Maternity wear

[bumperlicious]

HI all

When did you start needing maternity clothes. Just wondering coz I've noticed a Jojo Maman Bebe opened up near us...

At about 5 or 6 months, although some things with a low waistband fitted until about 8 months. I bought most of my maternity clothes at a Next clearance shop, in the sale, so paid about £5 for trousers, a dress or a top.

I am on third pregnancy and needed some maternity wear - mainly for the waist at 12 weeks!! I did have some drawstring things that I am still wearing now at 17 weeks. I think it depends on you... never really needed any at all with dd1, did with dd2 but started needing it around 16 weeks or so.

It is different for everyone, I'm 21 weeks and still not wearing maternity clothes, it was the same in my first pregnancy. I've bought some jeans as know I'll probably need them in a few weeks. I'm pretty sure I never needed pregnancy tops at all in the first pregnancy either, the bump was quite small and neat.

Apart from a spending a fortune on unattractive underwear I haven't really bough any maternity clothes and I am six months. Currently fashion is being very kind to pregnant ladies and I am living in jumper dresses, mini dresses and smocks from normal Topshop/Zara. Maternity tights by the way are a complete waste of money because they don't stay above your bump.

I'm 24 weeks with my first pregnancy, but I lost all use of normal trousers (even with stretcher bands) several weeks ago. As I'm a wee round person in the first place, the only place I have managed to get trousers to fit is M&S who do large but short sizes in maternity wear, if you can find a branch that carries the maternity stuff. I've a few tops that I can still wear, but mostly I'm in tops that are a couple of sizes bigger than normal and are styled to have the bands under my chest not my waist. Thankfully the shops seem full of these sort of "empireline" tops and 80's big blousy tops. Got lots of cheap stuff just from Asda, Tescos & Primark. I figure if it's only for a few months then no need to spend a fortune on stuff.

Thanks everyone!

As other have said, there's a big difference between trousers and tops. You need trousers earlier, althogh possibly not as early as I did at 11 weeks - I couldn't stand waistbands digging in, even on low-rise trousers, so got some stretch maternity ones and was way happier.

They're cool in that the stretch material is pretty sturdy, and I could fold the top of them over and they would stay up, even at that stage. Unlike some similar ones I got from Mothercare made out of T-shirt material which I can currently only wear in the house because otherwise they'd be round my ankles every time I walked any distance.

Re. tops, though - I'm 20 weeks now but can't see myself needing tops for a while yet.

H&M does lovely stuff and it is very cheap. I don't hold with this getting through pregnancy wearing my husbands shirts malarky, its bad enough feeling fat, frumpy and not being able to drink, without going shopping. Plus I got huge at the end.

I find that I needed maternity tops by 16 weeks because normal ones rode up and were too short (the thought of showing bare big belly - ugh!) But now at 27 weeks, even some of the maternity tops are getting too short. Luckily the trend is for long line tops and I bought a lot of lovely stretchy long tops from Top Shop (non maternity) which are great. I have failed miserably to find a good pair of maternity jeans though. I have actually bought 3 pairs (Next, Dorothy Perkins, Blooming Marvellous)and only the BM ones (under the bump) stay up, although the pockets are so far apart they make my bum look ten feet wide. Which matches the front of me I suppose!

Hi
I have got a couple of really nice tops from Jo Jo and if you buy them online you can often get discounts I got two tops priced at £21 each for £16 each and then 10% off too - not through mumsnet but I will do this next time. I had several complements about them at work today. I've also got one of their Zip tops which I'm hoping will be warm enough to wear as a coat.
My Mil has a Jo Jo near her and I went into it to 'feel' things to check the quality etc (I love the pixie tops for babies and am holding back buying them until my baby comes.
I went into Mat clothes properly at about 20 weeks.
My advice with trousers is to find something you like and buy three pairs. M and S do a great pair of stretchy trousers for £18 which I would also really recommend. They are casual but could be dressed up and above all very very comfy!

Believe it or not I was in maternity wear by 8 weeks, as I was so uncomfortable in my normal work trousers. But I know pregnancies vary massively. If you feel uncomfortable in your current stuff, I wouldn't hesitate to go and buy some. It just means you'll get more wear out of it. In fact, if anything I wish I'd bought more earlier (but I was feeling poorly and not in the mood for shopping!)

