Maternity clothes for the slim and small chested?

[ema123]

You sound just like my situation!

I was size 2 pre-pregnancy and 32A. When I was 6 weeks pregnant, within one week, I wasn't able to put my pre-pregnency pants on anymore. The bras(wires) were cutting into my breasts.

I first tried to find one size up regular clothes for everything. (shirts, t shirts, pants, bras) For bras, 34A worked for me for a while. I bought the regular bras from the same brand/model I used to buy, just one size up, not the nursing bras or maternity bras. As the pregnancy proceeds, I am now wearing 34B, still regular bras. For shirts or t shirts, because the size of my chest changed, I couldn't wear my nice old shirts anymore. Instead of BR's size XS or S shirts/ts I used to wear, I managed to order their size M and wore them until I was 6 months pregnant. (Also regular clothing, not maternity clothing.) For the pants, one size up (size 4) from any non-maternity brand didn't work for us. I tured to gap maternity and found that some of their size 2 and some of their size 4 fit well on me.

For the later part of the pregnancy, if you are living in California or Texas, I would recommend to pay a visit to Japanese Weekend Maternity boutiques. (My baby hates roll panel or full panel pants if I wear them, so the only pants both of us are happy with were from JW. I hope you have an easy going baby! :)) They have quite some tops and pants for small size people.

For motherhood, mimi maternity and a pea in a pod, although friends recommended mimi maternity bcz of its good price, because my shoulders are narrow, I found that in these three brands, only a pea in a pod looks fit on me. (and a pea in a pod is not cheap... :S) I only got cashmere sweaters and jackets from a pea in a pod when they have good discounts.

I am now in my 7th months. It looks like I can live in Gap maternity, JW until my baby is born.

Congratulations and hope the experience helps a bit!

Emma

[brittone2]

I'm about your size prepregnancy. Big fan of ATL prepregnancy too LOL.

for bras, I really liked the Elita crossover (I prefer the cotton but had microfiber and liked it too) last time. I didn't wear it while pg, but wore it while BFing. I normally wear a 34 A or B (I'm in between) prepregnancy. My boobs don't grow much while pg unfortunately, but I was quite a bit larger in the first few months to a year of nursing (eventually settled back to close to my old size even while still nursing).

The elitas are nice IMO because the cup fit is flexible. So if you buy one now, there's a good chance it will fit post pregnancy as a nursing bra. Often your band size goes up during pgcy though because your rib cage expands, etc. I typically wear a 34 in band width, but I wore elitas in 38s last time and that worked for me. My 2 elitas from right after DS's birth have been worn to death, and I just ordered another one (38 again) and I'm wearing it now while pg and will wear it as a nursing bra. The cup fits my currently small breasts, but will fit fine after this baby is born I would think, since I wore the same size last time post pregnancy. Even if you don't like the Elita, it is a good sleeping bra if you need to wear nursing pads at night (I did), and it is inexpensive to try out compared to some of the others.

i'll probably get another elita at some point, maybe try a Yes bra this time around (or maybe not), and I want to try a Corsierre nursing tank this time too. The elita won't give a ton of shape IMO but it doesn't give a uniboob too much IME. It does the job for me, is relatively cheap, is comfy, no clasps to deal with, etc. so i kinda stick with it as a favorite :)

For clothes, well, I carry HUGE in the belly. Nowhere else, but I looked full term with DS when i was 25ish weeks, and same thing this time. I end up having to buy larges at the end because I can't get enough length to cover my belly otherwise, but then it is enormous in the arms, chest, etc. so it is tough. I'm very short waisted so everything gets pushed waaaaay out front...by the end I'll look like I"m pg with twins I'm sure (that's how it went w/ dS). Never used a Bella Band but for the price it might be worth a try. I think I've seen mixed reviews here.

Not sure if you can get away with it at home or what sort of work environment you are in, but there are some lower waisted/elastic waisted yoga esque pants out there that are non maternity that work well IMO. I have a pair of jersey knit ones like that (i think they are Ann Taylor from few years ago actually LOL) that still fit under my belly at 28 weeks pg (and I've got one big old pregnant belly). They aren't super casual like cotton yoga pants...they are a more flowy jersey knit.

Some of the "early pregnancy" clothes don't last long IME, but you also have to consider that you may be able to wear them post pregnancy when your uterus is still all big and you aren't yet ready to return to your regular clothes.

[sadie427]

if you can find stretchy regular pants or pants one or two sizes up that you like, it's a good investment as you can wear them post-pregnancy, when you really won't want to wear maternity pants. Just got some "wearever" pants from JJill that might work for you, not pregnant but eventually hope to be again and they just looked like comfortable pants. They are great and come in XSP as well as XSP (XSP fit me, non-pregnant, I wear a 4P at Ann Taylor Loft)