Maternity clothes hell

[ivyrayne]

I’ll get straight to the point, I cannot find any nice maternity clothes anywhere! And I’m really nervous that I won’t be able to find anything by the time I can’t fit into my normal clothes anymore. Can I get away with my usual elastic waste trousers and large jumpers when I’m further along? Or will I need to buy specific maternity tops and trousers/jeans. Panicking because I’m self-conscious at the best of times, and I want to be feeling confident when I’ve got a huge bump. Only have a small bump so far. Any suggestions to good brands/shops would be helpful too. Thanks in advance!

Im with you, it really stresses me out gettign dressed every morning and hate the feeling of having nothing to wear. Its fine at the weekends but I have a fairly corporate job where I have to look smart so I have found workwear challenging.

Also hate spending money on things I will wear for such a short period of time!

I do agree with pp that you can get quite far with some oversized shirts and open blazers/ jackets if needed. Trousers I had to buy maternity versions fairly early on. Next Clearance or outlet section on their website (cant remember what its called) has some really cheap bits - I got some jeans for £12 and a coat with a removabel section for £20. Vinted is good but obviously hit and miss size wise.

Was recently pregnant. ASOS was my life saver. Their maternity leggings are cheap and decent. Babygo.com for sports leggings and jeans. New look was fantastic for jeans as well. I got a fee pairs of leggings, 2 pairs of jeans. I mostly wore my normal tops as I like relaxed, oversized jumper anyway. I have several racer back and long sleeved Jersey or cotton ribbed dresses I wore those throughout as well. Tank's tops and knits I just sized up which was perfect for postpartum as well.
Primark for undies, just size up. I like over bump so went for a granny style high-waist and they were perfect . Did high waist thongs for when they were needed went 2 sizes by the end of pregnancy

I am really struggling too. Not helped by being a size 18 and a lot of ranges stop at a 16. I have bought some things on Vinted inc two pairs of maternity jeans which are not comfortable at all! I've ordered and returned a few other maternity bits. Jeans are my main problem. I'm 12 weeks so don't have much of a bump yet but all my jeans and leggings are too tight.

I'm wearing a lot of my oversized shirts and they are all still fine, but it's getting a lot colder in Scotland so I'm in need of cosy things!

So far I've had success with

Next - various brands but I've bought a nice sage green fleece jumper from Mountain Warehouse. Also bought a two pack of maternity leggings from Next.

New Look - returned all the dresses as quite frankly they were thin and cheap, but love a long line pale grey jumper and I'm going to order in olive green too.

Vinted - a Seasalt maternity dress (looks like they no longer make new maternity clothes). A Mothercare denim pinafore dress - bit tight but hoping it might look better once I have a rounded bump.

M&S - bought a bigger pair of standard jeggings but they are so baggy on my legs that I don't really like how they look. Alos bought a couple of long sleeved tops from Autograph that I like, just in a bigger size.

A lot of people have recommended H&M, ASOS, River Island but I wouldn't shop there anyway so it doesn't really feel like my style or quality. I'm going to try George at Asda for some jeggings hopefully.

I've returned

A lovely striped tunic from Seraphine that was too tight and an 18 is the biggest they do.

A denim tunic top and a striped top from Frugi. Bit frumpy.

Maternity jeggings from M&S - just didn't fit right.