plus-size maternity clothes

[kittygenge]

Does anyone have a lead on plus-size maternity clothes? I live in a small town, so mail-order or on-line sources are preferable.
Thanks,

Kitty

[wdouglas]

Check out JC Penny. They have both a catalog and online ordering. They also offer 25% all catalog orders about once a month. You can order their maternity catalog from their website: www.jcpenny.com.

[JakesMom]

Also, try Motherhood Maternity. They have more stuff in their stores than online, so if you can find a store with a clerk who will describe what they have and ship to you, you'll be styling.

I also found JC Penney's stuff to be of reasonable quality (not incredible, but decent enough for work). Most of my maternity & etc. was from Motherhood.

Nursing clothes in plus sizes? Yech. First of all, every nursing top on the planet SCREAMS "I'm about to bare my leaky boobs." Second of all, we plus-sized women are apparently not supposed to even get pregnant, let alone nurse. (At least, that's what the manufacturers must be thinking!)

After several months of maternity wear, don't torture yourself too much with nursing wear. Get some great nursing bras and find the tops that work best for you -- button-downs, tees, etc. I found it much easier to just take off my darned shirt and pump or breastfeed in my bra, but I didn't have to do these things in front of other people. If you will need to, get a few trusty nursing tops and wear regular shirts the rest of the time. One suggestion -- get only machine-washable stuff. You'll be glad you did.

In terms of nursing bras, I had a lot of trouble with regular places, including Motherhood (they think a woman with 36C is REALLY big, so you can imagine what a plus-sized pregnant mama can find there!). I got my bras from a real lingerie shop that included a section for specialty items like mastectomy stuff. They had real fitters and several styles, including one I LOVED from I think Bravo that is styled like a jogging bra -- they were so comfy that I wore them even after I stopped breastfeeding! I do recommend trying one of each of a few styles, because what you try on in the store might not be what you'll want to wear every day for several months.

Good luck!
- Jodi

[fellow_rover]

JC Penney carries maternity up to 4x. The quality of the 5 piece wardrobe I purchased is not great and requires line drying. It has given me one dressy looking outfit but I avoid wearing the pieces because they require too much care.

I haven't ordered yet but plusmaternity.com has some nice looking things that aren't too expensive. The site offers real measurements of the garments at the bust, waist and hip. I only wish all plus sizes places would do this.

During my first pregnancy, I found babybecoming.com and would suggest Charlotte as a helpful resource. She also carries plus size slings and nursing pillows.

Mostly, I am just wearing non-maternity clothing I purchased from Makingitbigonline.com. Their quality and and business ethics are first rate. I have bought resale clothing made by them from time to time and it wears forever. They have a clearance area on the site that offers really affordable prices on great quality pieces.

I am ordering plus size nursing bras from Decent Exposures. So far, they are the only place that I can get a small enough cup size. They also have great business ethics and customer service.

Good luck and enjoy your pregnancy.

[LindaBrett]

I happened to find one just last night on the internet - try looking for plussizemommies.com.

[rebwal]

Motherhood worked really well for me, as well as Sears and JCPenney. And as for maternity/nursing bras. I would highly recommend the website www.birthandbaby.com. They carry large sized bras at really good prices. I actually bought a nursing bra from a lingerie store and found it on the website for $10 cheaper! They are really quick to get your items out to you, and really responsive on returns. Good luck to you.

[webma]

In additon to the sites noted I'd suggest these

http://Motherhood.com/home.asp
http://www.fromheretomaternity.com/
http;//www.biggerbras.com

I've ordered from all 3 sites and have been happy with the products. From Here to Maternity had really good customer service and helped me when I didn't know the size to order. They also had the elusive pulse sized nice business and special occasion clothes that aren't outrageously priced. The selection was limited but was perfect for me since I only needed a couple of nice outfits and the rest I could supplement with casual clothes. Sometimes a Tshirt doesn't cut it.

[Boogiemama]

JC Penney's size 3x runs small and they really have hardly any 4x. The pants with the velcro waist are good, but the shirts run small in the armpits and shoulders. So if you are tall or have average sized shoulders they might not fit. If you are petite it would probably be okay. I wish they would carry plus maternity in the stores so they could be tried on. I ordered a size 4x capri overall, which I thought would be my main outfit to wear to work and it never came in and they did not call me or mail me anything to say that they were never going to get it in. Then they charged me shipping again when I called a month later looking for my caprialls and had to change the order to a pair of overall shorts, out of desperation. The overall shorts really aren't so good for work, not modest enough. Also they seem to be made for more petite people as far as the being short waisted. Where's the tall sized plus maternity? I am only 5'8 so you'd think that regular clothes would fit. My friend who is 6 foot 1 did not find anything anywhere to fit her through pregnancy. I did like the JC Penney bathing suit and the nursing gown fits well too.

Sears has a few plus size maternity clothes in the store to try on, but you practically have to be the first one there when they unload the truck because they sell out so fast. I see many plus sized moms to be wandering the aisles in desperation looking for something in cotton that does not have ugly colors or horizontal stripes. It seems like the stores have no idea how many of us their are. Good news for the online place I just got a bunch of great clothes from at www.imaternity.com

Mostly I have been shopping at the Avenue buying clothes 3 sizes too big for me so that it fits my belly and then they fall off my shoulders all the time and my bra strap shows. Not very professional looking. And it would help to be able to find black nursing bras in plus sizes that are cotton so that when the bra strap shows it is not so obvious.

I am so happy to finally have a couple of shirts from imaternity and they arrived really fast.

breastisbest.com has been really good about nursing bras for plus size women too.

[mommymaria]

A few weeks ago, I heard an announcement on QVC that they are now carrying maternity wear from small into the plus sizes. I gather that it is a test to see how well they sell, since they said that there are only a few styles and quantities are limited.

You can do a search on www.qvc.com to find out what they have.

Good luck.

[babe1201]

Try maternity4less.com.