Maternity Clothes Brands - What to avoid & where to invest
Updated: Apr 19
Here is my guide to some of the best brands, the ones to avoid and the things to look out for...
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Overview
I used to think that being thrifty with your maternity outfits was a very clever thing to do in order to save money and not waste it on maternity clothes that you will only wear for a few months.
After going through pregnancy, I now understand that it was wrong to limit my spending on maternity clothes. It’s just best to embrace your new body shape, that is constantly changing, with clothes that can adapt with you as you go through pregnancy and beyond - let's face it, you're likely to want comfy/larger clothes after the birth even if you are lucky enough to slim back down to your previous shape.
Plus, investing in clothes that actually fit will make you feel so much more comfortable and more like yourself at a time when you might not even recognise yourself!
I'm not saying that you should spend loads of money on clothes, just don't be scared to spend what you would usually spend on clothes anyway! I realised that each summer I usually buy a new summer dress or two (or three!), so I did! I just made sure that they were maternity dresses that could also be useful as nursing dresses, hence why they all have buttons down the front!
Now, let's get on to the brands...
ASOS
"Let’s get started with the one to avoid."
To be fair, I usually struggle with ASOS anyway because I find that the website has too much visual noise (a retailer term meaning there are so many products that you don't know where to look). There’s just too much stuff on there for my liking.
With maternity clothes, however, I thought that I could re-enter the world ASOS and make the most of maternity clothes that were not going to break the bank.
I bought 11 items and returned them all. Nothing looked like it did on the website. I think that they must pin things in place on the models to make it look flattering for your bump.
When in reality, all they do is give you tent sized pieces of clothing that swamp you in fabric.
Nothing I bought complimented the bump.
Nothing was designed with a pregnancy bump in mind.
There were no ruched sides or belly bands.
It was purely just extra large clothing.
Not remotely flattering and nothing to make you feel special during your pregnancy.
"Nothing was designed with a pregnancy bump in mind."
In addition to that, the fabric was poor quality.
I must admit that I did expect to have some issue with the quality given the low cost of the items, you do after all get what you pay for.
I had envisaged, however, that at the very least the styling would be decent. For the price, I thought that it would be good styling but poor quality fabric. Not bad styling and poor quality fabric. There just simply wasn’t any reason to buy/keep these items.
I shared my thoughts on my social media and the response was staggering. Huge numbers of people responded to say that they found the same thing when they had tried to find maternity clothes. One person even informed me that ASOS maternity clothes aren’t technically maternity clothes, as they only cover you up to about 12 weeks. I don’t know if it’s true. It certainly would be very misleading if all of the models on the website have their bumps on show when you don't actually have a bump until you’ve reached beyond 12 weeks. Perhaps though, this would be why none of the items had any ruched sides for the bellies or fitted you like it needs to go round a baby bump. Perhaps they are getting around it by advertising something as maternity when it is really just extra large.
All in all I was very disappointed especially given that I really wanted to find some beautiful clothes to make me feel good during my pregnancy without breaking the bank.
H&M MAMA
Let’s move onto some happier brands that do what they say, look good, feel good, and don’t break the bank.
H&M Maternity is by far my favourite. I’m already a member of H&M, which means that I get free delivery and the odd member rewards such as money off vouchers and the occasional members discount weekend.
It is certainly an affordable choice with decent quality fabric; obviously when you have such low prices you do expect the quality to be pretty low as well but I never found the quality to be poor, perhaps just in line with the prices. I have always been very happy with that.
"I bought all of my basics from H&M and trust me, you will wear these items A LOT!"
Shop the Basics
Leggings have served me well throughout the entire pregnancy, I bought a lot of these!
For a bit of difference, I also bought some taupe leggings, which when they arrived, looked like they would never fit me even if I was at my super skinniest but actually the fabric stretches really well and I reckon I will still wear all of my leggings beyond my pregnancy as they are all so comfortable and the belly bands stretch so nicely. Pretty good for exercise leggings I reckon!
I also bought a few basic T-shirts to go over my bump. These will see me all the way through pregnancy - I am writing this at 35 / 36 weeks and they are still my go to with plenty of space to grow. I think that they might also be in my hospital bag to wear home afterwards.
In terms of the trousers, I would recommend a bit of caution.
It became clear quite early on in my pregnancy that the trousers do not necessarily cater for the entire pregnancy. There were various points when I had to stop wearing certain trousers.
For instance, my skinny jeans that I bought from the H&M Maternity range, I had to stop wearing about halfway through my pregnancy as the bellyband began to get too tight.
These were still a great purchase though, I wore them loads in my first half of pregnancy and they made me feel normal as my body was going through the early pregnancy changes. Just be aware that these might not be a longevity piece. Having said that, these might be pretty hand after the birth when I want to feel more normal again but still can't fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans!
