Maternity Clothes or bigger size clothes?

[xmairix]

Hi ladies, I'm 15 weeks today and had a good sized bump now for weeks. I really need to go buy some clothes as my regular ones are quite neat now. Did you buy maternity clothes or just buy bigger size clothes? If you bought matenity, what week did you buy them?
Cheers x

i bought maternity. I can't remember what week, only that I bought them when my regular clothes got too tight. I bought a bundle like this off ebay and the clothes were really good quality x

I bought maternity tops, jeans, and dresses around 14 weeks.
Honestly the stretchy dresses I already owned were better than the maternity ones. And the tops don't cover my bump/are too tight and have been since week 24ish. I just wear my partners tops but with the warm weather the further into pregnancy you get you'll probably appreciate dresses more.
I couldn't survive without the jeans and trousers though! I prefer the ones that just have a bit of stretchy material on the waistband rather than the bit of material going over the bump because they can look a bit odd (although the skirts with this are very comfortable!).
Second the eBay bundles though - new maternity clothes are ridiculously expensive and with your body changing all the time you don't want to spend £20 on something that you dislike after three weeks. I paid like £50 for around 70 items

Definitely maternity... I found sizing up just resulted in me feeling just huge in baggy ill fitting clothes. One exception is the cami dress things from primark which are bsically long vests. I love having a bump and I want to show it off. Maternity leggings are a must imo as are over bump jeans and some longer vest tops which are also great after for slouchy days and easy boob access.
I mostly got stuff from New Look. No idea when I got stuff as I've jsut had baby number 3 so it was back sometime in 2014 😂

Oh and be prepared for post 35 weeks.... Maternity pjs will be your best friend 😂 I had some amazing ones from Lidl which I'm still loving wearing now at almost 8weeks Pp and expect I will be for ages yet. When pregnant you need comfort.

Depends on your size. My sister was a size 0-4 before pregnancy and even when her bump was huge she never went over a size 8 so for her buying normal clothes (and adjusting the arms etc) was the right thing as maternity clothes in a 0-4 can be expensive.

Similarly if you started as a size 18 then finding maternity can be difficult so it may be easier just to buy a bigger size:

Depends what look you prefer and how big your budget is!

I have bought maternity jeans and leggings (mothercare and H&M) plus a few vests.
T shirts, dresses, skirts and work tops I have sized up and gone for things with a high waistband and flowy bottom half (lots of Primark, H&M and New Look, I'm on a budget and this will be last pregnancy so didn't want to shell out too much!) Maternity ranges seem quite limited at my end of the budget, so got more interesting clothes by sizing up.

I bought a few loose fitting dresses in my size and one size up from primark, mango and H and M which I wore with a belt above the bump this was perfect up until about 36 weeks and I will get the wear out of them after. A pair of overbump maternity jeans (next) a few maternity leggings (next) maternity yoga pants (asos) and some maternity t shirts and a maxi dress from George at Asda!!
Im 39 weeks now and huge all that fits is the maxi dress and my yoga pants but im on mat leave so what harm!!
I just couldn't justify buying a new wardrobe that you only get the wear out a short time. If you go with basics then things can be dressed up with scraves and jewellery!

Personally I just brought bigger sizes the only things I brought maternity wise were jeans and a tankini (I had visions of swimming to ease my aches - it never happened but it came in handy post baby!!)

I'm doing a mixture, a few nice fitted maternity things but also leggings and smock type dresses and tops (as I quite like these) although the top halves are massive! I'm 18 weeks so will probably add more bits as I go but don't want to over board on maternity stuff ideally

I got a lot of maternity thing from a friend. But for me: maternity specific clothes are ideal for bottoms (leggings, tights, pyjama bottoms, trousers) while lots of my looser fitting tops in my regular size are still good. Also my normal stretchy jersey dresses are still good, and bump-flattering, at 28 weeks. (And I have both maternity and non-maternity skirts.) There's something about trousers that makes them fall down/dig in.

For what it's worth, I realised that my loose-ish size 10-12 clothes from Fatface make great maternity wear. (I think they suit me better as maternity wear than normally!) So I went and got a few extra bits from there.

YMMV - my bump is both big and low, so this may affect things!

Incidentally, I found a good bra fitting at bravissimo helped ALL my clothes look better. They have a couple of items they suggest for pregnant ladies without them being maternity specific (such as the Satine, I think it's called).

I’d say must buy maternity clothes are jeans, leggings and comfy bras. It otherwise it’s whatever you feel is best. I bought a lot of maternity tops etc and some dresses and the tops are too tight now (33 weeks). I went into primark about 5 weeks ago and bought some maxis that I can hike up the waistband on to under the boobs and bam the comfiest thing I’ve worn the whole time ! I went one size up.

I’d look around at normal clothes and mix in with some maternity stuff where you need to. Asda George has some really reasonably priced and nice maternity clothes.

Asda jeggings with the elasticated waistband are comfy. Think they are about £12.50 and I've got a pair in my normal size and up a size ( which are the best fitting now!) Currently 32 weeks so hopefully they'll see me to the end
Also Primark slouchy t shirts in a bigger size fit quite well without looking silly

I intend to do a mixture. I've got nursing maternity clothes as they will come in handy when his born if I can breast feed but as I will be heavily pregnant in the height of summer I'm going to buy cheap bigger size dresses that I can donate to charity after as I won't be wearing them in early stages as we will be going into winter

I never got maternity clothes at all. I wore my own bottoms up until 7 months or so. Then I just got a size up. T shirts I never needed to size up at all.

Maternity trousers and jeans, some tops from H&M Mama but bought larger sized payamas since I think the special maternity ones cost 2 times as much. I started wearing maternity clothes from week 21 or 22.

I got maternity jeans and trousers as it's hard to get around that. But I only bought three maternity tops. I also bought a few oversized style tops in a size up, and I've actually worn them so much more than the maternity ones. And they were so much cheaper as well, especially since I bought mostly in the sales.