‘William didn’t feel he could do much to help’: Kate Middleton opens up about her experience with severe morning sickness

Kate Middleton has told how Prince William felt helpless during her severe morning sickness.

The Duchess of Cambridge appeared on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby Podcast over the weekend, where she spoke about the importance of the early years, her parenting experiences and her 5 Big Questions on the Under fives’ survey. In the candid interview with Giovanna Fletcher, she opened up about her experience with hyperemesis gravidarum, a form of severe morning sickness. "I got very bad morning sickness, so I’m not the happiest of pregnant people," Kate said, adding that while she knows "lots of people have it far worse", it was still a challenge. "Not just for me but also for your loved ones around you – and I think that’s the thing - being pregnant and having a new-born baby and things like that, impacts everybody in the family," she continued.

 

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"You know, 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. I was really sick–I wasn’t eating the things I should be eating–but yet, the body was still able to take all the goodness from my body and to grow new life, which I think is fascinating.” She went on to explain how it was through hyperemesis that she realised the "power of the mind over the body because I really had to try everything and everything to try and help me through it" - and that led her to try hypnobirthing. "There’s levels of it. 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," she continued. "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! But I know some people do have really, really difficult times, and it’s not for everybody."