Maternity bra's

[Rocco85]

Hello.. I'm new to mumsnet, and new to pregnancy! Currently around 9 weeks into my first pregnancy and needing to buy new bra's.. Having grown to an E cup so far I'm desperate to find decent supportive maternity bra's to compensate for the lack of underwiring. Can anyone suggest any, ideally I'd like a moulded cup to give the support and shape desired. Thank you :-)

When I was pregnant over 8 years ago I bought Miriam Stoppard bras in Debenhams. There's no denying they are horrible things but they were the best of a bad bunch!

I'm normally an H and still wearing wire bra's at 16 weeks. I spoke with some random women in a changing room back at 7 weeks and her sister in law was a lactating consultant and said wires were OK for the first two trimesters but switch non wired at the third. I usually get mine from Bravissimo as they still make sexy bra's despite huge cups! Mine are now probably a J and using a bra strap extender (naughty me!). I did buy the ugliest non wired bra from M&S, wore it once and shoved it to the back of the drawer as I wanted to cry!

I second the bravissimo recommendation. Really helpful if you can go into one of their stores. I had to give up underwire bras really early on (second baby, huge bump, appeared super early) so wouldn't have made it through 2nd trimester anyway.

Congratulations btw!

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful.. I'll get myself to Bravissimo this weekend :-)

I have the Debenhams own brand maternity bras and they are sooooooo comfy!

I just bought underwired bras in primark in right size. You need to change size so frequently I couldn't justify the expense of quality bras. I only switched to non wired after birth, and then only for a few weeks.

Definitely go to Bravissimo.

Bravissimo here too, though get yourself measured there too. I was buying 36D nursing bras, turned out I was a 32G

God maternity bras are deeply shit, aren't they! Breastfeeding ones aren't much better. I wore underwired throughout pregnancy and still now while breastfeeding - starting at 34e and ending at 36i I just never found a non-wired bra that did it for me. As long as they are the right size and you keep changing up when you need to it is fine (still BF at 10 months so no problems with lactation here!). If you're set on non-wired the most supportive I found are Royce sadie, plus they're relatively cheap (try Amazon), don't look too industrial and you can get quite nice matching shorts!

Bravado bliss are wonderful. Available from the nursing bra shop online.
Soft and comfy!

I just bought some non wired ones from marks and Spencer's. They are not specifically maternity but have a moulded cup and I've found them really comfortable and supportive and have been wearing them since approximately 11 weeks (currently 30weeks). They won't win any style awards but they've done the job.

I got wired, t shirt bras from M&S - 2 for £16, and they're amazing. Also got some sports barrette type things from Primark for sleeping in. Another life saver. I've gone up 2 cup sizes in 11 weeks and can see myself buying several more bras as the months go by so didn't want to spend a lot but the M&S ones are great and they have a huge range of sizes.

I'm still wearing wired bras at 36 weeks. My nursing bras are non-wired but when I stooped feeding DD in the day I switched back to normal bras and carried on feeding overnight with no problems at all. You can buy wired nursing bras too.

I got measured in Bravissimo and was wearing completely the wrong size! Was remeasured after I stopped bf and had changed again. M&S are known as being notoriously awful on mn for measuring.

QueenRefusenik where do you get i cups from? I'm currently at jj with a long way to go.

ConvincingLiar, I live in Anita seamfree underwired bras, mostly from Amazon. I think they go up to j, not sure about jj but given the (deeply irritating) differences between manufacturers in the bigger sizes a j might do the trick! I gritted my teeth and ordered a whole load of different makes/sizes on the credit card and sent back the ones that didn't fit. It's such a bloody nightmare finding larger sizes and they're so damn expensive!

Just a word of warning re Bravissimo, which I do really love but sometimes the fitters have a habit of pushing you to take a smaller back size than is comfortable! Pre-pregnancy I was a 32E but every time I went in someone tried to get me into 30F, which does fasten but is mega tight and digs in the minute you slump down e.g. flop on the sofa! So when you try your bra on, I suggest not only looking proudly at your perky boobs in the mirror but lounging on the chair to check they're just as comfy that way

I agree Cuppaqueen