Maternity Clothes - how many

Hello-

I am a little over 12.5 weeks pg. I bought pants the next size up and a couple of them are starting to get tight. My tops, dresses, and skirts are fine so I'm hoping that I can wait until Sept. to buy maternity clothes when I'm 5-6 months. I work in an office. How many maternity items should I buy? Does anyone know of a checklist? My office is business casual. I've been looking online at clothes. I'm also wondering - should I buy one size maternity clothes or should I expect to grow 1 or 2 (or more) sizes during the 3rd trimester?

Thanks,
Shannon  

[adgal]

I'm right behind you and also starting to have a problem with clothes fitting....I will be watching this post for the answers for sure!!

[Diabolicafemmia]

Im 36 weeks and own exactly 1 mat shirt...ive managed to survive on stretchy jeans w/ elastic bands and empire waist shirts, which happen to be easy to find! (and my belly is HUGE..but I havent had to go over L/XL) Old Navy has a GREAT selection of comfy cotton clothes that have a lot of give and are CUTE!

[PamelaBee]

It's hard to say what you'll need and how soon you'll need maternity clothes, each woman shows and grows differently.  For me, in the first and second trimester, I could get away with pants with elastic stretch bands and shirts/tops a size larger.  But eventually, later into the 2nd trimester, I had to buy maternity pants/tops.  I bought basic black, tan and grey pants, and a couple pair of jeans/capris. I bought more tops, because there were such a great selection.  Maternity clothes have become so stylish, it was fun to buy them.  I'm lucky I saved all the clothes I bought during my 1st pregnancy, as I'm wearing the same maternity clothes for this pregnancy, plus a few new items.  A few suggestions to buy...the wide elastic waist bands, they will let you get extended wear from your regular fitting shirts and tops.  You can purchase at Motherhood Maternity and I think Target.  Also, get comfortable bras, your breasts will likely grow up to two cup sizes throughout your pregnancy.  Also, maternity clothes aren't cheap, so this pregnancy when I wanted to get something new, I went to Thrift stores, and the selection was endless, and paid close to nothing for really cute maternity clothes.  Best wishes to you!

[wanting4#1]

I'm just the opposite...I went ahead and bought my maternity pants/shirts so that at least, I'll get my money's worth. Instead of buying a bigger size pant that I may grow out of quickly or never wear again.

I got a pair of jeans, black pants, white pants and two shorts.  It is enough to get me through to the winter and then I'll decide what to do then.

The only hard thing for me is that I am a so concerned that I 'jinxed' myself and am going to have a problem with the pregnancy and then have to deal with all of the clothes. But that's a personal thing and not one that I think most women need to concern themselves with!

Good luck and happy shopping :)

[YvetteY]

Jeez it just depends!  I started wearing the maternity clothes at about 4 1/2 months and never had to go up a size.   Still same size.  The clothes were bigger on me at first, but now are fitting me better.   A great place and reasonably priced place to get maternity clothes is JC Pennyes!!  They were having a 60% sale.  I bought 5 shirts and 2 pair of shorts.  My problem with my maternity clothes is that they got to be worn looking after having to wash them soo much.  

Originally I bought 2 pair shorts, 2 pair jean capris, 1 pair black pants, and about 6 shirts, and 2 lounge pants.   I work from home so I didn't have to worry about getting a lot of dressy items.  

Also look on craigs list sometimes you can get someone elses maternity wardrobe if you don't mind that kind of thing.  You can get a lot of bang for the buck.  

[NicMom]

I would pick up a couple bella bands. You can get them at target, motherhood, nordstroms, all over the place. Those will help you to wear the same pants and skirts for a few more months. I bought maternity pants, but really didn't like them because I didn't have the butt to fill them in. The bella bands were lifesavers! I just had to buy some longer shirts to wear with them.

Don't buy all your maternity stuff too early. I bought things that I thought I could wear all summer and now at 32 weeks the shorts are too small and some of the shirts no longer cover my whole belly.

The best advice as far as maternity wear goes is to buy a few basic items that you can pair with your regular clothing.

[docsaf]

Thank you so much for your advice! I will look at JC Penneys, Target, and Motherhood Maternity. I'll buy a bella band and see if I can wear my non-pg clothes for a little longer and get a couple of pants with an elastic waist. And I'll buy a few shirts. I'll try to hold off until the last trimester before buying too much.

[40smama]

I didn't particularly like Motherhood maternity - for some reason, their pants didn't fit me very well.  I started wearing maternity pants at 14 weeks - I just wanted to be comfortable & since I would be wearing them for 9 months, why not start when i want to?  With empire waist tops, you could get away w/regular clothes (tops) for a while if you want.

I shopped at Old Navy & Gap - I didn't do much at JC Penny's.  Target's great but the selection's limited.  ON & Gap had the best selection for the best prices.  There are tons of cool sites to buy from on the internet - you can google maternity clothes and come up w/some amazing sites!

I say wear your maternity clothes as early as you want since you'll be in them for a while.  Some of them look like regular clothes even.  I also thought the bella band was a waste of time.