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?

Mothercare on corporation Street was the only place I found mat clothes in brum. Other than that, Jojo is good but not in the city, and some smaller h and m stores seem to have stock in.
I feel your pain op as I made a special trip into the bull ring when I was pregnant, thinking I'd have loads of choice. Came home frustrated and walked to my local jojo instead!

It’s so annoying isn’t it?!
I have recently given up the search and went to primark for my much needed shopping and just bought some awesome stuff in massive sizes which looked great and didn’t break the bank!

H and m, new look and Debenhams have a small amount. I know how you feel though everything I ordered online I sent back. Also they seem to upsize everything not just in the tummy area everything I ordered was huge on legs etc. New look was the worst fitting stuff. I found h and m best for basics t-shirts etc that's all I ended up wearing in the end. I never did find maternity jeans to fit me properly I had to live in leggings!

Yes Very annoying - I found this too! I found nice stuff in H&M in store, Red Herring in Debenhams and a large New Look by me had a maternity section. I bought quite a bit online though from Next and Asos and ebay though.

Just been in to peacocks. Nothing! Argh. It's so frustrating. Even if they just had a pair of bottoms in each size and a top of each size in every store so you could at least work out what size you need. Not one shop in the whole of bullring sells maternity stuff apart from Debenhams which I just can't afford. Damn!

Top Shop have maternity clothes as well.

JoJo Maman Bébé were the best for maternity jeans, next for work trousers and I just brought larger size tops as I thought I could wear them post birth as well

The new big H&M on New Street has some! Maternity section in the basement. Get there now!

Also Mothercare in Solihull.

I know it'll be a bit of a trip, but the H&M at Merry Hill has a maternity range

The H&M in my town doesn't stock Maternity. The only place near me that has any is Peacocks and its a pitiful selection. And there's a small Mothercare in the big Tesco that has one corner of the shop dedicated to what I can only describe as the most depressing selection of clothing I've ever seen. Everything is either plain blue/black/grey or stripey. It looks like a prison-wear selection.

I've resigned myself to just buying online, trying on and sending anything back I don't want.

I know H&M have been in the news lately about their sizes being really small.. I got a pair of maternity shorts in a 12 (everything from everywhere else has been perfect if not a bit too big in that size) and I literally could not get them over my arse. So god knows what size I'll have to go up to. Would be awesome to be able to try them on first :(

H&M Solihull in Touchwood has a small maternity section, which definitely includes jeans.

Oh and I was told when I tried to return them to an H&M store that I can't because I paid via paypal. So I have to post them back. But I can swap them for something in store... that's no good because you don't stock maternity wear!!!!

Oh, and there’s a Jojo on Solihull high street.

Asda also have some good, cheap stuff online. If you return via the machine in store, you will get almost instant refund so not waiting nearly 2 weeks for the likes of Dorothy Perkins to give me my money back!

@ninecoronas I think I love you!

Just tried mothercare. It's closed down! Sod it. I'm going to work I'll come back on my lunch break.

If you join Littlewoods you get an account and can order as much as you like without paying, then just keep what you want and pay for that much. I hate buying loads of stuff and having to wait for my returns to be processed and my card to be refunded.

I did the exact same thing around the Bullring, drove up specially! Someone said Debenhams had some but I was too tired to go by then. Turns out Solihull is much better. Jojo Maman has some lovely things and I got a few bits in Joules as although not maternity tend to be baggy or stretchy around the tummy area. Mothercare has a few nice bits too. I've ordered a fair amount from Serephine online and they tend to come up well size wise. All my jeans and leggings are from Jojo though so can definitely recommend them, so comfy! And usually £10 off 2 pairs. Always found good discounts for Jojo and Seraphine online too so make sure to check.

Wait until you've seen the pitiful selection although I did get this yesterday and it's pretty comfy and looks nicer on m2.hm.com/m/en_gb/productpage.0611606001.html

I only found actual maternity stuff in H&M. Which is great if H&M stuff fits you (and luckily their maternity stuff does, even though I'm completely the wrong shape for most of their clothes). But I know other people it didn't work for.

But depending on what you wear you might find a lot of "normal" clothes will fit. I tend to wear knits or dresses for work and some of my work dresses went through two pregnancies without getting stretched out of shape and I can still wear them today. Obviously harder if you do blouses or suits.

It is so annoying isn't it! I'm in Cornwall so it's even worse, there is a tiny (and I mean tiny) section in Mothercare, JoJo and Matalan and that's yourlot. I ended up ordering loads of stuff from John Lewis so I could try it all on at home and then took the 80% that was no good back to Waitrose to be returned for free via click and collect.

I'd have thought in a big city like Birmingham you'd have more choice, it's rubbish isn't it!

If you have low-rise jeans you can also get "waist extenders" to turn them into under-bump... one of my friends swore by them, but I always preferred over-bump.

It’s really annoying. GAP do maternity online. They’ve regularly got up to 40% off (sign up for their e-mails). Order to click and collect in store, try everything on there and return what doesn’t fit.

Check out maternity bundles on eBay or local FB selling pages. You still can’t try on but for dresses and tops it isn’t such an issue and you should get a good few pieces for a good price.

My pregnancy was a while back but they used to sell maternity wear in the local Dorothy Perkins. It was quite a big shop. Maybe you could try in yours?