Budget Maternity Clothing?

tinysparkles

Hello all!

I'm 14 weeks pregnant and am getting to the point where my existing clothes are getting a bit uncomfortable through a combination of bloat and the beginnings of a bump!

My husband and I are on a low joint income, and I don't tend to really spend anything on clothes unless I have to. I've had a look at some maternity clothes online and things seem quite expensive, so was wondering if anyone had any tips for where to buy cheaper maternity wear, or perhaps the key bits of clothing they couldn't live without?

Nicki

Look on ebay for bundles of clothes in your size. Unless you are a really unusual size, there are usually loads which go for not very much money, so you can often completely kit yourself out with clothes to your own taste for peanuts.

Bump bands are also quite good in the early stages to make your normal clothes last, but I always grew so much in all 3 of my pregnancies that there is no way I could make do with just these right to the end, and if you do try and stay in your normal clothes with buttons undone/extenders/etc then it is a bit of a false economy as they will be stretched and shapeless by the end of the pregnancy so not much good for when you go back to your normal size after baby is born.

mummybearx

I haven't (yet) needed maternity wear, but have you looked on places like ebay, freecycle or preloved?

Maybe try your local selling pages on facebook, there is usually lots of baby stuff and maternity wear on my local pages.

I've seen nice stuff in asda http://direct.asda.com/george/womens/maternity-clothes/D1M1G20C19,default,sc.html

xx

babymonster2

I'd second ebay, that's where I bought most if mine second time round (pregnant in summer first time, winter the second!)

Am thinking of selling mine post baby (due 30th Jan!) but honestly don't see myself having the time to do it so would be happy to give away if I knew someone a similar size who wanted them.

No friends that have anything you could have who've already had children?

babymonster2

In terms of what to buy layers work well as you can add to them in cold weather and take them off as you approach summer, so short sleeved tops may be a better investment now to save them becoming redundant in later months.

Also bump bands I use again towards the end when the maternity clothes can get too short with a big bump!

viciouslittlething

Most of my stuff came from NCT Sales or similar local sales and eBay.

Last pregnancy I stayed in non-maternity wear for as long as possible and used bump bands to make my normal clothes last, but once I got to the point of not doing my jeans up I had to buy a few things. Seriously Maternity Jeans were the comfiest things I could have bought. I picked up a pair of overbump and underbump reasonably cheap. I'm on my second pregnancy and wearing them again, they've been loaned to a friend in between and they are great quality, considering they are Next.

Sales have been kind this time. Next have reduced again their maternity stuff, so smaller and larger sizes are still available. I picked up some leggings overbump for £3, not the most flattering look on me, but comfort factor is high, now that I'm 27 weeks.

I've been in my old maternity wear since about 10 weeks, this bump is huge in comparison.

girl28

I got all mine from ebay and H&M

stiltwalker

I found maternity jeans the most useful (black dresses up better) - for tops I just went for the very stretchy lycra jersey tops, preferably ones that had interesting features like a crossover at the bust or nice empire line style ones in a size or 2 larger. I got a couple of middling smart maternity tops as I got bigger that I just dressed up with nice jewellery if I needed to look smarter and left the jewellery off for day wear. Empire line is your friend! I went to a wedding at 6 months pregnant in a New Look empire line red dress I got in the sale for a tenner and then wore it again on NYE. Ultimately I just had to get used to washing and wearing the same few clothes over and over again.

Try the different types of jeans on - I couldn't abide the underbump as they felt like they were constantly falling down but my friend loved them and hated overbump as her bump got too hot!

brunettegirl

I asked on freecycle and got quite a bit of stuff, ebay was fairly good, i also went around charity shops and bought bigger sizes, I had problems wearing stuff around my waist so bought dresses, long ones most where just bigger sizes, maternity ones from ebay got a few for 99p

fluffysox

asda and matalan. both good. and can look online. Also stretchy long tunic tshirts with maternity leggings were great. in the lasy month i could only wear dresses so got a couple of maxi dresses from a local market. they were one-size so stretchy

cherryblossoms

I got most of my clothes from ebay, New Look, H&M and Topshop. It's really worth keeping a look out for online and instore sales, I don't think I paid full price for any of my clothes. Netmums have a sales section so you may be able to find something in your area.