What I Wore Wednesday: Maternity Clothing

I’m linking up with Lindsey for “What I Wore Wednesday” but I’m adding my own twist.  This isn’t really what I’ve worn over the past week, but what I’ve been wearing for the last few months with a growing belly.  So here are some maternity outfits that I have worn and my best tips on buying maternity clothes.

I don’t know about where you live, but in our area maternity clothing is hard to shop for! We don’t have very many stores that sell maternity clothing here and the ones that do have a pretty limited selection, so I’ve had to make due. But here’s what I have found useful.

In the first few months it’s probably hard for other people to tell that you’re pregnant, but it might not be that hard for YOU to tell!  Even when I wasn’t showing at all, I was growing.  The first couple of items that I needed were elastic waisted pants and longer shirts, elastic just makes things MUCH more comfortable and the longer shirts just made me feel more secure that I was all covered.

Another thing I would recommend is keeping your wardrobe to mostly basics at the beginning so you don’t feel like you’re blowing your wallet on an entirely new wardrobe.  Instead purchase a few basic pieces and then add more tops and pieces as you go along.  For example these are great starts:

All Items shown are from Old Navy:

1:  Good basic tees in whatever your favorite or most worn colors are (mine are red and blue), in short or long sleeves

2: A good basic shirt in a fun stripe or print

3: Elastic waisted pants (these are capri, but could be long pants depending on the season).

 Elastic waisted is much better in the beginning than the full panel.

4: Elastic waisted skirt in a basic color – goes GREAT with tees or tanks and can be dresses up or down.

SUPER comfortable!

5: Again, depending on the season of your pregnancy, a good pair of basic shorts with an elastic waist – denim, khaki or a solid dark color go with lots tops

All of these items can mix and match for a variety of outfits and occasions.

You will have plenty of time to add more variety, color and fun pieces to your maternity wardrobe as you go along, but starting with these few basic pieces will get you off to a good start.

And don’t forget that you can still wear a lot of non-maternity items too.  Dresses, cardigans and jackets that you already have in your closet are great because you can mostly keep wearing the same things for a good while.

And this is how I have worn some of those pieces:

Weeks 12 and 28 – Good basic stripped top with room to grow and elastic waisted maternity shorts

Weeks 7, 14 and 20 – Basic tank with stretch and elastic waisted maternity shorts

Weeks 13 and 17 – Good basic, solid colored maternity tank

Weeks 15, 30 and 31 – NOT MATERNITY TOPS – just tanks that were long and stretchy

Week 16 – Good example of a dress that I can still wear even with the belly

So those are my few beginning maternity wardrobe tips.  Do you have other suggestions for new Mom’s to be?  Leave them in the comments!

If you haven’t already read it, Hayley’s ebook The No Brainer Wardrobe it is a GREAT book for any woman looking to simplify her closet, and it includes a whole chapter on shopping for maternity clothes.

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