Singer ALICIA KEYS refuses to speak negatively about her experience of "painful" childbirth to avoid traumatising other expectant mothers.

The Fallin' hitmaker adopted a meditative technique to help her cope when she delivered her first son Egypt in October 2010.

The process was far from easy, but Keys downplays the pain factor when talking to other women about labour.

She tells British newspaper The Sun, "I like to speak about it very positively because I don't like to scare people. I mean it was painful, hell yeah. You have to scream, unless you're totally drugged and, hell, I screamed.

"But I followed this particular technique which banishes negative thoughts. So instead of calling it a contraction, it's a surge. And I think words like that are pretty powerful.

"So it hurt, but I think I received it a little better and I can say I really enjoyed it. It's not like anything I've ever done and I think it'll be better the second time. It must be. But as everyone says, it was worth it. It was bliss and a real miracle to be part of... And I really believe that (a) new day started the day Egypt came into this world."