Getting Dressed When Nothing Fits Anymore

There is a stretch, usually somewhere in the middle of pregnancy, where your normal clothes have stopped working and full maternity sizing still looks enormous. It is the point where most people panic buy a wardrobe they wear for six weeks.

Buy for the end, not the middle

The instinct is to buy something that fits comfortably today. The problem is that today is not where you are heading. Anything with a fixed waistband bought at five months will be uncomfortable by seven. Things that stretch and things that are cut generously do more work over more months than anything fitted.

What earns its place

• A couple of pairs of leggings with a full panel. The over the bump panel is what stops the waistband rolling down, which is the single most annoying thing about under the bump styles as you get bigger.
• Longer tops than you think. The bump takes up length as well as width, so ordinary tops ride up at the front. Length is what makes a top wearable, not size.
• One thing you feel good in. A dress or a decent pair of trousers. Practicality is fine but wearing nothing but stretchy things for five months wears thin.
• A belly band. A wide stretch band that lets you wear your own unbuttoned trousers for another month or two. Cheap, and it delays the whole problem.
• Good bras, fitted late. Rib cage expands as well as cup size. Get measured in the third trimester rather than early on.

What to skip

Fake bump padding in fitting rooms tells you very little. Full maternity coats get worn for one season and cost a lot, so an ordinary coat a size up, or leaving it unbuttoned with a scarf, usually does. Novelty bump slogan shirts are a personal call, but they are the least worn item in most people's drawers.

Think about the fourth trimester too

The month after birth is a size and shape nobody plans for. You do not go straight back to your old clothes, and maternity clothes still fit but feel wrong to keep wearing. The things that carry over well are the ones that are comfortable at the waist and easy to feed in: stretch leggings, wrap tops, anything that unbuttons or lifts from the front.

Buying with that in mind is what turns a six week wardrobe into a six month one.

Comfort is not a small thing

Waistbands that dig, seams that press on a bump, anything that has to be adjusted every time you sit down. It sounds trivial and it is not, when you are already uncomfortable and tired. If something irritates you in the fitting room it will be unbearable at thirty six weeks.

Support garments are for comfort. For pelvic girdle pain, significant back pain, or anything that limits how you move, see a physical therapist or your midwife rather than relying on a band to solve it.