At what stage did you start wearing maternity clothes?

[naturelover]

I'm 17 weeks pregnant and don't really show yet (I'm tall), but NONE of my usual clothes fit either. Is it worth buying a few things in a bigger size in the meantime? I'd like to get value for money in terms of the number of times I wear things! I'm sure that actual maternity clothes would just fall off. My tracksuit bottoms are very comfortable, but not really right for the office or my trip to Paris next weekend!

Hi naturelover - I'm 17 weeks too and having a similar dilemma. I don't have a bump yet (I had a bit of a belly anyway!) but my jeans particularly are getting tight.

I would take a look at mat clothes in the shops though, I went shopping on Sunday and was surprised how comfy - and how well-fitting - a lot of the clothes were. H&M particularly do some fantastic smart black trousers.

There are so many tops out there this season that would allow for a bump though that it might be worth just buying a couple of smart smocks in your normal size.

This stage is a bugger. It might be worth buying some one size up stuff as you will get some use out of it post birth when you are on the way down again . In fact, it really comes into its own then as you will be sick of maternity clothes and wearing them for too long after the birth is depressing in itself!

Hello, i found that some maternity clotheshave firm elastic round the belly area, so they fit you even when you don't have a bump and stretch when you do!
Definetly have a look, at top shop, mothercare and H&M...

to answer the question:

dd1 = as soon as I found out I was pg (v. excited)
dd2 - as soon as own clothes didn't fit.
ds - never got out of them from having dd2!

lol squonk, ditto.

i'm 25 weeks PG and find that my (ahem) Primarni trousers are still fine as they are quite low slung. And also very cheap.

I lived in wraparound dresses from about 16 weeks, I remember people at work who I didn't know and hadn't told eyeing my stomach trying to figure out whether I was pregnant or not. Maternity trousers often have different button settings so they can be tighter at the beginning and then you can loosen them as your bump grows.

6 weeks, but I put it down to being 3rd pregnancy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14 wks with my 1st - 8 weeks with my 2nd (grew out of everything quicker)

Never - my bump was never very big, and sat so high up that I just continued to wear my normal trousers pushed down a bit.

I didn't buy MAT-clothes with mu first two DC but a bigger size this was around 16/17 weeks. With this LO I brought MAT tops at 14 weeks due to big boobs (going from 34/36b to 36DD) but I brought MAT jeans and bottoms at 18 weeks!

you could buy some nice drawstring linen trousers.

with ds1 as soon as i found out! tres excited, but had to keep wearing them for a long time afterwards.
can't remember with dd2 and dd3 -

Am tall too, now at 28 weeks and just wearing a mix of my normal and next size up jeans, I do where them low slung though. Maternity trousers have always been far too big for me and I never wore them with DD1 - got all excited went and tried them on but they all just fell off. Am wearing maternity tops now though as all my normal ones are a bit short and tend to ride up.

Would recommend a trip to a good charity shop to pick up some nice next size up trousers. It means you get some cheaply and donate to charity at the same time.

I bought a pair of maternity pants at about 12 weeks but they were really too big on me and I just wore them slopping around the house. I then decided not to buy anymore until I really needed them, luckily I had some ´fat day´ jeans that were a bit bigger on me normally and I wore them until I bought maternity jeans at about 20 weeks (although by then they were getting a wee bit tight).

If you can afford to buy clothes in a bigger size until you need maternity, go for it. I couldn´t have afforded to do that so just coped with what I had as long as I could. If I hadn´t have had the larger jeans I would have gone straight for maternity jeans.

To be honest the maternity trousers I got from next were huge and kept falling off, as you said, but the under-the-bump jeans from Topshop were/ are fab and were just really comfy around the waistband without falling down, just buy your normal size. I could easily have started wearing them a few weeks earlier if I´d had them.

i was to see this woman throughout her pregnancy wearing jeans, just undone...

can't have been you kama, this was about 3 years ago, undone jeans

I'm in the same place as the OP (17wks, no bump just tight waistbands) and have bought a couple of pairs of cheap trousers from Tesco in a size bigger than normal - they'll get wear after the birth as well.
With the longer tops culled from my normal wardrobe I am managing very nicely with no matwear at all (though I have some put away for later after an opportune shopping expedition).

I never did and I was GUTTED about it. I never ever looked pregnant, just like I'd had too many pies. I remember being in a long queue in the Post Office in the heat and being desparate for someone to take pity on the poor pregnant lady. They just looked at me as though I was a fat sweaty lardarse.