Any reason why I shouldn't just buy clothes a size bigger instead of "maternity" clothes

[KatieWatie]

This might be a really stupid question but I am rapidly outgrowing all my clothes, and not really ready to admit - even at 15 weeks - that I'm pregnant (not sure I ever will be, to be honest, that's just the way I roll). I went into Mothercare to price things up generally and saw their maternity section which I had a mooch round - whilst sweating the coldest sweat... It really wasn't "me" and it was all dead pricy for stuff I might only wear for a couple of months.

Why can't I just buy a size up from my normal size? And then do some hardcore washing to try and shrink it down to my normal size afterwards perhaps

Or am I being really naive?

You might manage with tops but I doubt you will manage with trousers.

Your post did make me laugh as I recall having similar thoughts but ended up pregnant with a 8.5lber at 5ft and basically had a bump that made me look like Mr Greedy. By 34 weeks none of my maternity clothes fitted me, let alone anything else Buying bigger sized anything wouldn't have worked as everything apart from the bump was still a size 8.

Also Mothercare is not the only place to buy maternity clothes!

H&M, DOtty P, Debenhams (many of their ranges, especially Red Herring), Next, New Look, Peacocks, JojoMamanBebe, Mamas and Papas, George, M&S, Gap....

The thing is that being pregnant doesn't mean you're going to get bigger in a uniform way all over your body, so just buying a bigger size doesn't work for most women as you really only need extra fabric in certain areas (typically boobs, belly, bottom). I'd see how you go. I didn't need to get into maternity clothes until ~20 weeks with either of my pregnancies. Until then I just wore baggier things or a bump band. However, once you get into the final trimester you might have to buy/beg/borrow a few tops and trousers. You can get by with a really minimal wardrobe IME, and a few carefully chosen pieces (black trousers, jeans, capris, a handful of long tops), should last you even if you're working.

Top Shop and H&M are pretty reasonable price IMO. Gap Maternity is good too for plain-coloured separates.

First tip -- stay away from Mothercare.

To be honest, as someone else said, it depends on what sort of clothes you usually wear. I usually wear reasonably tailored/fitted clothes and if I were to go up the necessary sizes in normal clothes to accommodate bump/boobs they would be swimming on me elsewhere, and I'm not big on the tent look.

I've found JoJo Maman Bébé to be good, and have picked up some decent stuff from Gap as well. I'm tall and relatively slim normally, so there's no way that slightly bigger sizes of my usual clothes would work, in terms of length if not anything else. I've got a couple of jersey wrap dresses I'm still wearing, which are great, but that's about it among the pre-preg clothes at this stage (19w). I just feel much more trim and stylish in mat clothes, I was feeling like a blob in the biggest of my pre-preg clothes four weeks ago.

Hi Katie I was in my fat face normal gear till about 24 weeks and I'm still wearing their cardies & tunics over mat jeans & skirts at 36. I did my best to approximate my preferred look by mixing and matching: the nice thing about FF is it's cut loose, low and long. You'll be fine for a while.

LOL Saoirse tights are the work of the devil at the best of times. My favourite was the contortions I got into trying to rearrange myself under a tight jersey dress on a railway platform. The biggest challenge with the mat ones is they are so huge for a long time: hence extra pants to hold them up. And somehow, every time I put a pair on one leg twists up between my toe and my thigh and takes some disentagling. My knees don't lift as far as they used to with my bump in the way!

I bought some tops a couple of sizes bigger and now at 33 weeks I can just about fit into them, not for much longer though.
The maternity stuff I bought, however has lasted me right the way through as it is all stretchy/adjustable.
Dorothy Perkins do nice, reasonably priced stuff, I would recommend 2 pairs of jeans, a selection of basic tops, and then maybe a couple of nice/smart ones. You don't need to go mad, as you can mix and match with non-mat stuff, but it is worth it, especially with the jeans.

If you like surfer stuff, I had a couple of SoCal tops that were fairly loose around the waist and I wore the whole way through (my bump was pretty small though). Some dresses will be okay, you just have to bear in mind that the front will ride up because of your bump.

You'll need materinity shorts/trousers at least though, because it really doesn't work with trousers, and skirts aren't that comfy. (no waist...)

I didn't buy anything in bigger sizes because it looks odd unless you've actually got bigger all over.

I suppose it depends on your shape and how you grow, but I don't see why not. I was lucky in that my sister gave me a load of her old clothes (regular, non-maternity) just after I found out I was pg, and they were a size 'up' (I was a 10, the clothes a 12) so I just wore them and never got anything specifically 'maternity' though I did get a couple of longer, stretchier vests. I was big in the late summer-autumn and lived in size 12 jeans, a stretchy vest and/or a cardigan.

I got two pairs of maternity jeans from a lucky find at a pound shop, and the rest of the time I worse clothes in my normal size. This did me two pregnancies, and I was massive!

