Are Maternity clothes essential?

xmaslolly76

Hiya congratulations i'm 14wks gone at the moment and am finding myself huge as well i have found that leggings are a god send at the moment not only are the fashinable right now but they are cheap will see me through until i really do need maternity gear. Thankfully alot of the fashion tops around now are very loose fitting and baggy and also long so i have bought some nice jazzy ones for going out and some more conservative ones for work and i will still be able to wear them after the baby has come. When you do buy maternity wear make sure it can all be mixed and matched so you end up with more wearable outfits for your money. Goodluck :-) x

Nicki

I was thinking about this thread again last night and as an experiment I tried on some empire line tops I had bought 2 sizes two big a while ago when I thought (wrongly as it turned out then) I was expecting again. At 12 weeks, they were already looking quite close fitting, and there is no way they will see me through to week 40!

The maternity tops I've bought are quite close fitting but made of stretchy material so they will adjust as I grow up and down. They will be absolutely fine to wear when the baby is born, even when I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight and size, and as they are in colours or shapes I would choose anyway, I'm quite happy with them. The big size empire line ones will make me look like I'm still pregnant when I go back to normal size, so I'm unlikely to wear them again.

The more I think about it, unless you know that you are not going to get big (how?), I think its a false economy not to buy maternity clothes.

niknaknoo1982

It depends what shape you are to start i think! In my 1st 3 pregnancies i wore none maternity,and stretchy waist stuff. Lots of joggers and 'granny pants' LOL

This time i've had trouble finding anything suitable trouser wise as i'm a different shape this time and have been in maternity clothes(pants with normal tops) since 16 weeks. I'm a big girl anyway so don't get MUCH bigger just get a larger harder stomach instead of a jelly belly lol. Some people didnt even realise i was 40 wks gone last time

HTH

alison18671

Hello
i have an 18month old.
I stayed in normal clothing until about 20-24weeks, then bought just the 'lower half' in maternity clothing, and a bigger size in normal tops...the bottom half is where you get uncomfy, you need that bit of extra support under your bump as you get bigger and why feel uncomfortable clothes wise, its hard enough being pregnant without any extras! you keep cool over the summer lovey, nice cotton normal tops and some maternity cargo cropped pants!
Alison

minnie123

Hi I think it's best to buy maternity clothes. I am usually a UK 6 but by the time I was 8 weeks all my trousers were tight, so I bought some size 8 trousers, By the time I was 12 weeks I could barely do these up so I got some size 10 thinking I won't get much bigger... Hmmm you can guess what happened next I had to get some actual maternity trousers (size 6 maternity) fitted perfectly and really flattering because they are shaped correctly. I got a couple of maternity trousers from New Look online (if you type NEWLOOK20 in you get 20% discount) and the rest I got off ebay. I liked the next, new look, topshop & dorothy perkins stuff the best. You can get some real bargains off ebay. I think in total I spent about £100 on maternity clothes and that included a few brand new things. When I had the baby and started fitting back into my normal clothes I sold everything on ebay and made about £60 back, so it was well worth it. Next time (if there is one) I will just buy maternity straight away.

ladybirdintheuk

I bought 2 pairs of proper maternity trousers (from Mothercare), and a few smart tops for work, but other than that, I just bought some larger skirts (ones that tie round the middle, so to start with they were a bit big, but I could tighten them, an let them out as much as I needed to) and tops from primark. By the end (last 2 months) I could only fit into my maternity stuff, so I had to be quite quick off the mark on the washing front, but I'm now wearing the bigger skirts and tops on the way back down.

You could also try NCT nearly new sales for cheaper stuff? New Look were quite cheap for actual maternity stuff too (I got all my tops from there).