Kate Middleton has confessed that she “liked labour” and that she felt “huge power” over the pain while birthing her babies, thanks to hypnobirthing techniques.
WATCH: Kate Middleton admits to tough parenthood experience
The Duchess of Cambridge made the candid confessions on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast.
She famously suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum during all three of her pregnancies, and said that hypnobirthing had made her feel like she was “in control” again.
Hypnobirthing techniques – such a visualising birth in a positive light – are used to ease the birthing process and aim to ensure the mum-to-be remains calm and controlled from the moment she goes into labour.
She explained: “I saw the power of it really, the meditation and the deep breathing and things like that – that they teach you in hypnobirthing – when I was really sick and actually I realised that this was something I could take control of, I suppose, during labour.
“It was hugely powerful and because it had been so bad during pregnancy, I actually really quite liked labour! Because actually it was an event that I knew there was going to be an ending to.”
While partners can get involved in hypnobirthing too, Kate confessed it was something she wanted to do on her own, rather than with her husband, Prince William.
She added: “I’m not going to say that William was standing there sort of, chanting sweet nothings at me. He definitely wasn’t!
“I didn’t even ask him about it, but it was just something I wanted to do for myself.”
The Duchess also confessed the time between giving birth and sending your children to school can be especially daunting for new parents.
Kate, who appeared on the podcast to talk about her five big questions survey, said while there are plenty of prenatal support services, there needs to be more postnatal intervention.
“Having had such a wonderful support network through pregnancy and delivery from nurses and midwives, it’s then a very lonely period between then and perhaps going into the educational system,” Kate admitted.
“There are some incredible communities out there, which I have been to see, that do as much as they can in terms of including parents, but it is quite a lonely period for a mother, and for families really too.
“Where do they go if they need support, whether it’s for their child or for themselves? And that’s why I’m looking at really trying to join the dots.
“That’s why I think it’s so important for communities like this, coming together, joining the dots for parents, with the children and the educational system,” she said.
When asked about her parenting style, Kate told podcast host Giovanni Fletcher she takes reference from her own childhood, which she credits as being rich in positive relationships.
“If I take the experience from my own childhood, coupled with what I know now and what I’ve learnt from the experts in the early years sector, I think there’s a few things that really stand out for me,” Kate said.
“One is [the] quality of relationships – so those moments that you spend with people that are around you. I remember that from my own childhood.
“I had an amazing granny who devoted a lot of time to us, playing with us, doing arts and crafts and going to the greenhouse to do gardening, cooking with us, and I try and incorporate a lot of the experiences that she gave us at the time into the experiences I give my children now,” she said.
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