Working mum Kate’s parental guilt ...but cutie Charlotte’s always her little flower
THE Duchess of Cambridge has revealed she used the relaxation technique hypnobirthing to help her cope with her three pregnancies.
Kate turned to the technique, once seen as radically New Age, to help control acute morning sickness – hyperemesis – while pregnant with George, Charlotte and Louis.
She shared her secret and the guilt she often feels over being a working mother in a Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast with Giovanna Fletcher, as Kate continues to promote her Five Big Questions childhood survey.
Kate said: “William didn’t feel he could do much to help and it’s hard for everyone to see you suffering without actually being able to do anything about it.
‘William didn’t feel he could do much’
“It was through hyperemesis that I really realised the power of the mind over the body, because I really had to try everything to try and help me through it.”
Laughing Kate agreed the “hippy dippy” reputation of hypnobirthing was unwarranted, saying: “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.
“I saw the power of it really, the meditation and the deep breathing and things like 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.”
Kate, 38, tries to create cherished memories for her children every day.
She said: “I’ve got this one photo of Charlotte smelling a bluebell... it’s moments like that, that mean so much to me as a parent.
“And I try every day to put moments like that in, even if they’re small or even if I don’t have time. It’s the simple things that really make a difference. It’s spending quality time with your children.”
Kate said someone asked her what she would want her children to remember about their childhood.
She said: “If you really think about that, is it that I’m sitting down trying to do their maths and spelling homework over the weekend?
“Or is it the fact that we’ve gone out and lit a bonfire and sat around trying to cook sausages that hasn’t worked because it’s too wet?
“That’s what I would want them to remember, moments with me as a mother, but also the family going to the beach, getting soaking wet, our boots full of water. Not a stressful household where you’re trying to do everything and not really succeeding at one thing.” Kate said she tries to organise her working day around the school run and her children’s needs, but still struggles with mum guilt.
She said: “Even this morning, George and Charlotte were like, ‘Mummy, how could you possibly not be dropping us off at school?’”
Kate said a “very wise man” helped her overcome her guilt, saying human families are very like animal communities, where adults share responsibility for raising the young.
She did not identify the mystery philosopher, but courtiers say it
‘Simple things make a difference’
sounds uncannily like the views of her father-in-law, Prince Charles.
Asked how she felt when she held George for the first time, Kate said: “Amazing, amazing.
“It is extraordinary, as I’ve said. How can the human body do that?
“But also seeing your husband, the pure joy of his face. It was really special.”
When asked what being a mum means, she said, “compromise!”
And when asked to finish a sentence starting “I’m happy when...”, she said: “With my family in the countryside – we’re all filthy dirty.”
● To take part in Kate’s survey, go to https://5bigquestions.org.uk
‘I’ve got this one photo of Charlotte smelling a bluebell, and it’s moments like that which mean so much to me as a parent. And I try every day to put moments like that in – even if they’re small’