Do I have to buy maternity clothes?

skibunny59 · December 2011

I'm 24 weeks and just "popped". So far I have just been buying normal clothes in larger sizes such as leggings, longer sweaters, sweater dresses, etc. My friend just lent me maternity jeans and some maternity pants for work. My question is, would the normal clothes in size large fit me all the way through my pregnancy? I don't think I need to buy anymore pants since I have some from my friend but would I have to buy maternity sweaters and shirts at some point or can I just stick with buying larger size? I know I sound real cheap. I just hate the thought of spending money on a whole new wardrobe to only wear it for a couple months. And some maternity clothes are just kind of blah looking.

sassafras007 · December 2011

What PP said..

At some point nothing is going to fit the way you want it to even maternity things...

sandy02 · December 2011

I never did, and dont plan to this time. I just wore my regular clothes the whole time. At the end I wore my pants unbuttoned with a belt.

Wipz · December 2011

I haven't bought any maternity tops at all... I bought some pants because I blew up so early and even the bigger size elasticated waist cargo pants werent lasting. I find the maternity pants with the wide belly bands more comfy than under belly pants.

I bought a few dresses with empire waistlines which aren't maternity but work a treat and will still work afterwards.

I already had a bunch of sweaters and sweater dresses from pre preg and they are just fitting snugger. Same with tshirts and tops.. just wearing my usual stuff and looking like a butter ball lol ... it's kinda cute apparently, I have no intention of hiding my belly even if I could lol. I felt pretty damned good yesterday when my apt manager told my husband.. she looks so cute and sexy all the time... I'm 41 and cute and sexy wasnt my first thought after a crap day at work ... but I'll take it haha

.. bra extenders for me till I start falling out the top, and even then I will just buy regular but bigger bras.

as for knickers.. I just bought a bigger size in boyshorts and most of my gstrings still fit great.

I did have to buy new shoes/boots tho ...

You will know soon enough if and when you need to spend money on clothes... if you don't have to.. that's a bonus.. if you do... try for things that can still be worn afterwards.

HotChocolate79 · December 2011

Agree that you don't have to do anything, but personally for me, I feel a heck of a lot better about how I look in clothes that fit. I find that just larger sizes, while technically accomodating the bump, made the rest of me look dumpy and unkempt. I still have smaller shoulders and arms, for example - so having extra fabric hanging there sloppily didn't look good in the least bit.

Other considerations (for me) have been that I work in a professional environment, so again, looking like schlumpster is a no-go; and while we aren't rich by any means, we are also not so poor that I can't afford to spend a few hundred dollars on something that makes me look and feel good. There are plenty of reasonably priced options out there, and when you are done with them you can easily sell them on ebay or craigslist.

jazzcrawford · December 2011

To me if you're going to spend the money on bigger clothes, which will make you look dumpy & shape-less, you may as well spend the money on a few maternity things.

I found really cute & cheap maternity clothes. I didn't want to ruin my regular clothes by stretching them out. I like for things to fit and look really nice on me. I don't get big all over when pregnant, I just get normal pregnancy belly.

So maternity clothes seam to fit better and flatter your figure while expecting. I've found shirts at Target & Motherhood for $7 -$12.

second hand stores have maternity clothes, and my girlfriends and I rotate them with each other.

cheri lynne · December 2011

Old Navy has lots of regular clothes that fit my sister all the way through her pregnancy. I didn't wear maternity clothes til the very end with my DD, It reached a point where even if tops came out far enough they didn't come down. Thus showing my tummy from the underside.

spunkyprincessmande · December 2011

I think you could definitely get away with not buying maternity clothes, depending on how big you get. I had a couple tops that I wore all through my pregnancy because they were longer to begin with. Once I wore them after my pregnancy they were all stretched out and I hated how they fit. I guess they're "maternity" tops now! A lot of my tops do last all the way through, though, because they're more flowy and long.

But I don't understand why buy a bigger size but not maternity? If you're buying clothes anyway, why not just get maternity? I get that sometimes the selection can be blah, but it's better online. I guess you could think that you'll wear the bigger clothes pp, but I would rather not have those in hopes that I don't have to go up a size permanently. Plus, nothing is better than elastic waist pants. I wish I could wear them all the time. Embarrassed

bellelamb · December 2011

Why spend the money on bigger cloths that will only fit you for a few months vs buying maternity cloths it's the same idea. I know at the end even most maternity shirts were too short to cover my belly there was no way a non maternity shirt that fit my shoulders at all would have covered my belly. Plus I tend to think when you just wear bigger sizes it make you look fat not pregnant which is not the look I'm going for.

Under.the.Rose · December 2011

The only regular clothes I'm wearing right now are sweater dresses, jersey tanks, leggings and cardigans in one size bigger than I normally wear.

With my last pregnancy my hips and ribs spread so much that I absolutely had to wear maternity pants with the full belly support and had a few maternity tops because regular tops weren't long enough to cover my belly even in a larger size.

