Finding clothes to wear while pregnant can be tough. Your body is constantly changing shape and size. Throw in the fact that in Ireland we can experience 4 seasons in one day, it is hard knowing what to actually buy.
How much you want to spend on maternity clothes comes down to personal preference and budget. Personally, I bought a number of cheap and cheerful items, as I knew I would be sick of looking at them come the end of my pregnancy. With that in mind, I have picked out a number of items which I found useful and helped me through my pregnancy in comfort.
Jeans
There are two options when it comes to jeans. Over the bump and under the bump. I was personally in the over the bump loving group, as I hated the feeling of something digging in under my bump. It is however important to find a pair that don’t have you constantly pulling them up during the day.
Personally I found the New Look over the bump jeans fantastic. The material in the legs had a good bit of stretch in them and is probably veering towards a jogging and not a traditional jean. They aren’t a million miles away from the feel of the River Island Mollys. The material for over the bump didn’t fall down and stretched comfortably with the bump and the sizing was close to what my pre pregnancy size was. Believe it or not this was important for me! They cost €24.99 and I bought them in every colour going, as they were so handy for day-to-day wear. You can pick the blue ones up here.
Leggings
Many people believe that leggings should never be worn outside. I would put money on it, that the people who think this were never pregnant! I would recommend having one or two pairs of heavy-duty leggings to wear with tunic tops. Again I found a great pair in New look that lasted not only through my pregnancy but also after the baby was born! I can’t find the heavy-duty pair I wore but if you go into New Look you might find something suitable. You can also check these out on their site here.
Boohoo Leather look leggings €16
Penneys also have a fantastic pair of thin leggings. I use to wear this instead of tights, as no matter what pair of tights I bought, they all rolled down and the gusset ended up around my knees! They Penneys leggings are around €7 and you find them in the tights section.
Tops
For the first few months of your pregnancy, you will probably get away with wearing a number of your looser fitting regular tops. However, if you’re anything like me, you will get to a point around 5/6 months, that you need a bit of stretch in you life!
ASOS €24.32
When it comes to pregnancy tops you have two options, embrace the bump and go with the tight tops. Or skim the bump with a little something floaty. Personally as someone with a rather large bust that got increasingly larger as the pregnancy progressed, I needed to go with the tighter more form-fitting options. Floaty tops just made me looked like a beached whale!
ASOS €37.84
Depending on budget, you’re probably going to have a smaller range of tops to pick from them when you’re not pregnant. I would personally suggest having two or 3 plain t-shirts like these ones here and few dressier day-time tops that are a little more styled. I had to keep reminding myself that while I wanted comfort, I didn’t have to forgo style! I’ve picked out a section below, but I found New Look and ASOS the best for tops.
ASOS €24.32
Boohoo €14
Dresses
ASOS €20.26
As we come into the warmer weather, being pregnant gets the little bit more difficult and you tend to sweat everywhere!! I found that once the warmer weather started, I couldn’t wear trousers anymore. Instead I embraced the bump, bought four body con type dresses and let the air to it’s job cooling me down!
ASOS €33.78
Being pregnant is the one time in your life you don’t have to worry about your belly looking big in something. Therefore I found that the tighter the dress, the better I felt. I wore a selection of Body con dress from New look and ASOS.
Boohoo €27
Special Occasions
If you’ve a wedding or a special occasion in your pregnancy that requires a fancy dress, my advice is to rent your dress. I had a few weddings while pregnant, while most were in the early days of my pregnancy, I could still get away with my normal clothes. However, there was one wedding while I was 8.5 months pregnant and I hadn’t the energy to run around looking for a dress. I went to Expecting Elegance in Swords, where they had a number of maternity dresses that you can rent. I can’t tell you how much hassle this saved me!
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