Maternity Clothes

blovemama

Yes, it's way too early for this discussion, but I CANNOT contain my excitement to wear maternity jeans again!!! I waited until I was probably 18 weeks before I started wearing them last time. That was stupid. I will be wearing them the second my regular clothes get at all tight because they are so damn comfy.

Share your favorite brands, where you bought them, etc. If you need special items (like scrubs), share that, too. 

I LOVED Jessica Simpson's maternity line. Those jeans were the real MVP of my pregnancy last time. 

I have a grown up job this time that requires me to wear suits fairly regularly. Any suggestions?

sparkymcgeee

Thank heavens I work in a tech company and it's a casual environment. I'm really excited about maternity clothes though. I'm going to look at secondhand and thrift shops first but I need a pair of skinny jeans and if I don't find them secondhand I will buy new. 

yesthisiskim0401

Last pregnancy I got a few maxi dresses from Old Navy that I really loved. 
First pregnancy I loved the Oh, Baby brand jeans from Kohls. They seem to have changed since, sadly. 
My BFF swears by PinkBlush. 

I need skinny jean recommendations!

blovemama

@sparkymcgeee I never had much luck with secondhand maternity clothes. I think they have some online stores that sell secondhand, so I am going to be going that route. 

rowboat4

I've already ordered a few things from h&m because they were having a big sale in Labor Day. They seem to be good quality, and they have options for casual and more dressed up. I've also heard good things about the ASOS maternity line. 

momo214

@sparkymcgeee @BritJonathan I use ThredUp for secondhand shopping. I sell regularly then use the proceeds to buy new items. I just purchased a couple new maternity items. The maternity selection isn't huge. 

justsuzie

I've also heard good things about ASOS and fit.  But, I have a bunch of ASOS clothes and the quality is shit. 

holli0801

Love the belly bands from target when you can still wear your pants but... barely...

for nice work clothes (I had several big conferences last time around) I was obsessed with this company from London, Isabella Oliver... Good news is most things fit well after pregnancy as well... 

casual stuff i stayed as cheap as possible- pink blush, motherhood maternity, target etc. 

loko08

I loved Loft maternity for my first pregnancy. TBH I will bust that out sooner than later to be as comfy as possible. Another vote for H&M too! 

rowboat4

justsuzie said:

I've also heard good things about ASOS and fit.  But, I have a bunch of ASOS clothes and the quality is shit. 

The few non mat pieces I have seem to be decent quality, but I haven't worn them much. 

tincupchalice

I just buy elastic waist shorts to go under my bump.  I'll have some leggings too.  I hate over the bump pants so much.

Emelri

I put maternity clothes on today, no regrets there. I also like the cheaper stuff so old navy, target. I do have a lot of motherhood maternity clothes too since my company has a rewards program that you can get gift cards to, so I used a lot of gift cards to buy clothes last time around. I found out that Walmart now has maternity clothes, so I may check out what they have. 

Kaysquared2

I love the Isabel maternity tank tops and crossover panel leggings at target.  I plan to live in tanks and leggings and a sweater or unbuttoned flannel.  The tank tops also work well as belly bands so I’ve been wearing them with my work pants unbuttoned.  Haven’t gained weight yet but anything pressing on my tummy makes me so sick.  I’ve even pulled out some of my maternity shorts from last time and worn them.  They are too big but much more comfortable.  Keep in mind anything you buy now that’s more fitted like jeans might not fit towards the end but will probably fit postpartum when nothing else fits yet.  

sharkmama39

rowboat4 said:

I've already ordered a few things from h&m because they were having a big sale in Labor Day. They seem to be good quality, and they have options for casual and more dressed up. I've also heard good things about the ASOS maternity line. 

I had two maternity dresses from ASOS last time and loved them. They were good quality, but agree that brand can be hit or miss.

JNCPro3130

Is it bad that DS is 2.5 years old and I still break out maternity pants sometimes? I love my full panel pants! They're so comfortable!

