Shopping for maternity clothes can be the most unpleasant part of pregnancy (okay, well, maybe not the most unpleasant…but close). Your size is constantly changing, you have no definable shape, and most of the stuff available isn’t that attractive.
A maternity wardrobe is a temporary thing, so I didn’t want to spend too much money. Since I’m the first of my friends to have a baby, however, there wasn’t anyone for me to borrow from. But I couldn’t be cheap on this—after all, I had to have nice clothes to wear to work. Sounds simple enough, finding comfort and style at an affordable price—but it’s not. Finding all of those qualities in one piece of clothing was like searching for the Holy Grail…If I found something that fit, it wasn’t stylish. If I found something that was stylish, it was too expensive.
There were days where I just wanted to put on a muumuu and move on with my life.
Fortunately, there are a few stores where I had some success, even if I did hover close to the sales rack. And in some cases, I could get what I needed easily online. Here are my recommendations for maternity clothes shopping.
You can order from these stores on the same site and receive them in the same shipment, with the Gap’s recently renovated website. This is my favorite place to shop, for maternity or otherwise, because of the great bargains, shipping discounts, and huge selection of casual and career clothing. Most of the clothing I wore and loved for those nine months was from Old Navy, and most of the nursing gear I bought for afterwards was from the Gap. I didn’t break the bank and I didn’t have to sacrifice my personal style.
This store has everything you need from support underwear to stylish winter coats. It’s a bit more expensive but you can often find some nice things on their sale rack. If you’re shopping online, we’ve got lots of great Motherhood Maternity coupon codes to help you save some money here and there. I bought most of my work clothes from Motherhood Maternity and I’ll be sure to get use out of them for my second pregnancy.
In some stores, the maternity section isn’t very large, but I figured out which locations to hit up for maternity items. I bought some great dresses and sweaters that got me through the holiday party season last winter, as well as nursing bras and gear to get ready for baby’s arrival. The prices here are already more affordable, but we’ve got some target.com coupon codes to apply to online orders as well.
You shouldn’t spend a mini fortune on clothes you’re only going to wear for a few months. If you stick to sales racks and bargain hunt just a little bit, you can build a solid maternity wardrobe that fits your changing body and your budget.
