I have amassed four pregnancies worth of knowledge regarding maternity clothes. I could go on about my strategy for shopping for maternity clothes…the items I spent money on…the items that I got dirt cheap. Yet, I think the best approach to shopping for maternity clothes is to debunk the myths.
Myth 1: I’ll skip buying maternity clothes, I’ll just buy “big”
Women tend to fail to understand that their proportions drastically change. I am 31 weeks. I have 9 weeks to go to make it to 40 weeks which is the average time that women give birth. I measured both my bust and my waist. According to Old Navy, my current bust size makes me a size 12. My waist size is 45.5 inches. According to Avenue, a plus-size retailer, my waist size makes me 26. That is a huge difference and I have 9 weeks to go. Thus, if I wanted a non-maternity top to fit me, I would have to purchase a size 26 which would look ridiculous around my arms and bust. If I did purchase the size 26, it would not fit me in a couple of weeks because my stomach would still continue to grow.
Some women opt to continue to wear some of their more “stretchy” shirts into their pregnancy. This is fine as long as they know that the pregnancy will stretch out the shirt and it will not return to the original size. I do have some workout style pants that are non-maternity. They fit…they just look unattractive and I save them for wearing around the house. These XL pants fit me in the waist, but are far to roomy in the other areas of the pants causing me to look bigger than I actually am.
Myth 2: I will only wear these clothes for nine months
No one can tell you how long you will wear your maternity clothes. Most women do not need to wear maternity clothes until week 15 or 16. Since there are roughly 40 weeks of pregnancy, you will be wearing maternity clothes for 26 weeks. If you average 4.5 weeks in a month then you will be wearing maternity clothes for less than 6 months. However, there is a caveat here. Many women assume that they can wear their regular clothes home from the hospital. This is rare. I took a poll of 39 women. I think all of them are caucasian. I asked how quickly they returned to their “normal” size after giving birth. Out of 39 women, only 5 returned to their normal size in 6 months or less. Only 1 of the 5 women wore normal sized clothes home from the hospital.
This means that over 80% of women do not return to their pre-pregnancy size right away. So…what do you wear when you do not fit into your regular clothes? The easiest option is the “demi-panel” maternity pant. It has about 4 inches of elastic around it. It is the most common maternity pant. It can last through your entire pregnancy. Although for some women like myself who get really big, I do have to move to full panel pants in my third trimester.
The “demi-panel” pants are extremely helpful when your body is “returning back to shape”. Your stomach does not return to your pre-pregnancy size overnight. It does take awhile and for that reason, you might wear these pants for longer than nine months.
Myth 3: I only need pants and tops right?
Not exactly. Shoes might be an issue. For some women, their feet swell and the ligaments in the feet loosen and their feet grow. My feet have grown from being pregnant. They have increased a half size…not a big deal, but something to consider if you are building a maternity clothes budget, you just might need to include a pair of shoes.
“Unmentionables” need to be upgraded as well. Your rib cage will expand during pregnancy and it is likely that your current band size will not be sufficient. Moreover, as a pregnant woman, your body is preparing to supply food for your infant. Thus, your mammaries are changing in order to prepare for this task. Expect increases in this area as well. The best “unmentionable” that I come across is HOTmilk. They create very glamorous “unmentionables” for nursing mothers. Their products look like normal upscale versions — yet, they are designed to cater to the needs of infants. HOTmilk is based in New Zealand. I did not want to order from New Zealand for fear that I would have to send returns back to New Zealand. Hence I opted to order from the company HerRoom. Unfortunately, I did make my initial purchase in the wrong size. Returning the items was very easy and I received the refund very quickly. My replacement items are lovely. I actually have something in navy!
Myth 4: My friend is giving me (or letting me borrow) her stuff so I won’t have to spend any money
It sounds that this is a home run, but you never know how your body will respond to pregnancy. You might gain 60 pounds and not be able to wear any of the clothing your friend has provided. You might have other engagements such as attending a wedding which your friend may not have previously purchased an outfit. Moreover, I doubt your friend is going to give you her “unmentionables” and I already mentioned that you might have to purchase new shoes. It would be odd if you did not have to make some sort of clothing expenditure pertaining to your pregnancy.
