What maternity-wear essentials do I need

Neyite

I am currently gathering ideas for a capsule wardrobe to see me through pregnancy. I intend to shop on a budget, and am mostly a jeans+tops kinda gal. Luckily there are lots of swingy tops in the shops so that will make life far easier.

So far on my list of maternity wear is:
Plain black trousers for work
Skinny jeans
a swingy black cardigan

So, what basics did you get that you loved and wore to death?

Cottontail

I have to say I don't love any of my maternity clothes, I see them more as a necessary evil...I'm getting by on 3 pairs of trousers, 2 hoodies, maternity t-shirts from next (they came in a 3 pack I think). They've seen me through 2 pregnancies now and I can't wait to throw them out!!

Moonbeam

I love maternity clothes:)
You need a few maternity tops,it is sometimes handy to get the ones that can double as breast feeding tops.
Over the bump jeans are way more comfortable then under the bump jeans.
I bought maternity leggings for the last pregnancy and they were lovely and comfie.

ceadaoin.

Trousers are the main thing you'll need. I bought 3 pairs of jeans - 2 skinny and 1 boot leg and 2 pairs of trousers for work. New Look and Gap were good for these.


I only got one maternity top, I found the range was crap in most places or else too expensive to justify buying it for only a few months wear. I'm pretty much the same size as before except my bump (not much boob growth here:o) so most of my looser sweater type dresses and empire line tops still fit. Although at 38 weeks, my wardrobe is drastically reduced from even a few weeks ago!

Some decent maternity tights are an essential. One pair I got fall down if I walk more than 20 feet, incredibly annoying!

dublinlady

I love love love maternity clothes! Haha - think its cos I've yearned for a bump for so long I just love it!!
For me h&m's maternity jeans that go over bump are the business!! (and at 35 euro reasonable ish!)
I love top shop maternity leggings - v.comfy! I bought casual dresses in penny's for work with the leggings which were not maternity but I thought would last me thru - they were great from 4-6&1/2 months but now look ridiculous as are too short cos of the bump!!!
Maternity tights from debenhams are good in black for going out.
Lots of my ore pregnancy floaty tops fit me now still so long as I wear a black maternity vest ( so its long enough!) underneath. Got a couple of maternity tips in various places like mothercare, h&m, and mamas and papas which I just live in!
I'm going to treat myself to one dress from isabella Oliver for the festive period do that I feel nice when I go out!
Essentially that's it - the reason my wardrobe is budget is that I just bought some varying price pieces that I LOVE and wear them over and over and over! No one is going to say well I saw you in that the last 2 times I saw you or I'd kill them!
Oh and new look are v.goid for work shirts - but you really need to be 6 plus months before they fit as otherwise they kinda look weird!

galah

defo go for the over-bump jeans - bought a pair of underbump ones, and can't wear them anymore, bump is in the way...:rolleyes:

get one comfy pair of maternity tracksuit pants (I live in mine ever since I stopped working) and oversized hoodies for lounging.

Also bought some oversized long-sleeve tops that I wear with long woollen jumpers (you know, the ones without arms, really don't know the word for it - edit: google gave me the BE 'pinafore dress' for it. hm...I'll go with 'jumper dress' if I have to) that I had from before anyway.

and comfy knickers. (the more pregnant you will be, the less you will care about sexehness...:P go for large and comfy!)

Hobbitfeet

The only maternity branded clothes I have bought are 2 pairs of jeans I know lots of people who got away with wearing their normal jeans and using a belly belt but I found it so uncomfortable. I also bought nursing bras I will be breastfeeding and didnt see the point in buying maternity bras for pregnancy and then nursing bras for after. H&M do lovely nursing bras organic cotton and 2 for €20 which is cheapest good quality ones I've seen
I would say don't but anything until you actually really need it

Neyite

I wont be buying anything just yet - but want to be prepared for the sales after Christmas. I will be about 22 weeks then so well timed!

my own clothes for work are still ok at the moment - I wear low rise black jeans that look almost like trousers, and they fit under my tiny tum until I get a lot bigger.

I have a short torso - so while I find that normally tops are far longer on my than I would like, I should get good coverage out of my jersey ones for another couple of months. I never thought I would be grateful for a short torso, but there ya go

I have a swing type cardigan, which is brilliant for disguising me at work so far. My sister gave me a few maternity tops, but to be honest, her bright colours I cant stand, so towards the end I might treat myself to one or two.