I was in maternity by 8 or 9 weeks on this pregnancy. First time I was near on 20 weeks but my belly just popped right out this time! All my trousers are from H&M and most of my tops too.

I was in maternity by about week 10! Can't believe how long some of you managed to put it off. I also have a smallish neat bump (for the first time ever) but it popped out really quickly.

Have just started to find normal jeans uncomfortably tight at 19 weeks. Skirts mostly still ok though, and most tops unless they're particularly fitted still fit ok.

Still in normal clothes at 23 weeks, although most of my work trousers are too tight. My jeans are very low-waisted so are just about still OK - my problem is that I'm very petite (UK size 4-6) and 5'1" tall so am struggling to find things that don't completely swamp me.

I've ordered some trousers online from a company called Reet Petite - will see whether they're any good when they arrive. As for jeans, I've given up trying to find maternity ones that fit, so think I'll probably opt for a pair of my current ones a couple of sizes larger. Tops aren't too much of a problem - my normal ones fit fine at the moment and when I get bigger I'll probably just get some cheap jumpers a size or two bigger. Don't want to spend too much as weill be sick of the sight of these clothes by the time the baby's born!

Hey LunarSea- I'm similar in size and found the very best resource to be Gap Maternity as they do petite as well and great things especially for the price. Not available in UK but can order online.

Oremstango, I didn't think you could order Gap Maternity online in the UK? As far as I understood from their website they don't ship outside the US (certainly not to the UK anyway).

If I'm wrong, fantastic! My mum's going to New York next week and is going to have a look in Gap Maternity and see what she can find for me.

Yesterday I bought a pair of my favourite French Connection jeans in a size 10, two sizes bigger than I normally wear. They are quite big on me at the moment (and seem to come up a bit longer than my smaller ones, which is a pain) but will hopefully allow for growth! Have given up on maternity jeans as I just can't find any that remotely fit me.

I didnt bother with maternity wear, i brought one pair of maternity jeans from next when i was about 5 months and they lasted me until the last few days, they were so comfortable. As for other clothes, i went to primark or new look and brought clothes in whatever size fitted me. I didnt like the look of any maternity wear that i saw in the shops

OMG! You lot must all be little skinny things! I feel like a freak - I had to invest in maternity clothes at 16 weeks as I felt my rapidly expanding bulk was going to burst out my normal clothes, bit like the Incredible Hulk! . Have now(at 20 weeks) packed away almost all my pre-pregnancy wardrobe and resigned myself to wearing tents and being the size of a baby-hippo for the remainder of my pregnancy.

And don't go for those stupid jeans that are supposed to sit below the bump ...... you're forever hoisting them up otherwise they'd be around your ankles!

MM

Has anyone got any recommendations for vaguely stylish maternity jeans that don't need to be continually pulled up??

I have done extensive research on jeans - must have tried every pair there is and still didnt manage it. I've got H&M ones, which are great for about an hour after they're washed and then end up having to be hoiked up the whole time.

I have asked people a couple of times where theirs jeans were from and both were Top Shop - but a particular pair that they don't seem to do any more. None of the others they have in stock work for me

I'm close to giving up now as only have nine weeks left, but I wish I had found some really good jeans at the beginning as I normally live in them

Another vote here for H&M and Isabella Oliver (although a little bit pricey).

I bought some under the bump jeans from next and ended up sewing part of an elasticated skirt into the denim waistband to turn it into an over the bump pair. Much more satisfactory. I just dont get this under the bump style !

am 28 weeks now and after an initial struggle am wearing a combo of topshop maternity (its all fab), isabella oliver and a few ghost things (bias cut skirts and dress) picked up cheap from ebay, and some old faithful knitwear.

but a coat still eludes me.

I did find some nice things in Red Herring at Debenhams earlier in the year - a jersey dress in really nice print and a couple of tops - might be worth a look?

As for coats, I'm still managing with big wrap around carides under my normal unbuttoned coat

I've got Top Shop & Next maternity jeans and all require hoisting up unfortunately. It's such a good luck hoisting them up every 5 mins as crotch of jeans is halfway down my thigh!

I bought a non-maternity coat from red herring - it's like a swing type coat, so the right sort of shape. I'm 30 wks now, so not sure if will still be able to do it up towards the end, but it's better than nothing.

Gap maternity is fab - really can't understand why they don't sell it over here yet?