Duchess Kate candidly discusses her struggles as a new mom
London — As part of her campaign to raise awareness of mental and emotional health issues — including the common struggles of new parents around the world — Duchess Kate of Cambridge recorded an unusually personal half-hour chat with a British podcaster about her own experiences of motherhood.
The candid discussion with Prince William's wife was recorded for a podcast called "Happy Mum Happy Baby," with British broadcaster and podcast host Giovanna Fletcher.
Kate has been on a nationwide quest to talk to parents about the importance of the early years in childrearing, and how relationships and bonding at that stage can affect a child for life. She said in the podcast that it's important for mothers to feel they can talk about the challenges they face without being judged.
"We're all in this together," she said, noting that all parents struggle with the same things and highlighting statistics that show the leading cause of deaths in new mothers is suicide.
Kate spoke candidly about her own struggles with parenthood; her difficulties with acute morning sickness, how much she valued the midwives that helped her and the loneliness and isolation new mothers can feel before a child starts school or nursery.
The wife of Britain's future monarch revealed in the discussion that she didn't know her first child with William, Prince George, was going to be a boy before he was born.
She said that, like all parents, they experienced a degree of shock and questioned their own readiness before getting settled into family life.
Unlike most new parents, Kate and William practiced getting their new baby into his car seat and then into a car, before having to do it in public with the cameras clicking.
Asked by Fletcher when is she happiest, Kate said it's when she's out in the countryside with her family, "getting filthy dirty."
