to want to try on my maternity clothes?

[LisaLotta]

I spent two hours yesterday wandering around Birmingham trying to find some maternity clothes to try on. Every shop I went in to told me they only sell them online. Fair enough, there's not a huge demand for them, but both pairs of maternity jeans I've bought I've had to send back as they don't fit me.

Where on earth can I buy maternity clothes that I can actually try on? Even my local supermarkets don't have them. Everything is online.

Any ideas?

H and M have them in shops

Mothercare?

H&M and New Look

H&M is the only place I've found, such a pain not being able to try on.

Jojo Maman Bebe & Mothercare

H&M? We have 3 h&m shops in my city and all of them have a maternity section so I'd assume that most of their stores have them. The maternity section isnt huge but it's not too bad for choice and they have some really good basics like plain tops and leggings.

Larger branches of New Look often have a selection in.

I buy a load from ASOS though (including stuff from New Look) and just return anything that's not right.

It's more important to try on maternity than other clothes as your shape changes so much, and finding out what kind of waistband etc that you can tolerate is trial and error. So having none in stock is infuriating. Ordering online is fine if you have plenty of spare cash to buy extra styles and sizes and wait for refunds on returns but not everyone can do that.

Red herring in Debenhams in Birmingham used to have some maternity clothes in stock. Otherwise find your nearest johomamanbebe. I liked fraise de envie but that was online and I did send something's back.

Tried New Look and H&M in the bullring and neither have a maternity section! Both told me to look online. Argh! I can't afford places like mothercare or the slightly more expensive places (I need a whole wardrobe for work and casual stuff also so was hoping New Look would have some). I'll keep trying!

Peacocks

I only ever found things in Jojo Maman, H&M and Mothercare. It is incredibly frustrating as my body shape changed during pregnancy enormously and none of my old style suited me!

many H&ms don't have them, so check first. I agree that it's really daft. Mothercare and Jojomamanbebe have a few

My local new look stopped stocking the maternity range couple of years back. The only physical place I can try on clothes is h&m. I have recently discovered the joy that is the £7 jeggings in pep and co. Bought them in several different colours and oh so comfortable not to mention the wicked price!

Nottingham H&M and new look, also has a JoJo, might be worth the drive!

our big M & S has maternity clothes instore. Good luck.

I bought a couple of bundles off eBay and then resold anything that didn’t fit. I think I spent about £80 in total for a whole wardrobe including work stuff. (Though subsequently sadly lost the baby so most of it didn’t get worn.)

I'm a brummy girl too and I really struggled! There is JoJoMamanBebe by touchwood, a few Mothercare stores, the one in Shirley is good.
Once I'd sorted out sizes etc, I ordered from eBay too.

If you want cheap stuff then just order loads from Asos. It’s free delivery and returns, so order lots and return most / all of it if you have to.

It’s annoying that they don’t have anything in store in places like New Look. They used to have them there, long before I was pregnant with dc1. By the time I was pregnant, there was pretty much nowhere to try it on.

Another thing I did was just buy big sizes of non maternity things, like maxi skirts, leggings, tunics and floaty tops. They lasted me well into pregnancy.

You can try it on from online - you just send it back if it doesn’t fit! Asos is good for that.

I got most of my stuff from Debenhams for work. They have a lovely selection. And then I barely wore my casual stuff as I preferred to wear bigger sized dresses in the end so I got them from charity shops

Mothercare had a couple of buy two get one half price offers when I was looking which brought their stuff down from pricey to reasonable. Their tops were a decent thickeness and stretchiness and washed well. I wore two of theirs pretty much the whole time I was pregnant.
Might be worth taking a look just in case?

I also found this VERY annoying. I ended up ordering several hundred pounds worth of clothing and then returning about 75% if it just so I could try it all on. I found new look and jojomaman the best.

I had the same problem. Drove me nuts! The one time when you have no idea what size you are and NEED to try on, and the clothes are online only!

As others have said, New Look and H&M have a few bits in store, or buy non maternity clothes in big sizes, or bulk order from Asos and return what doesn't fit. I believe Seraphine has a store in Leeds but they're ridiculously expensive.

I did exactly the same yesterday, the shopping centre I went to, the new look didn't even have maternity wear in store! H and M had quite a lot and not too pricy either. They also had some great t shirt type dresses that were cheap and will definitely work as maternity. Their maternity skinny jeans are so comfy I couldn't believe it. Got some nice summer dresses too