maternity clothes question from 1st tri

strawbrrysmile05 · October 2009

Hi all! I'm still on first tri (3 more weeks!) but I have a question. I know that we are all different and that you wear maternity clothes when your pre-preg clothes don't fit. However, I'm only 10w today and I feel like my old clothes are already getting tight! I wear a size 6 (not pregnant) but I'm already starting to show, I swear...even DH commented the other day. I feel like I'm in between pre-pregnancy shirts and maternity shirts.I know this is probably mostly bloat, but I'm not sure what to do.

Question: At what week(ish) did you start wearing maternity shirts? I'm just looking for a general idea.

(ps...I haven't really lurked here so I'm sorry if this is a dumb question or one you get often!)

bb80 · October 2009

fyi, maternity shirts are HUGE, i don't think you'll need them anytime soon, pants definitely, i think i started wearing maternity pants around 11 weeks.

gillrob · October 2009

I am still wearing my normal tops and pants but I have to use the bella band with all of my pants. I've found that maternity clothes are still too baggy on me so I can make due with what I've got. I would expect in the next few days though I'll have to start wearing at least maternity pants.

sugarbeetsy · October 2009

I'm still wearing regular shirts but made the switch to maternity pants last week.

Between the maternity pants and yoga/sweatpants, I am totally out of my normal jeans.

Be comfortable, don't worry too much about what "should" be happening.

jessface926 · October 2009

i'm still wearing all of my prepregnancy clothes. i don't want to go shopping until I absolutely HAVE to, but that time is coming up soon i think. all of my jeans are on their last days sad. as far as shirts, all of my long shirts are doing a great job thus far, but i'm running out of those too hah so i think my maternity clothes shopping time is near.

Its hard though, because until you REALLY start to show, like you said, a lot of it is bloat which is difficult. You'll see the difference soon though. might as well invest in at least 1 pair of maternity pants and a few shirts. Ive been buying longer, more spacious shirts, rather then heading to the maternity section yet because i feel like they're all designed for a 3rd tri belly. Good luck!

leigh517 · October 2009

it definitely depends on the person. i started wearing maternity pants around 14 weeks, and the shirts were all a bit loose, so i wore looser regular shirts for a while. i now only wear maternity shirts, and i'd say it's been like that for about 2 weeks...

NiniJ55 · October 2009

Not a dumb question and you are right everyone is different.

I started wearing maternity shirts around week 21 - but that's me - I started to show around week 17.

During my "bloat" phase I tried wearing mostly dresses and that helped a great deal. Even know I still wear my regular pants - just unbuttoned (but can still zip). If neccesary get a bella band - I like mine and it worked well. If you feel comfortable buying maternity clothes - then go ahead. I was one of those people who was paranoid to buy anything outside of the second trimester (again - just me being paranoid - does not mean anything).

Good luck.

Barneso · October 2009

I wore regular shirts until about 16 weeks and then changed to maternity shirts.

At about 9 weeks I started using a Be-Band ($20 at Target in the Maternity Section) for my pre-preg jeans. I used that until about 19 weeks and then switched to maternity jeans.

Mrs.PeachyKeen · October 2009

I am still in my regular pants and shirts. I bought the bella band, but haven't taken it out of the package. At this point, I figure that I'll just return it and go straight to mat wear at some point. I keep thinking that any day now I'll pop and my clothes won't fit, but so far so good.

homebird · October 2009

I'm almost 19 weeks and I haven't work maternity shirts yet. Actually .... no, I lied. I've worn ONE maternity shirt, and that's because the fit was pretty small. Most maternity shirts I've tried on are HUGE. They look silly, imo, unless you've got the belly to fill them out.