I really like the idea of the kind of clothes I can wear afterwards, so I guess that would be tops that open at the front for feeding?

LegacyUser

I second the over the bump...thought I'd hate them but at the end they were what I lived in! Early on I bought under the bump but from 7 months they drove me mad...and I felt like bigger beached whale in them than the over the bump ones.

New look are great for vest tops - found the Next ones were see through.

No one has mentioned comfy shoes - but for me it was only from 8 months that my feet really swelled!

I bought a maternity cardigan but ended up wearing a waterfall one from penneys throughout.

I think you can get by without too much stuff - especially if money is tight. But sometimes you need to buy yourself something nice!!!

I work in an office so I found that having a couple of pairs of good quality maternity work trousers was essential. Mine were pretty pricey at around e70 each but I wore them 5 days a week for 5 months so I didn't mind. Also, I found that having good trousers meant that even at the very end of my pregnancy I could wear my regular tops (having said that, I'm tall so my bump was quite 'neat'). I also got a couple of cardigans and a couple of black tops for work to stretch my normal wardrobe. I got a lovely stretchy white shirt in Benetton that I wore a lot. I would say get stuff in neutral colours that you'll be happy to wear every week. That way you can dress them up with jewellery etc.

I didn't buy any regular trousers. I just wore my normal ones with a maternity belt. By the end I could only wear the bigger ones in my wardrobe and a couple of pairs of tracksuit bottoms.

Also, I was sooo looking forward to wearing anything I wanted when I got home from the hospital and then so disappointed when I realised that, instead of being limited by pregnancy, I was now limited by how easy it was to discretely access my boobs. Turns out a lot of the same stuff works, so I think this time I will treat myself to a few nice maternity/nursing tops.

I would be all about the dresses (that's me in general though) they're so comfy and unrestrictive


I can't wait to have to buy maternity clothes! I'm always looking at them on asos

liliq

I bought a pair of black linen trousers in Next and lived in them!
I bought 2 maternity tops in Next as well, which were very comfy up until the very end when my bump was too big for them!
I bought 2 pairs of jeans in new look, but once I wore them a few times and washed them, they stretched and were too big and weren't really comfortable.
I also bought a maternity dress from Asos, but once the bump properly filled it I found it very short.
I got 2 kind of going out tops as well for a hens that were just a little bit dressier... wore them with the black trousers!

apart from that I got the waistband extenders, which kept me in my own jeans until about 26 weeks as far as I can remember, I also bought 2 long string tops in Heatons, and 2 black pairs of long leggings there as well. One or two cheap dresses and skirts in Pennys and that was it! A lot of my clothes, especially the bigger ones, fit me for ages, so I only really needed to dress myself for 3 or 4 months.
Big comfy underwear is good advice as well!

All my maternity clothes fit into a shopping bag, and I bought them all on sale so probably spent about €120!
I do think if I was going again I'd invest in 2 good pairs of maternity jeans though

How Strange

I had a pair of over the bump jeans and combats from h&m and they were so comfie. I wore them right to the end when nothing else fit. I bought long sleeve tops in pennys a size bigger and again they lasted to the end. Next time I'm going to buy a couple of Isabelle Oliver dresses for work because I found it very difficult to get cheap work clothes which were nice.

I wore addidas black runners/shoes all the time for the last two months.

magalot

Best thing I got was a loan of a bag of maternity clothes from a friend!
How much stuff you'll need will depend on the size of you and your bump!
A lot of non-maternity clothes still 'worked' for me right up til 9 months- tunic/smock tops, empire line dresses, leggings, tracksuit bottoms, skirts with elastic waistbands and stretchy jeggings. But maternity clothes are way comfier!
Anyway the things I couldn't have done without from about 7 months and especially for the last few weeks were:
Over the bump jeans (next)
Maternity leggings (asos)
T-shirts (pack of 3 from next)
Vest tops (asos)
1 pair black work trousers (next)
Skinny combats (littlewoods)
2 cardigans (new look and gap)
Most of what I bought was on sale or really good value.
I had a hen-party to go to with one week to go and got a really good value dress from asos.
Watch out on gumtree as well for people selling on maternity clothes.
Best of luck :-)