Post-birth clothing...

[bingeddybongo]

Not a very important question in the great scheme of things but I'm a bit confused ...

I've just been through a ridiculously hot summer and I'm most likely going to be sitting through a very long, dark, freezing cold winter - clearly the massive tents summer dresses I've lived in lately aren't going to cut it over the next few months. I'll hopefully fit back into my maternity jeans after the baby's born (that I'm currently grown out of, haha) but am aiming to get through the winter layering nursing vest tops, long sleeved t-shirts and a couple of massive cardigans. Massive cardigans I've got already, but what size vests and t-shirts am I supposed to get myself?! I've put on a couple of stone and apart from what's on my thighs and bum it's all out front, so I'm assuming once the baby's out it's going to spread round my middle; I just don't know how much - if I was a 12-14 beforehand, what sized tops should I be trawling ebay for - 14, 16, 18?

I' d get some stretchy long sleeved Ts from Primark in assorted colours. They are about £2.50. Size 18. Their sizes are a bit small and random, but doesn' t matter too much for stretchy Ts. I normally hate cheap disposable clothes, but Primark Ts ate brilliant for maternity and beyond.

I'm in the same boat! I think shape might be as important as size - nothing too clingy on what will naturally be a wobbly belly for some months. Also, I'm expecting oversized boobs for a while too.

I was hoping to go for M&S suck-you-in tights with tube skirts and boots, with a loose/floaty top and slim fit vest combination under a thick cardi. Once I get a feel for the difference between night and day I'm going to go to H&M to get supplies and cheaply as I can. Other folk here talk highly of Uniqlo for these sorts of basics, but there isn't one near me oop north.

if breast feeding (which helps with the weight :) ) remember ease of access - specialist feeding tops or with buttons, and a size bigger for the extra boobage

I had put on 2 stone by 40 weeks and was (unexpectedly) back in my normal clothes with a flat(ish) stomach after 4 weeks so don't necessarily assume you'll be massive. I'm obviously not complaining but I had assumed like you that I would be bigger so the few larger tops I had bought are still in the drawer. I am EBFing and I have found most of my normal t-shirts are fine for layering/boob access.

BikeRunSki beat me to it. Just pick up a few cheap bits from Tesco/Primarni at the time. No point trying to guess now.

Also, you don't know yet how breastfeeding will affect your weight loss. It might fall off, or your body may well cling to fat stores even longer. I didn't lose a gram sadly, until finishing bf.

I'm about to have my 7th baby and have been both extremely slim/underweight pre pregnancy to having a BMI of 31 pre pregnancy and have put on varying amounts of weight from 1 1/2st to 3 1/2st during my pregnancies and have never needed to buy larger sized clothes after the births, although I have stayed in maternity stuff for a few weeks afterwards as you can still look a bit pregnant for a while.

So personally, if you have maternity stuff that you think won't look too sack like after the birth I would wait as you can always wear maternity to start with until you go shopping.

Thanks everyone! Unfortunately none of these lovely shop options are available to me, I'm in a small town on the other side of the Channel and we've got H&M with a TINY maternity wear section but that's it for maternity wear, hence the ebaying, am sort of hoping to find a bundle. It's good to have some recommendations on which brands and sizes to keep an eye out for though - thank you!!

I wore vest tops under jumpers for feeding and my maternity jeans for the first weeks until I could get back into my normal ones. Vests from matalan, jumpers where just comfy oversized ones I already had.

Bing - I'm mixing up maternity wear with H&M's normal basic range so will continue to wear that, just updating with some looser tops too.

I know there will be cake related bulge when I lose this bump ...

I'm getting confused too. I assume you still have your bump? Stop worrying about what size you'd be in winter then! I'd advise the same as midori1999. I went from size 8 to maternity, and back to size 8. Never needed anything in between. Somethings are more accomodating than others. Skinny jeans vs leggings, iyswim. Winter would be things like big cardigans, knitted dresses with leggings. Obviously I'm not very styling looking in the in-between period, but that's just very short lived.

To be honest, I'd wait and see as much as possible. You don't know how you'll feel yet, how big you'll be and how quickly you'll shrink, and at what stage you'll feel you need your new gear - depends on weather, size and state of mind.

I dropped from nearly 12 stone (gah) to nearer 9 stone in 4-5 months, the first part of weight loss incredibly rapidly. It was at the 10 and a half stone stage I just had to get something, partly the cold, partly at 2 months post partum when I just needed to look vaguely pretty again after the grim bit of late preg, early baby - and I'm not even particularly vain. Just a few things from the Gap sale perked me up and were a stop gap till I got back to normal size.

Thank you very much for all your ideas and advice! I guess there's no way to predict what size I'll be, I've just assumed it'll take a while for me to lose the weight and I just hate clothes shopping at the best of times so was hoping to get it out of the way so I don't have to even think about it with a mini bing in tow!

I'm 35 weeks with an ENORMOUS bump and am pretty sure that even if I miraculously dropped most of the weight off immediately, I'm still not going to fit into the clothes I had this time last year. I'm not bothered about being stylish (comfort first ), I would just like to have a couple of nursing tops at the ready - I know we're still in August but I'm due at the beginning of October and it gets miserable pretty quickly here (and goes down to about -10!) so I'm not worrying about what size I'll be so much as whether I'll be warm enough . Well, the medium-sized maternity nighties I ordered from Mothercare still fit me so perhaps I'll just get a couple of tops the same size from there and leave it at that. Thank you all again!

I am in the same boat as you.. Twelve to fourteen in tops and no idea what I will be... So. Got the 14~16 nursing tops in h and m. I've lots of coloured boyfriend cardis and scarves and got a bebe apron thing for feeding. I bought the khaki, navy and black sets.. So plenty ... Also think they will for early stages pg again hopefully.

I all av two blak dresses maternity ones that are sutbe for nursing.

I was a 10 pre-preg, put on 35 lbs during pregnancy and was in maternity clothes in a size 12 by end of pregnancy. Post-baby I just wore my maternity stuff for a few weeks, then went and bought a bunch of cheap t-shirts in a size medium (would have been a small pre-preg) from H&M (without trying them on as had baby City in tow) which I wore over vest tops for bfeeding. I've been losing the weight gradually (and effortlessly, I should say - thank you bfeeding plus the recent heatwave that stole my appetite) and am currently 10lbs over my pre-preg weight. Baby is 19weeks and I can get most of my pre-preg stuff on, bar my 'thin' jeans.

This is all a very long way of saying, don't buy anything yet. Your maternity stuff will see you through the first few post-birth weeks when all you'll want to wear is loose baggy comfy stuff anyway. After that just buy cheap and cheerful stuff as necessary until pre-preg stuff fits.