Maternity clothes sizing?

Bamgal25 · January 2013

I am considering buying some maternity clothes soon because a lot of my pants are tight (pretty much were before I got pregnant anyway) and there seems to be a lot of good deals around this time of year. My question is... how comparable is sizing on maternity clothes vs normal clothes? ie, if I wear a medium in tops now, would I also probably need a medium in maternity tops? I plan on ordering some things so trying on isn't really an option... and I don't have a baby bump yet Smile

Any insight would be appreciated! Thanks

naenay797 · January 2013

In my experience, they are pretty comparable. I wear a large in tops normally and I order large maternity shirts and they fit perfect. I am usually a 12 in pants so I order large in maternity pants and they fit fine.

jennyb301 · January 2013

I found that Gap Maternity was pretty dead-on for sizing (reg vs maternity). Some things did run bigger, but toward the end of pregnancy - when everything is bigger, not just belly, that extra room is nice ;-) They've usually got great clearance items, also.

Target (I think it was Liz Lang and another line) seemed to be HUGE. Tops were a little more like regular sizing, but bottoms were difficult. Again, in my ninth month, I finally needed that extra room, but from about 6 month until then, they just looked like giant pants/shorts on me.

Old Navy was ridiculous. I actually just bought my regular size in their regular line for a lot of things.

Nukke · January 2013

My pregnant friend told me that it depends on the company. In general, she found that Old Navy/Gap clothes (maternity and otherwise) tended to be sized larger than what they say on their size charts. It depends on the brand, but just try to go by what the size charts say (I'm assuming you're buying online, otherwise, just try them on!).

JET29 · January 2013

I always bought maternity clothes in my regular size (small) and found that they fit fine throughout the pregnancy. Most of my stuff was from Target and Old Navy.

anvloveskme · January 2013

I agree with Gap being very true to size - less so with Old Navy, but I think that they just cut things in larger blocks so some times a L is larger, sometimes it is a little smaller. I think Liz Lange at Target is pretty true to size as well.

PDX7868 · January 2013

I have found them to run larger in most brands Especially tops. I typically wear a small but a lot of my maternity clothes were extra small because they tend to cut everything larger. Depends on how much extra weight you gain.

Maybe try a bella bend to get you through the next month or so until you can start trying things on with a bump?

kat81again2 · January 2013

"if I wear a medium in tops now, would I also probably need a medium in maternity tops?"

Yes. That is a good rule of thumb. Only if you have multiples or you're in the last month do you end up possibly wanting to go up to L from M. They also factor in boob growth.

It is good to hit up sales but don't get carried away. You might not be good at estimating how fast your bump will grow. For example, our due dates are in Sept. If you live in a pretty warm or mild climate, you might not even need to buy maternity pants at all because you might fit into regular pants all of the way until May. (Or maybe not; it's just too hard to know now.)

Bamgal25 · January 2013

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I guess my urge to buy passed because I still cant decide which size, in part because what size I wear normally varies on the brand. I think trying on will be helpful so I dont end up sending stuff back. I do think I need to get a bella band t o help with the tight pants in the meantime. Thanks again!

vintageutopia · January 2013

For the most part, they are comparable. Although, I carried my daughter all the way around and I found that I needed a larger pair of pants toward the end of my pregnancy. With my son, I carried everything out in front and didn't have to change sizes at all.

BelhurstBride · January 2013

I found them pretty comparable, but I didn't have enough of a bump to keep maternity pants up until sometime in the 3rd tri. I ended up wearing mostly dresses.

kcox123 · January 2013

My experience is in the beginning - yes. I am normally a size 2/4 or XS. I generally can wear XS tops in the 1st and 2nd tri and S tops in the 3rd tri, and I usually go from XS pants in 1st tri early 2nd tri to S pants for most of 2nd tri to sometimes M pants by the end. Everyone is different. I would just buy some stuff you can wear now but don't go crazy.

Maternity clothes sizing?

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