope (4). Katherine and Josh adopted their eldest daughter Nancy from South Korea in […]

10 years ago

Three missing Australian brothers, Jai (9), Beau (10) and Chase (12) Masters, were found by a television reporter on his way to work. Aussie newspaper the Herald Sun reports that the missing boys had hitched a ride to Melbourne with a stranger and stayed at a friend’s house. Reporter Dean Felton, who works for 7 News, spotted the […]

10 years ago

Remember little Hayley Brown who broke hearts all over the world after her dad Andrew posted a photograph of her last remaining eyelash? Well, the seven-year-old has some good news to share… After spending the last number of months bravely battling her way through radiation and chemotherapy at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne Australia, Hayley’s nasal tumour […]

10 years ago

Shocking new figures published on Friday have provided the first-ever estimates of the numbers of women who drink alcohol during pregnancy, as well as worldwide estimates of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) – a preventable birth defect. A new study by Canada’s largest mental health and addiction hospital has shown that large numbers of women are continuing to consume alcohol […]

10 years ago

Research released today by the University of Michigan in the US says most parents are unsure about when to send their sick child in to school and when to keep the little snotsers at home. We’ve all been there; the whispered discussions “How sick do you think he is? He’s ok to go in isn’t he? […]

10 years ago

Minister for education Richard Bruton will announce his plans to take on the country’s baptism rules that currently give priority admission to Catholic children. Mr. Bruton says he plans to make significant changes to the school admission process, which will be announced today at a conference organised by Equate, a children and family rights organisation campaigning for greater equality […]

10 years ago

An Australian coroner has stated that the death of a two-year-old girl, who was crushed by a television set, was “preventable” following an inquest. Jasmine Lilian Cammilleri was tragically crushed to death at her Western Australian home after she pulled a 37-inch LED television on top of herself in February 2013. The toddler’s mother, Megan Cammilleri, found the two-year-old lying […]

10 years ago

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge paid a visit to a child bereavement centre that Prince William has been a patron of since 2009. While there, William comforted a nine-year-old girl whose dad had lost his battle with cancer, telling her “I lost my mummy when I was very young too.” The official website of the […]

10 years ago

Whether breast or bottle fed, your baba will gradually need to discover new tastes and textures. With lots of different advice out there, weaning is a notoriously confusing stage, especially for first-time mamas. Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Current Irish guidelines state that you should wait until your baba is six months of age before you […]

10 years ago

Australian police have charged a 44-year-old woman with ‘leaving a child in a motor vehicle and causing emotional distress’ after four children aged nine, eight, seven and six were allegedly left inside a car on Sydney’s hottest day since 1991. Police were called to a parking lot on Sydney’s Canterbury Road after witnesses rescued four distressed children […]

10 years ago

Barack Obama made his farewell address last night and the President was reduced to tears (along with the rest of the world) as he honoured his wife Michelle, calling her his “girl of the south side.” Making his emotionally charged farewell speech to a Chicago crowd calling out “we love you Obama”, the soon to be ex-president […]

10 years ago

It is FREEZING!  The cold snap has well and truly started and judging from the most recent forecast, it’s only going to get more bitter as the week continues. Met Éireann has issued a status yellow wind warning from 10 pm tonight until 10 am tomorrow morning and it relates to four counties: Donegal, Mayo, […]

10 years ago

Hard to believe but it has been twenty years since the original series of Teletubbies first appeared on our screens. Ok, we feel REALLY old. It has been announced that children’s author, actor, comedian and all-round good egg David Walliams will be the latest star to join the voice cast of the hit series. Walliams joins an […]

10 years ago

Christmas was a difficult time for the Jolie-Pitt family but the New Year appears to have brought some resolution as last night saw Brad and Angelina release their first joint statement. In the US, CNN reports that the two actors have now agreed to seal all legal and court documents pertaining to their divorce with a view […]

10 years ago

Want to see what liquid gold looks like under a microscope? A mum in the US has shared an incredible video of her microscopically magnified breastmilk and it’s pretty amazing. Jansen Howard, an artist, asked her father (a blood microscopist) if she could put her breastmilk under a microscope so that she could see for herself what […]

10 years ago

This creative father might just be one of the best dads ever. Six-year-old Dom, his brother Al, and their Dad, have created a highly-imaginative alternate reality through their Instagram account titled ‘Things I Have Drawn‘. With a little help from Photoshop, everything the boys imagine on paper becomes a wonderful reality and the results are pretty amazing… […]

10 years ago

Irish parents have been urged to look for these code words in their children’s online correspondence. The long list of codes was found with US technology programme ‘The Kim Komando Show’. The list, shared by the PSNI, also contains emojis that allude to sexual acts. The list contains terms like ‘LMIRL’ meaning Let’s Meet in […]

10 years ago

A company in the US will turn your remains into beautiful glass art. Husband and wife team, Greg and Christina Dale, who run memorial company Artful Ashes say that their team of artists will: “capture the essence of your loved ones spirit in a swirl of colour and ashes, sealed forever within beautiful glass art.” The stunning glass art […]

10 years ago