Myth 5: I’ll just buy things when I need them…
The problem with maternity clothes is that there is always a limited selection. If you are thinking about having children or have recently discovered that you are pregnant, visit the maternity section of Gap.com. If you do not like any of the clothes online, you probably do not want to wait to purchase clothing because you will not find anything you want to wear. I always shop way ahead regarding maternity clothes because I am particular about what I wear and have a difficult time finding maternity clothes that either I like or that are appropriate. I have struggled in the past to find clothing that is suitable for work.
Have I forgotten any myths? Do you have any tips to add?
You brought loads of memories back. And I did stop wearing my maternity clothes immediately after birth but needed big clothes; gosh, I still do to a degree. Can’t blame my ten year old son for this though – too much chocolate.
yeah…no one tells you to prepare to NOT return to your size immediately.
I agree 100% with all that you’ve said. Ladies often assume that paying a little more for a good pair of maternity pants or a nice top is useless as they will only get 4-6 months wear out of it. In reality, most women will get more use out of their maternity wear (as they will wear it more often during those short months) than most of the regular clothes they own (and wear) when they are not pregnant. Great post.
Isn’t that the truth….how many things to we have in our closets that we never wear?
Good point about the shoes–it is very common for the feet to spread during pregnancy and often the case that they don’t go back to “normal” afterwards—even if the rest of your body returns to pre-pregnancy size.
I like the disclaimer “if the rest of your body returns to pre-pregnancy size”…
Notice that I said “if”
Great list. No doubt experience is the best teacher!
The first time around I thought that I could get away with one pair of pants and a couple shirts. Didn’t work so well. Also, definitely bras, need maternity/nursing bras.
This time I actually spent $80 on a bunch of maternity clothes, and I already feel more put together. The thing is, if you feel slouchy with ill-fitting clothes, especially while you’re pregnant and already feeling big, you will look terrible because you’ll feel terrible. I’m spending more time on my appearance when I go out because I spent so much time in my last pregnancy feeling awkward about how I looked. I feel so much better this time, just by having clothes that fit.
I find it frustrating when I “out-grow” maternity clothes and I look slouchy. I purchased a size large top in the event that I do get super big so that I will have something that fits.
Very good advice. Even a guy can understand!
We don’t have kids, but we are planning to start a family this year and planning a LOT to prepare as much as we can financially before we move from two income to one. As part of my “preparation”, I used my last year credit card reward points to buy a lot of gift cards to maternity clothing store and Babies r us. We figured if for some reason we won’t be able to use it we can at least gift it to someone else. I will add this to my collection of bookmarks that I am working on to better prepare.
What a savvy idea on the gift cards! Babies r us sells diapers…you cannot go wrong with diapers.
I don’t have babies yet, but when my cousin was pregnant, she gained 40 lbs or so. She refused to buy new underwear, so she was always super uncomfortable, lol!
I bet she was not able to use her “unmentionables” after the pregnancy….that happened to someone I know.
[...] 5 maternity clothes myths — The proportions of a woman’s body change during pregnancy. Simply buying a larger size might not be a good fit. [Super Frugalette] [...]
Your feet get bigger! That lessens my already less than 0 desire to be pregnant.
Still, great advice, and especially if women think they want to have more than one kid- quality maternity clothes can last a few pregnancies.
My feet got bigger…your feet might hold their own.
Put this under “another baby-related expense that I have never thought of”.
You could justify an increase in your clothing budget….
So true! Unmentionables were actually the first thing that I had to buy because I was growing so much in that department. I actually need to buy them again because they have not stopped growing. So another thing I would add would be “Don’t assume that if you upgrade to something that it will last you the whole pregnancy.” I tried to buy the first unmentionables when it seemed like I leveled off – nope, still growing.