I wear lots of dresses generally though- any that sit just under the boobs are fine, as long as they are roomy above and below that point! Normal elasticated black tracksuit bottoms can look ok if you get a smart pair, and layering is the way forward.

Maxi dresses are good, and I have a couple of shorter dresses that worked well too. Leggings and tunics were brilliant. At the end of my second I lost the ability to dress myself or walk more than a couple of steps, and so my lower body (esp feet) swelled up. At that point I gave up and wore tracksuit bottoms and DHs t-shirts for a few weeks :)

I also got a gothy thigh length multilayered thingy that was elasticated, and sat it under the bump with a gypsy style black top and wore those cheap fishnets that fit any size and DMs for going out, back when I was young enough to think drinking coke and sitting down lots or getting funny looks for dancing was a good way to spend my time.

I don't beleive in spending money on maternity/brestfeeding clothes - one or two pair of jeans for the pregnancy, good bras throughout and some flat comfy shoes and you'll be fine :)

Several people have mentioned Gap but I can't seem to find their maternity range! Anyone got a website link, please?

Gap have a website? Is that new?

Oh no, I used to spend a fortune in gap but only once a year because it meant travelling to Manchester. Now it's online I will spend a fortune but more often

Also, maternity clothes are so much more comfortable than non-maternity - they stretch in all the right places! Plus, as you get bigger, everything rides up over your bump, and maternity clothes are cut longer at the front to compensate. I'm finding (at 27 weeks) that my size-bigger tops are starting to look a bit stretched.

Plenty of people manage without maternity clothes though, I think it depends a lot on your style. There are better places than mothercare though :) Ebay is a good one for cheap stuff, along with all the other places mentioned above!

jojoba I can't see Gap's maternity range online, but I know that their store locator will let you look for maternity shops - they're usually in with the separate Gap Kids shops :)

Gap maternity range is not on line. Sob. Will have to brave That Leeds.

I have a pair of maternity jeans from Dotty P that have stretchy panels rather than the full-on maternity top. I started wearing them at the smallest setting, and they are a size smaller than normal because they're a bit elasticated, and they are now, at 37 weeks, still only half expanded, although I have a relatively small bump. They don't look like maternity jeans at a glance either.

Peacocks Maternity is great for basics too, and really cheap. But because I'm quite busty I wear a lot of empire line stuff anyway, so I'm mostly still in my usual dresses. And Uniqlo jeggings - non maternity but so comfy!

I was reluctant to buy much maternity wear as it feels like you don't wear them for long, but you do wear them for up to a few months afterwards as well.

i agree with don't buy stuff hoping you'll grow into it, because I never really did. I just brought a small selection as and when I needed it. I realised that I would have brought roughly the same amount of clothes that the season/year anyway, just in this case they were maternity.

For the first few months I did get away with slightly larger clothing.

Mothercare clothes are awful though.

Oh how upsetting, Fat Face have some lovely gear in for Summer, I was hoping for lots of answers of "yeah just get a size bigger" lol. Anyway I'll buy it anyway for next Summer it will give me an incentive to lose my baby weight (or else, more likely, go on Ebay as BNWT)

I live in the back of beyond, we have none of these wonderful shops you all speak of here in my part of deepest Wiltshire. I shall get me to the internet!

They all have websites.

Could you not have a day out to Brizle or Bath?

I was unpacking my maternity clothes this afternoonn, and I wore quite a few smock/floaty FF type tops until quite late on 8 months ish with DS, as my bump never got that big. If you are only 15 weeks now, I am sure you coudl get away with some of FF's looser numbers for quite some time. It is bottoms that really matter with maternity clothes I find.

I agree that for me going into maternity wear this time has helped enormously with a) embracing the bump, and b) not feeling a frump.

with DS I had about 2 pairs of bottoms & 2 or 3 tops the rest were joggers/xh's/the next size up - tbh wasn't too good.

am due end of aug thou so off shopping on the w.e for some maxi dresses - there's nice one's in matalans - surely FF do those - and they're not maternity so fingers crossed they'll have 'growing' room.

Forgive me for resurrecting an old thread!

I'm due at Xmas, so will need a coat

Will also need a baby wearing waterproof for school run.

I'm a size 28 normally so maternity clothes in my size are unusual and when I find them super expensive.

Would it be mad to buy a waterproof from
Jacamo with a chest 10 inches bigger than my normal bust, or wouldn't it work??

This is exactly what I did (ok, a £2.50 waterproof from a charity shop) and it works a treat! No idea about the specific measurements, but I went two sizes up and made sure it had a drawstring at the bottom and voila - a maternity waterproof.

I've not tried it while wearing the baby yet (he's got at least a few hours left before he makes his entrance!) but you can get inserts that zip into any coat which look very handy and are designed for babywearing.