 I just lost 5 pounds, so I'm going to keep eating healthy in hopes of NOT gaining 50 pounds on my 5'2 frame.

rowboat4

JNCPro3130 said:

Is it bad that DS is 2.5 years old and I still break out maternity pants sometimes? I love my full panel pants! They're so comfortable!

 I just lost 5 pounds, so I'm going to keep eating healthy in hopes of NOT gaining 50 pounds on my 5'2 frame.

I gained 40+ lbs last time on a barely 5' frame 

also, were you on the m15 board? 

gildah

I love Zulily for maternity clothes. Personally, I only by ones that I can nurse in. I feel like we need 3 sets of mom clothes- sort of pregnant, really pregnant and postpartum nothing fits because I'm flabby and nursing haha!

mrsmtothek

tincupchalice said:

I just buy elastic waist shorts to go under my bump.  I'll have some leggings too.  I hate over the bump pants so much.

Omg same. I bought one pair and I was like NOPE NOPE never again. Every 5 seconds I had to keep them from riding down my ass. Horrible. I just use the BellaBand over normal stretchy jeans and call it a day. 

JNCPro3130

@rowboat4, no, I wasn't on the March 2015 board. If I remember correctly, the bump (at least on the TTC board) was a mess and filled with drama. I hear things settled down which is why I'm back this time around. 

mrspirate

Omg I not even 5w and I'm already looking and can't wait! With my last pregnancy I loved H&M, Motherhood, and Target! 

blovemama

@mrspirate maternity clothes and feeling the baby kick were my absolute fav things about being pregnant before!

blovemama

@gildah so true! I didn't realize that I would need nursing friendly clothes with my son. 

TeacherMom2015

I bought a bunch from Pink Blush last pregnancy.  I also borrowed from friends last pregnancy lol

JNCPro3130

BritJonathan said:

@mrspirate maternity clothes and feeling the baby kick were my absolute fav things about being pregnant before!

Oh, the baby kicks! Those are the best!!

sparkymcgeee

JNCPro3130 said:

BritJonathan said:

@mrspirate maternity clothes and feeling the baby kick were my absolute fav things about being pregnant before!

Oh, the baby kicks! Those are the best!!

They're the best until the end when it's super painful and awful because they are rolling like a mad person in your ribs up in there. Lol. But they are great.

cups4

@sparkymcgeee I remember being at my ILs and laying down crying because DS had kicked up so high under my ribs on my left side and MIL gently rubbing to get his butt out of there. The soft ones are nicer. The later ones actually got me hormonally angry and I may have yelled at him a couple times in utero lol.

Guillerma

I've started buying some on sales because I got rid of all my old ones and my pants are already too tight! At this point I'm a fan of things that are forgiving and stretchy and could be used postpartum too. But, guys. I just discovered something amazing. I've used Stitch Fix for a while and have gotten subsequently more disappointed with them. After the one I got this week, which was terrible - I asked for forgiving first tri things. I looked up Le Tote- you basically pay a $50 monthly fee and they send you maternity clothes you can RENT and send back when they don't fit you anymore! They have a stylist deal but you can swap out whatever you want before they send it to you. If you like them, you can pay and keep them. They do the laundry! I'm getting my first one this week- will report back. If anyone's interested, PM me, I have some referral codes so you can get one month for free and try it out- that's what I'm doing. 

roomsu

@Guillerma that sounds awesome!! Would you let me know what you think when the first one arrives?  I'm having a similar experience with stitchfix. 

Saratiff

I lived in pink blush maternity my last pregnancy 

dinonugget

For jeans I love Gap maternity but I'm a fan of the full panel. Most other things I bought cheap from Target, Old Navy and Pink Blush. The last month I lived in maxi skirts because jeans were too tight.

Edited for spelling.

molly1108-2

For suits and things- I have a bunch of work maternity dresses that I lent to a friend who needed suits and she just threw blazers on over top of them. I think those were mostly motherhood maternity.