I started wearing a bella band around 12 or 13 weeks, and I'm still wearing it. I have a few pairs of maternity pants, but they're still too big for me.

jenn&Dave2005 · October 2009

I really hated that bumpies said I shouldn't be wearing maternity shirts at 10 weeks. I'm sorry but most of my shirts were NOT flowy, they were fitted. Fitted button downs, fitted t's. I was a nice size 4/6. Wear what you're comfortable in, when you're comfortable. There is nothing wrong with wearing maternity clothes sooner and there's no price for starting them later. It's much more important that you feel good about yourself and your looks.

murfygirl · October 2009

I switched to all maternity jeans around week 12, but maternity shirts were still huge. Now all I can wear is maternity clothes. I would say the shirts stopped looking silly around week 18 but everyone is different I measure big for 23 weeks. I say if you have to be sick tired and generally just feel like crap you deserve an elastic waistband to go with it. Just wear your longer shirts and you'll be fine for a while.

strawbrrysmile05 · October 2009

Thank you so much for your quick and kind responses :-)

I have the Be Band fromTarget. I've been wearing it on and off since...6.5w or so...solidly since 8 weeks for my jeans and some work pants. Aside from that, I only have one maternity shirt, bc as pp said, I'm not big on buying anything until I get to join your board :-) However, my mom insisted on buying it for me. I almost fill it out already bc the fit is pretty small. I'm not sure I'll get to wear it when I get really big unless it stretches a lot. I just figured I wouldn't feel like this for another 5 or 6 weeks at least even if it is bloat. I'll just have to figure it out :-)

Thanks again!

ABColeslaw · October 2009

I broke down and bought maternity pants at 12 weeks. I'm still wearing my prepreg shirts, although they are tight. I just find maternity shirts make you look so much more pregnant that you really are. Not that thats a bad thing, but when I wear them ppl ask me if I'm due in January instead of April. In my regular shirts, I'm not sure ppl even know I'm pregnant over just being fat.

Mhild · October 2009

jenn&Dave2005:
I really hated that bumpies said I shouldn't be wearing maternity shirts at 10 weeks. I'm sorry but most of my shirts were NOT flowy, they were fitted. Fitted button downs, fitted t's. I was a nice size 4/6. Wear what you're comfortable in, when you're comfortable. There is nothing wrong with wearing maternity clothes sooner and there's no price for starting them later. It's much more important that you feel good about yourself and your looks.

I totally agree! Around week 8 I started feeling so uncomfortable in my normal clothes because like pp, most of my clothing was fitted and not flowy/loose. I bought a few new pieces (not maternity but more comfy stuff - tights, flowier shirts, etc.) right around week 7 to help with my perma-bloat. I bought my first pair of mat jeans just before week 12 because my regular jeans were literally hurting me. They're a little loose in the top bit but nicely fitted through the legs so no one can actually tell they're mat jeans unless they see my stomach (which is usually covered by a looser shirt these days). Start wearing mat stuff when YOU want...it's way more important that you're comfortable and confident in how you look than when other's started wearing theirs.

roam4lnd · October 2009

I?m in a similar situation. I just ordered maternity pants because the tops are too big for me right now. Instead, I?m buying a few regular shirts that are loose fitting that I can wear now and hopefully after the baby is born while I?m transitioning back to my regular size.

aocain02@yahoo.com · October 2009

I made the jump to maternity pants a lot quicker then shirts. In fact I can still wear quite a few of my regular shirts. I probably made the partial jump around 22 weeks though.

JessyBrooke · October 2009

I wore my regular shirts until about 20 weeks and that was only because they were getting too short. I've purchased a few really long non-maternity shirts in a larger size too but most of my shirts are maternity. I bought a bella band at about 8 weeks and wore it until about 12 weeks with my regular jeans. I started bringing in maternity pants at about 12 weeks...and exclusively wearing them at about 16 weeks. I lost like 15 pounds in the second trimester so I probably could have worn my regular pants for longer but maternity pants are a lot more comfy.

bobbidall · October 2009

I stared wearing them at 13 weeks. I like the Old Navy shirts, they aren't that huge and will stretch later. Wear what you are comfortable in, don't worry about when you start wearing them.

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