TCAM

Pregnant? Congratulations! It is such an exciting time in your life to be expecting a child. There are so many thoughts running through your mind at the moment and one of them is probably how to know what size maternity clothes to buy.

Most pregnant women will start to out grow their normal clothes at around 12-14 weeks, so you will need to find some good maternity clothes that will fit you then and take you through your whole pregnancy. There is a huge range of maternity clothes out on the market these days so there is no need to feel frumpy while pregnant.

You don’t need to spend a fortune either there is a lot of very affordable and fashionable maternity clothes on the market. Even if you just invest in a few key pieces ie maternity jeans, tops, swimmers, work pants/skirt, feeding singlets and a party dress this should see you through your pregnancy comfortably. Don’t forget that you can always wear these key pieces for your subsequent pregnancies as well.

As a general rule you choose the same size of your normal clothes (before pregnancy size) in your maternity clothes (but as you know every make of clothing seems to have slightly different sizing guides).

All good maternity clothing should be shaped to cover your growing belly or have adjustable waists to allow for growth, it also has allowed for slight weight increases so the sizing is a bit bigger compared to your normal sizing. So generally your normal size before you were pregnant should be the size you will need to buy in maternity clothing. You may find that in some garments you will need to go up a dress size, but generally speaking you normal size should see you through.

Good luck with your pregnancy and the arrival of the little one!

Gayle Petrie is the owner of Gayle Petrie Maternity Wear, she has been dressing pregnant women for over 30 years.