Old Navy's maternity pixie pants are a must. They are just stretchy on the sides, but fit me my whole second pregnancy and I wore them at least weekly post partum for ummm probably a year (hangs head in shame)

loko08

Any tips on maternity jackets? I didn't need one last time since I had my daughter in November, and I felt like an oven that was on fire at that point. But I'll need one or two this go around since I'm in the upper Midwest.

sparkymcgeee

loko08 said:

Any tips on maternity jackets? I didn't need one last time since I had my daughter in November, and I felt like an oven that was on fire at that point. But I'll need one or two this go around since I'm in the upper Midwest.

I was in St. Louis during my pregnancy with my daughter and I didn't need one. She was born in April. I would hate to buy a coat just for that purpose but I could see it if you're in MN or WI or ugh, Chicago. I have no advice essentially. Good luck. I hope you find one that's not too expensive or you can wear it after this year as well. 

zizzabell523

I got a lot of my maternity clothes from Ross. They didn't have a huge selection like Motherhood Maternity, but it was a lot more affordable. This time, I plan on breaking out my old maternity clothes and living mostly in Lularoe. No need to size up and LEGGINGS!

Edit to add: If you plan on breastfeeding, Latched Mama was my place to go! They're pretty affordable and super easy to use. Plus, no one knows they're nursing-wear!

attorneyworkproduct

@BritJonathan, I was pregnant in law school last time but I still tried to dress mostly professional. I got a black maternity pencil skirt and several nice maternity sweaters from motherhood maternity. I just wore all my regular blazers unbuttoned.

I bought two pairs of maternity Minnie pants from J.Crew. I never stopped wearing them because they are just elastic on the sides. It looks like they aren't currently selling them but you can find them online other places. These were awesome for more casual days. Towards the end, I wore a lot of dresses and stopped caring whether they were super professional or not. 

Ceridwen77

hollieileen said:

Love the belly bands from target when you can still wear your pants but... barely... 

Yes! I loved the target belly bands and rocked my regular jeans as long as I could using the belly band!

Ceridwen77

sparkymcgeee said:

loko08 said:

Any tips on maternity jackets? I didn't need one last time since I had my daughter in November, and I felt like an oven that was on fire at that point. But I'll need one or two this go around since I'm in the upper Midwest.

I was in St. Louis during my pregnancy with my daughter and I didn't need one. She was born in April. I would hate to buy a coat just for that purpose but I could see it if you're in MN or WI or ugh, Chicago. I have no advice essentially. Good luck. I hope you find one that's not too expensive or you can wear it after this year as well. 

Same here - I didn't buy a winter coat last time, I just wore my non-maternity coat and didn't zip it. 

labgrand2012

@loko08 My DS was born in March and I had a knee length coat that has both a zipper and buttons that I wore throughout my whole pregnancy. I would just button as many as I could. I did not want to buy a maternity jacket, and was so glad I had one that worked. At the end I was only buttoning the top top two buttons that were above my bump, but I was not spending much time outside. Plus I was also a furnace at the point so felt warm even with an open jacket. I also stole one my DHs super warm NF fleeces that I could zip up throughout as well. 

Edited to add I am in Wisconsin

loko08

labgrand2012 said:

@loko08 My DS was born in March and I had a knee length coat that has both a zipper and buttons that I wore throughout my whole pregnancy. I would just button as many as I could. I did not want to buy a maternity jacket, and was so glad I had one that worked. At the end I was only buttoning the top top two buttons that were above my bump, but I was not spending much time outside. Plus I was also a furnace at the point so felt warm even with an open jacket. I also stole one my DHs super warm NF fleeces that I could zip up throughout as well. 

Edited to add I am in Wisconsin

This helps a ton as I'm in MN. I might just use this as an excuse to buy more fleeces

Thank you to everyone else too! It sounds as though I might be able to get away with what I already have.

ladystinson

in terms of skinny jeans, I don't know about the thinner girls, but for those of us with some to spare faded glory jeggings all the way lol I can get away with them at work and so far my regular pairs have been stretchy enough that I'm not feeling any bloat pressure and they're like $12-$15 a pair. I never found maternity clothes that cheap the first time around. I'll be milking these until i can't anymore

tincupchalice

With my last May pregnancy I could still zip up my ski jacket at the end of January, for what that's worth.