I LOOOVE maternity clothes... the pants in particular.

kiarstin · December 2011

I dont feel like my belly will fit in a regular shirt unless its extremely large and ill fitting, I wear my regular shirts and dresses now and can tell i wont be able to soon. I put on my husbands med. zip up sweatshirt and was like damnit I wont even be ale to wear your crap for the next 17 weeks ugh. I would invest in a few things for comfort reason, targer and motherhood always have sales you have some pants a couple of nice ts will do you pretty good.

mrsbecky07 · December 2011

i definitely dont think you "have" to buy maternity clothes, but if you are buying new clothes anyway in a larger size, why not go for maternity?

skibunny59 · December 2011

mrsbecky07:
i definitely dont think you "have" to buy maternity clothes, but if you are buying new clothes anyway in a larger size, why not go for maternity?

I get what you're saying but some of the maternity clothes are really frumpy looking. That's part of the reason I'm not looking forward to buying them.

skibunny59 · December 2011

Under.the.Rose:
The only regular clothes I'm wearing right now are sweater dresses, jersey tanks, leggings and cardigans in one size bigger than I normally wear.
With my last pregnancy my hips and ribs spread so much that I absolutely had to wear maternity pants with the full belly support and had a few maternity tops because regular tops weren't long enough to cover my belly even in a larger size.
I LOOOVE maternity clothes... the pants in particular.

This is what I'm doing right now. The sweater dress and leggings look with a pair of cute boots is my favorite right now but I really don't think I will be able to pull it off when I'm really huge.

l0veofyourl1fe · December 2011

Totally up to you. I still have one pair of dress pants, jeans, and corduroy (sp?) pants my mom bought me for my first (I wasn't buying anything under protest). So I have worn those because this time around I'm showing sooner and I just hate shopping period, so since I already have them I am, otherwise I would probably just get bigger clothes or hold off as long as possible. They didn't have "maternity" clothes back in the day. As for shirts and stuff I have a couple of those still also but otherwise I wear bigger sweatshirts over my small shirt, or I wear my husbands shirts. Haha.

Shesaidwat · December 2011

I'm not buying maternity, I bought some dresses from old navy that had a empire waist and were some what full so belly will fit nicely. And I wear ALLOT of yoga pants :-) I even found an amazing pair at Victoria Secret that the top folds down, but if I fold it up as belly gets bigger its almost identical to the bands on the maternity jeans I tried on! I also just bought sweatshirts 2 sizes larger than I normally wear and I buy shirts a size too big in material that stretches a bit. I figure I have no plans to hide my bump as it grows so if things are a bit tight at times its alright :-)

devious1031 · December 2011

Depends on you and how your belly grows. With DD1, 2 and 3 I never wore maternity clothes, I never needed to. I either went up 1 size in jeans and was great. This is baby 4 and I'm sure I could've gotten away with wearing either a size up or low rise, but I finally tried on some maternity pants and oh the comfort!

Chelsey68 · December 2011

when i was pregnant with DS the maternity clothes around werent really my style and they were pricey. i would go hit sales racks and buy baby dolls for really cheap and i even just bought jeans a size bigger. i made it through the whole pregnancy that way and i gained ALOT

BOTB2011 · December 2011

No you don't have to shop from the maternity section if you don't like the clothes. I think sometimes they can be more flattering based on the way they are cut.

I have bought new because I don't want to stretch my pre-preg tops.

I also don't want to spend a lot on these clothes that I don't hope to linger in after baby. I have gone to Target, Old Navy, and Kohls for a lot of my tops. 2 pairs of Jeans from Gap and Old Navy.

sunnyday016 · December 2011

skibunny59:
mrsbecky07:
i definitely dont think you "have" to buy maternity clothes, but if you are buying new clothes anyway in a larger size, why not go for maternity?

I get what you're saying but some of the maternity clothes are really frumpy looking. That's part of the reason I'm not looking forward to buying them.

IMO you're more likely to look frumpy in clothes that are too big rather than properly-fitting maternity clothes.

LilyPotter218 · December 2011

I didn't wear maternity clothes until 20 weeks. Still could have gotten away with normal but maternity was just so so much more comfortable. I was going to have to buy new clothes regardless whether it was bigger or maternity. Maternity fit better and since I had to spend the $ anyway just made sense to go for it.

crlacey · December 2011

skibunny59:
mrsbecky07:
i definitely dont think you "have" to buy maternity clothes, but if you are buying new clothes anyway in a larger size, why not go for maternity?

I get what you're saying but some of the maternity clothes are really frumpy looking. That's part of the reason I'm not looking forward to buying them.

So don't buy the frumpy looking ones. Just like regular clothing there will be some you like and some you don't. Only buy a few items that you really like in maternity then wear them till they fall apart. I prefer maternity because it is more comfortable and fits the non-growing parts of my body better. Clothes in a bigger size tend to make me look frumpy and fat. I'm not fat, I'm pregnant. I've been able to get a lot of cheap clothes from ebay and from other online moms who are selling their items off in lots rather than by the single piece. I've also bought a lot of short sleeve items figuring that they are cheap now, I'll be able to wear them till the end, and I can wear them now with a sweater over them. That means I did spring for 2 nice sweaters I can alternate between.

Do I have to buy maternity clothes?

Re: Do I have to buy maternity clothes?

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