Maternity clothes!

[Maggiejags]

Hello!

Does anyone know if there is anywhere in London (or surrounding) that has maternity clothes in store? (Apart from JoJo or Mothercare). I've found some good bits online, but it's a pain sending back if clothes aren't right!

Do you have a Newlook close by? Or a Debenhams (red herring used to have a maternity range), Next have maternity too.

Some h&ms have clothes in store. How pregnant are you? You only really absolutely need mat clothes in the last months. You can either just wear your normal stuff until about 5/6months (not jeans!) or just size up. I didn't listen to this advice and spent loads on clothes that I didn't wear much and then I sold on ebay for a fraction of the price.

Personally I wish I'd saved the money for nursing clothes as I wore them a lot longer and while you can lift a Tshirt up, it's nice to wear nice stuff when you get back to you pre baby weight!

Most H&M stores have maternity wear in store so I'd be surprised if they didn't in London. I generally buy everything on line though.

And someone should tell my enormous bump that I don't need maternity clothes until 5 months 😂

I've found that Oxford Street has the best selection - not that many places have it in store but you have John Lewis there which has some fancier bits, a small maternity bit in Topshop and then you can find maternity clothes in the New Look at the TCR end of Oxford Street and the H&M on Regent Street. None of them are massive but they're okay.

Sizing up doesn’t work for me. Maternity clothes are made to flatter your pregnant figure, sizing up just means the clothes don’t fit in the right place. I look so much slimmer in maternity clothes. And I’m not sure how it saves money unless you resign yourself to wearing clothes a size bigger post baby.

In terms of actual shops, there is a Seraphine somewhere west-ish, Knightsbridge or Kensington High st maybe. John Lewis on Oxford Street has a small section. And Harrods used to have small section that was lovely, but that was 3 years ago and not sure whether it’s still there. Some H&M stores are good for basis, jeans, leggings, plain tops, but the one I was in yesterday looked like a jumble sale for anything else.

Maternity clothes are more expensive and if you're getting Tshirts in a size up, you can wear them to breastfeed in or post birth much easier than you size pre baby. It's nice having nice things but I made the mistake of buying stuff I wore for about 4 months and I wish I hadn't. This isn't a personal attack on people that have bought clothes fgs, I'm giving my experience to the poster so she doesn't fall in the trap I did 🙄 no need to get so defensive.

18 weeks and I absolutely need maternity workwear (ie, when baggy stretchy things aren't appropriate), but at home I'm slobbing about in my normal leggings.

Definitely Oxford Street. John Lewis has lots of Seraphine sale stuff at the moment.

Very few places in my experience. I also prefer to try stuff on in store but in the end I resorted to ASOS as at least it's easy to send stuff back if it's no good

I agree maternity clothes work better as they actually fit and be flatter you more - show off your bump rather than just hanging on you like a big sack

H&M and New Look have things in store near me. Also Seraphine if you have one near you.

You don’t need loads. I got a couple of pairs of jeans, a couple of pairs of trousers for work and 5-10 tops but they were quite cheap in H&M and New Look.

You can get some mat clothes that double as nursing clothes and you would probably find you wear your maternity jeans / trousers for a bit after you’ve had your baby

I tried to but as much as possible in the sales so I really didn't spend much in total, and it's worth it to be comfortable. Do people really just wear a larger size at full term? Can't imagine how many sizes up I'd have had to have gone to accommodate my bump towards the end! Maternity/nursing clothes is a good idea if you're planning on breastfeeding as well.

Agree that sizing up doesn't work if you want to look nice whilst pregnant. My pregnancy is high risk so didn't announce until 23 weeks and just looked really fat up until then wearing size up tops and doing the hairband trick on my normal jeans.

As soon as I announced I started wearing maternity clothes to work & everyone commented on how well I looked and not fat at all, just pregnant!

I've bought everything from H&M with the exception of a couple of bits from New Look. I've managed to get by on 3 x black leggings, 5 x long sleeves tops, 4 x short sleeves tops and 3 x dresses most of which I got in the sale by coincidence as they happened to be in the sale at the time.

I think maternity wear fits really well and makes you look slim and pregnant rather than just fat! Also when you find the right maternity leggings it's a game changer as they are SO comfy!!