No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani was wary of heading back into the studio after welcoming her second child with husband Gavin Rossdale, because she didn't want to miss out on memorable moments with her kids.

The Don't Speak hitmakers recently reunited after more than a decade-long hiatus to record their new album Push & Shove, and Stefani confesses she had a hard time leaving six-year-old Kingston and little Zuma, who she welcomed in 2008, because she didn't want them to grow up without a hands-on mum.

She tells Vogue magazine, "I think a lot of what I was going through on the record was wanting to be who I've always been, but now I'm somebody different. I am a mother. And if you don't do it right, there are serious consequences. That's what this whole record was: trying to balance it, trying to be my creative self but also be the new me.

"I felt so guilty. I am letting everyone down in the studio right now; I'm letting down my kids; I'm letting down myself. Because time was so precious. So I didn't know what the album's tone would end up being in that kind of state, but it's really upbeat considering."