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Original poster

Mistakes you have made when buying maternity clothes...

26 replies

HeadFairy · 15/09/2009 15:18

I thought it might be nice to share some of the errors of our ways (painfully) learnt so we can pass them on to first timers.

I'll start...

Don't congratulate yourself on being so clever at buying a monochrome capsule wardrobe "so that everything will go with everything else" because you will be so sick of wearing black and white (especially if you have a winter baby) that you'll spend the next year wearing flourescent neons by way of compensation.

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Hi! This thread is a little out of date. If you're looking for comfy maternitywear, take a peek at our round-up of the maternity dresses - as chosen by Mumsnetters. MNHQ

OP posts:

rubyslippers · 15/09/2009 15:23

buy a decent mat bra ... you may have to buy several but it makes a biiiiig difference

sherby · 15/09/2009 15:24

Had a huge maternity delivery from Next this morning all but one thing is going back

Bump bands are crap if you are skinny pre preg

LuluMaman · 15/09/2009 15:25

don't buy stuff that has cutesy slogans on, you are pregnant but still a sentient, mature adult.

that is all

wilbur · 15/09/2009 15:25

If you're tall, don't even bother trying on Mothercare trousers. Go to Hennes.

Original poster

HeadFairy · 15/09/2009 15:27

Oh Lulu, you are so right... I'm nearly 40 and do not want a teeshirt with snoopy on saying "does my bump look big in this"

I'd also say don't even bother with non wired mat bras if you are bigger than an E cup... the shape is shite, monoboob hell. Go for Anita underwired ones.

OP posts:

MrsBadger · 15/09/2009 15:43

do not buy clothes you would not wear if not pg

there is a reason I do not wear flowery things normally, pregnancy does not override this
ditto snoopy, slogans, pink pyjamas etc

mat jeans will not stay up and be comnforatble simultaneously - wear cords or something and live with it

StayFrosty · 15/09/2009 15:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dingdong3 · 15/09/2009 15:50

Agreeing with all the OP. I bought one of those Belly Belts - total waste of time as it just made all my normal clothes look all weird on my crotch and bum.
Just buy good quality maternity jeans. You will wear them to death and can sell them on eBay then for half what you paid for them. I wish I had just forked out for some designer ones instead of buying 4 pairs of high street ones. Defo agree with the OP about under the bump - drove me mad for the last 5 months of the pg.
And how hard was it to get long trousers?!! Are our legs supposed to shrink when we get pregnant?

cece · 15/09/2009 15:54

Don't go near under the bump trousers, dam things fall down with every footstep you take. Mothercare do good stretch jersey over the bump trousers.

Sidge · 15/09/2009 16:00

Don't listen to the loons who suggest just buying clothes in a couple of sizes bigger than you normally wear.

You are pregnant, your body will change dramatically but you will be unlikely to go up 2-3 sizes ALL OVER.

BornToFolk · 15/09/2009 16:00

Started wearing them too early. I was sick of the bloody things by the end and should have stayed in my normal clothes for as long as possible.

I'm going to buy denim dungarees next time. I don't care if I look ridiculous, I was so fed up of hoiking my jeans up the whole time.

wasabipeanut · 15/09/2009 16:02

In addition to the fact that you have to keep hoiking the wretched things up, under bump trousers can annoy the crap out of you if you have a cs scar that they can rub nicely against.

Get some decent bras and accept that big pants are the future!

ClaraDeLaNoche · 15/09/2009 16:04

You will probably see a few tunic tops with striking geometric patterns and think "That's nice, a bit different". The first time you wear them, everyone will say how lovely you look. Then when you wear them again, people will doubt you have anything else as they are too memorable.

MrFlibble · 15/09/2009 16:07

They may look huge but the big bump hugging jeans are a godsend, my red herring (£35!!) ones are lovely and I pretty much live in them.

wasabipeanut · 15/09/2009 16:12

Oh yes, I meant to add, I have a floral dress which I thought was quite nice and funky the first time round worn over trousers - it's quite a bright print on a black background.

I tried it on the other day and realised that actually I looked like a sofa.

JamesAndTheGiantBanana · 15/09/2009 16:14

Also, if you're quite overweight it's best to wait and see if you will need maternity clothes at all as the majority of clothes for overweight women have so much stretch in them that you'll probably be in them til about 7 months gone if not til the end.

And maternity trousers for fat women just don't seem to stay up! So in this case, DO just buy trousers a size or two up (or live in stretchy tracksuit bottoms) for the last month or two.

MIAonline · 15/09/2009 16:40

But yourself enough to keep you feeling nice. I thought I wouldn't need that much and thought 'oh it is only 4 months of wearing maternity stuff (didn't show until 5 months)' but my God did i wish I had spent more by the end. I was so sick of the same clothes day after day.

You deserve to feel good when you are pregnant.

Elemental · 15/09/2009 18:11

I agree that under the bump trousers are a waste of time, they fall down for the first part when you can wear them and then the bump objects to them when you get a bit further down the line.

I would buy lots of nice opaque tights next time (rather than a couple of pairs and then not be able to find them again when I needed some more) and some over the bump black trousers and jeans. My Dorothy Perkins over the bump jeans were a lifesaver and I wore them non stop, apart from right at the end when dresses where the only thing that fitted.

There are some great things on ebay. I got a plain black dress for £8 and a black dress with little white dots for £1 (!) that I wore to death and didn't look really maternity either.

TaylorSwift · 15/09/2009 18:51

I wore proper maternity-style stuff with my first pregnancy - big tent tops, hideous maternity jeans, special maternity knickers etc. God, I looked grim.

Second time round I showed off my shape much more - lots of figure hugging tops and dresses over leggings; went up a size rather than buy maternity stuff initially (until i ggot too big to do that!). Didn't get any special underwear. Avoided maternity jeans apart from one pair of Topshop maternity skinnies.

Tidey · 15/09/2009 18:57

Don't buy DP under the bump jeans, they will not stay up, they will drive you mad after about ten minutes and you will put them away in a cupboard and sell them on eBay months later at a huge loss and with a nagging sense of guilt that the buyer won't be able to to keep them up either. Then no doubt the whole hideous cycle will begin again.

Tidey · 15/09/2009 18:58

That's as in Dorothy Perkins, not buying maternity jeans for your DP, that would be weird.

MissHairspray · 15/09/2009 19:17

Oh I must be a weird shape because I actually loved my DP under-the-bump jeans until near the end when they stopped all feeling from the waist down.

Don't buy anything that requires high heels to make it look good. You will never actually wear high heels past 5 months but so desperate will you be to look pretty you will still wear your floaty chiffon designer empire-line dress but will replace heels with battered ugg boots. Unless you are Sienna Miller this will look horrendous.

fin42 · 15/09/2009 20:06

Don't buy maternity stuff too early, I did and never actually got big enough for it. I bpought a pair of size 10 maternity trousers from Mothercare (I was 12-14 pre bump) and they still drowned me at 40 weeks+. I was lucky that my sister loaned me a couple of nice dark coloured mat dresses that I could dress up with nice cardis or t-shirts underneath, and the rest of the time I got away with tunic tops and stretchy trousers.

LetThemEatCake · 15/09/2009 20:36

watch out for buying stuff too long in the leg; you prob won't be able to manage the high heels needed for ground-skimming trouser bottoms

NoahDear · 15/09/2009 20:44

dotn buy anything wiht a bow

DONT THINK only your tummy gets big

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