Help me through the minefield of maternity clothing and avoid OH t shirts and jogging bottoms!

[OMGBFP]

Been too busy thinking about baby clothes to think of maternity clothing!

How many pairs of maternity trousers will I need?
Trousers - under bump, over bump, narrow bump band, stretchy pocket bits?
Which would you say you found more comfy? Any good quality but reasonably priced brands?
I've lots of flowing style tops which should suffice so do I really need any specific maternity tops? Do I need nursing tops or can I just use normal tops with ease?
Are dungarees out?

I found that even though i said 'd manage without maternity wear, as soon as I got to 5 months i was begging for it. It does depend what dress size you are but maternity wear is cut a lot better for preg bodies. I have 2 pairs if over bump jeans and live in them. They support bump amazingly and make finding tops to wear easy! Invest in a few jeans and a few maternity vest tops and a couple of long tops and you'll be sorted! I was particularly impressed by New Look and Peacocks maternity stuff.

'm an 18 usually and very booby so a lot of my tops as I said are the looser flowing longer lentgh tunic style, which am hoping will pretty much see me through!
Someone mentioned bump bands? not entirely sure what they do aside from support the bump a bit?

Peacocks is no more sadly, I know my friend swore by their maternity jeans.

I love Dorothy Perkins jeans, but I have a big arse curvy figure and Topshop etc don't even go up my thighs. It all depends on your sizing.

I find that I need to go up sizes as pregnancy progresses: the trousers that fit me at week 9 haven't fit since 20 weeks, and my current jeans won't last much longer. You may find that one pair or one size does you for the whole pregnancy.

I hate under the bump as they hurt, but other people swear by them. All mine are lovely comfy over the bump ones. Mm, stretchy!

Dungarees, unless you are very young and gorgeous, make you look like a toddler, IMHO.

Get maternity bras ad be prepared to buy twice during your pregnancy.

Tops, I'm okay until the third trimester.

Oh and congratulations!

I want to look pregnant and not just fat though

I think I need new bras already and am only coming up 6 weeks, but they are F cup anyway. Thanks for the congratulations :) do you find the over bump ones itchy and hot or anything?

Am looking at New Look, it's bloody cheap

These bump band things - what are they for? www.newlook.com/shop/womens/maternity/maternity-2pk-bump-bands_213129899

I have two jersey mini skirts to go with leggings that are like that can i not cheat and wear them higher?!

boden maternity leggings have been my best friend. Proper thick fabric and they still stretch riiiight over my gigantico 8 month bump.

I've been wearing them with lots of stretchy cotton dresses like these from ASOS (who only go up to a 16 but they're quite generously cut.

bump bands seemed like a good idea but just got annoying at loo times

still not entirely sure what their purpose is, everyone seems to be selling them but not explaining!

Leggings! had forgotten about those, will put on list, not Boden though, out of my price range.

I can't be arsed with bump bands. Basically, they allow you to keep wearing your normal jeans, but with the button undone under the bump band. It never worked for me this time as my thighs went mecha.

The problem I had this time was that I'd become a fan of skinny jeans in the 3.5 years between pregnancies and you have no room for growth in them. If you normally wear boyfriend or bootcut jeans you'll be okay with the old bump band trick.

The other thing is that bump bands make you look like you have a vest on under your top, which I'm a bit over.

Nursing tops, mm. They're okay. Can't say I was that bothered about modesty after DS was about 2mo. But could be good in summer.

So far, over the bump not making me sweaty (am 29 weeks, due end of May) but you can also just roll the band down in warm weather if you are wearing a loose fitting top.

IMHO pregnancy trousers are pap. They're too loose at first and then once they are tight enough they just roll down over the bump. I recommend dresses and leggings (which I never wear when not pregnant). Bennaton do nice dresses

I'm on my 3rd pg and never worn maternity clothes. I find shops that target middle-aged women like Bon Marche much better, cheaper and make clothes that don't fall apart after 4 wears like most maternity items.

It's possible to find trendy stuff in there if you look, but they are made more for a big hipped apple shape so copes with pg women well.

H&M good as v generous. You'll be amazed that what looks huge is too small really quickly!

Jojo maman do a wrap top which you wrap less as you get bugger. Found that invaluable for work and "best".

In summer maxi dresses are nice. Skirts are awful.

Ah Skibum I'm with you on not wearing skirts, they made me look like a butternut squash!

Yes I can imagine skirts not being too flattering but what about floaty a line skirts in summer worn low? With a vest top? Would that look ok? or pumpkinish

I always managed with a few things from next (bought online, returned to shop for refund if not quite right. brilliant) and borrowing from friends (luckily htere's a big gaggle of us who all had our firsts together, and are now brewing seconds too to rotate clothes around...)

but always fancied treating myslef with something from here:

www.bellybutton.de/maternity-clothes/collection/new-collection

would be better dressed when pregnant than not in no space of time!

Long tops from eg H&M over maternity jeans from Gap was my wardrobe staple. I had two pairs of jeans and one pair of work trousers. Also had a denim skirt but looked terrible so hardly wore it. For breastfeeding I mainly wore shirts but found a couple of nice tshirts from www.mamaway.co.uk

What do you think is the minimum I could get away with in terms of quantity? I don't need work things.

I like a few of the dresses/tunics on mamaway but don't realllllllly need any.

Also any recommendation for maternity bras for big cup sizes? My underwires are agony

I had two pairs if jeans, one over, one under bump, under much better.
Two wrap dresses- loved v comfy.
Several empire line normal tops ( new look)
Two pairs if primark linen normal trousers bigger size for hot summer.
One standard dress.

Hated all my mat wear by the end of second pregnancy, really hated it. Being frugal then did mean money for lots of new stuff after though :-)

Im sure underwires are very bad when pregnant. Can't help with larger sizes. I did have some tesco monster maternity bras for the just had baby few weeks( when norks are huge) they were fine, and cheap. M& s for the rest.

Again i would say budget for new bras and buy less when pregnant. I can not explain the joy of buying new underwired bras after my last bf baby. You will wash everyday post baby so less bras are ok.

I find Tesco can come up small but will check it out, I don't actually mind paying more for bras than clothing but only as my norks are sooooo sore right now I would pay £££ to be able to be comfortable!

underwiring fine in preg and whilst nursing

I swear by leggings at the moment i didn't want to splash out on jeans that I was only going to wear for a few months, I have bought some cheapish maternity tops though as they are so much more comfy and grow with bump and I will probably wear them after buba is here too. Good luck finding something to suit you and that you are comfy in

oooh cae you are making it sound like the search for the Holy Grail there?!

Well personally I've found it quite hard to find stuff that I really like, its all so plain and boring, especially if you don't want to break the bank. I suppose it depends what you are looking for though. I got a couple of nice trendy longish tops on eBay, try there perhaps?