Then my second pair of jeans, my baggy mom jeans, were comfortable up until about the 28 week mark. They became too uncomfortable sitting because of the thick denim seam with no give and were really pinching me.
Before that however, they were the perfect jeans and I love them. They took me right up into the hot summer weather when my summer dresses could take over so I didn't mind.
Finally, my joggers have been so comfortable throughout the entire pregnancy and I can imagine I will wear them beyond as well. Who needs to know that I’ve got a big belly band and my clothes?! Even when I’m not actually pregnant?!
Another great option for leaving the hospital, perhaps to paid with my basic maternity t-shirts that I mentioned earlier.
H&M MAMA Summer dresses
I also treated myself to a few summery dresses. Being due in July meant that I needed a few items to get me through the warmer months. With the British summer being what it is, I only bought a few items.
I ended up pretty much living in my summer dresses any time it was sunny and warm. I loved them. They fitted really well and made me feel a little bit more special, even the casual ones. I find that it’s really important when you’re pregnant not to feel too frumpy/ mum like.
The dresses I picked also happened to be pretty good for nursing dresses as they had buttons. This meant that I was perfectly happy buying quite a few dresses like this because I knew that I was going to get the most out of them.
Click on images to shop products
Tip: Keep in mind that you might not be able to fit in your maternity items all the way through your pregnancy depending on how big your bump is measuring...
I am currently at my 35 week mark of my pregnancy, and I have started to notice that these dresses are starting to get a little bit tight in places. I only notice when I’m sitting down, so they’re fine when I am walking about but when I sit down some of the buttons start to get a little bit taught around my belly. Keep in mind that my belly bump is bang on average every time I am measured by the midwife. I will probably have to stop wearing some of these dresses in a couple of weeks, so very nearly to the end of my pregnancy. They have served me well throughout most of my pregnancy at least! If you have a slightly smaller than average bump then you should easily reach the end of your pregnancy in these dresses. A larger than average bump, and you would probably only reach the beginning of your third trimester.
Seraphine
This is probably one of my favourite maternity brands; very practical, good quality, looks good, and designed with your pregnancy bump and your larger boobs in mind.
With so many positives, it only makes sense to be slightly more expensive. For what you’re buying though, I think that the prices are pretty bang on and worth it. This is probably more of a mid range maternity retailer.
My only wish is that they had the odd voucher code for free delivery because I would often forget that I’d have to pay about £6 for every delivery. I started to bulk buy my items rather than spread out the cost, but that can be quite tricky when you’re trying to manage your spending.
"Everything I’ve bought from them has been worth it. I’ve kept it quite selective on purpose."
Parka Coat
The very first thing I bought from them was a parka coat with an additional panel for zipping around your baby bump but also around the baby. I don’t believe it looks like a maternity coat; it just has the option of adding an additional panel. I will definitely still wear it as a parka coat even when I’m not pregnant. It also just so happens to be the price of a normal parka from any of the retailer that’s on a similar level of quality. So all in all, a really good purchase.
Special Occasions
I had a couple of special events to go to during my pregnancy: birthdays and my afternoon tea /mini baby shower – I decided not to have a big baby shower for many reasons so instead I just met up with some friends for an
afternoon tea. It was so nice to be able to dress up in a couple of dresses. Again I tried to choose dresses that would be suitable for nursing going forward or just simply dresses that I could probably get away with wearing after the birth as well . It’s made me feel better about spending money.
Lightweight Tops
I also realised that I needed a couple of basic lightweight tops for the evenings or cooler summer days – we all know that there are plenty of those days!
These are two that I got a purely because they fit around your bump but also they have poppers down the side to make it easy for nursing. The only thing that I would say is that the longer one did make me feel a little bit frumpy whilst pregnant.
Hospital Bag
In addition, to the above, Seraphine really have thought of everything.
There is a hospital bag kit that I would highly recommend. It has a lightweight dressing gown, nursing/maternity top, joggers, and a birthing gown/night dress. The material is super soft and very comfortable. I made the most of it during my pregnancy wearing the joggers and top as pyjamas, until it became time to pack my hospital bag that is!
The Final Word
As much as I haven’t sampled loads of different brands, I feel like once you find a brand that works for you, just stick to it. These brands worked for me. H&M works as a low-budget option that’s also happened to be pretty good quality and suit me for various stages of my pregnancy. Seraphine worked out very well for me because it was slightly more expensive in what I would describe as a mid range maternity wear retailer, I was not prepared to spend more money than that and address for instance. I was very happy spending the money on these dresses when I was aware that I needed something a little bit more special for some special occasions and have the reliability of something that would give me well and make me feel good when I was at my largest!