how long do you wear maternity clothes for?

[spu]

Just wondering how much i should invest in maternity clothes... at only 9w pg, I'll probably be wearing maternity clothes through 2 seasons - summer and early fall... When did you start wearing maternity clothes and is it worth buying an almost-complete wardrobe? Did you splurge on anything special?

thanks!!
susan



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nursed for 3 years!
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charlotte + else

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[Laundraholic]

it really depends.

With my first pregnancy, I didn't "pop" until I was almost 6 months pregnant, and got away with regular tops until then, although I wore some maternity pants around 1 1/2 months before that.

With this (my second) pregnancy, I "popped" a bit earlier and started wearing them at around 4 months.

That being said, a good friend of mine is due the week before me with her first baby. We started off around the same weight and gained at about the same rate, but she carries a lot differently and she was wearing her maternity clothes at around 3 months. It also depends on your pre-pregnancy wardrobe... if you've got a lot of tight-fitting clothes, they may not last that long once you're pg. Or if you've got a lot of long-ish tops, those pre-pg clothes could work for you well into your second trimester.

[pb&j]

It all depends on how you carry... I was in maternity early (16-ish weeks) with both pgs, despite not gaining much weight at all. "Buy as you grow" is a good mantra, especially because things that fit at 20 weeks probably won't fit at 34 weeks. I did splurge on a nice outfit (sparkly skirt, soft shrug) since I was enormously pregnant over the holiday party season. Otherwise, I stuck to the basics and added pieces as the season and my size dictated.


-Ry,
mom to Emma, stillborn 11/04/04
and Max, 01/05/06

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[elliput]

I agree with Ry to "buy as you grow". I didn't buy any maternity clothes until the end of my 6th month, and then just a pair of jeans and a couple of tops. I am very pear shaped so my normal clothes are huge around the waist. I was able to wear my normal work clothes until delivery (3 weeks early). My total weight gain was 26lb and I had pre-e, so I am an exception to the typical patterns.

[hautemama15]

Well, it took alot for us to get PG with #3 and I had been anticipating getting PG so I started buying even before that BFP. But, maternity clothing is made so different now. I wore lots of "no belly" stuff right away, and my bbs grew immediately so I needed bigger bras and tops almost immediately too. I started wearing maternity full time around 8-10 weeks and I have alot I can continue to wear after this little one comes in a couple of weeks. Styles in maternity are so similar to regular clothing now that it doesn't even look maternity anymore. I did splurge on a few pairs of jeans from Mimi maternity and a couple of expensive tops from them too. And, a couple of holiday outfits over December. But, like I said, I can wear alot of it after the baby too. So, IMHO, it wasn't a waste at all.

[CiderLogan]

Congratulations!

I bought several pieces pretty early on (2-3 months) - some underbelly jeans, a few longer/larger shirts (mostly because I tend to wear fairly fitted and short shirts, and they didn't cover my panel). I also stopped wearing my more fitted pants and switched to looser, stretchy styles. Then I bought another pair of jeans a couple months later and was wearing maternity pretty exclusively by 18-20 weeks. Just recently I had to go out and buy new things because I am getting pretty big, and my early-maternity shirts (the ones I deliberately bought just to be a bit bigger and not look like tents) don't cut it anymore. And this is all on top of already having a decent collection of stuff from last time! I do think I tend to buy a fairly extensive wardrobe, just because I find I need a variety of things -- workout clothes, dress clothes, regular clothes (I'm a SAHM), clothes for a variety of temperatures, and variety just for the sake of enjoying the pregnancy and not wearing the same thing every 2 days!

Jenny
Mom to Julia, 8/03
...and another GIRL due 5/29/06!

[anuta]

With my first pregnancy (and it looks like now too) I didn't wear maternity long at all.
I only started needing it around 25 wks, carried very small, and I wear mostly skirts so some of the regular stretchier ones fit longer.
Tops - sweaters stretched, so do T-shirts, and I had plenty of nice long-sleeve ones for work, casual (loose) button-down shirts I could wear well into my 3rd trimester .... all regular. I went to the hospital in maternity sweatpants, regular t-shirt and regular jean button-down over it, but unbuttoned!
In my 1st pregnancy I had one maternity skirt, one maternity jumper, one maternity dress, one maternity cotton shirt, and two pairs of maternity knit/velour pants for use around the house. Two of my non-maternity skirts fit me well past the 30wk mark. And I bought a couple of regular jumpers because they were comfier than maternity or non-maternity in the 20-something week period, and wore them for a while. Oh, and a few pairs of maternity pantyhose. Underwear - I wear bikinis and could wear regular ones throughout the pregnancy. I did have to buy a couple of bras in bigger sizes.
Oh, and even though I gave birth in February, I didn't have to buy a maternity coat because my regular ones buttoned just fine!
So you never know... if you are in the mood to save, go out and buy stuff when you find you need it....

This time I bought additional 3 skirts (and 2 dressy tops and 1 dressy skirt - have a wedding to attend, but that's just for one occasion). So far I only wore one of the new skirts in addition to my old maternity stack... I am 26 wks along and the new maternity skirts are still a bit big...