What to wear while pregnant

As your belly starts taking up more space, you might become increasingly familiar with that feeling: I’ve got nothing to wear and nothing fits! But you don’t have to change your style or bust your budget on a brand-new wardrobe just because your belly is growing – you can often wear a lot of what you’ve already got in your closet if you think outside the box a little.
Read on for our top tips on stylish clothing for pregnancy that you might already own – and which go-to maternity clothes it might be clever to pick up. And of course, just like when you aren’t pregnant, your sense of style is unique to you. Some people want to feel well-dressed all the way to the maternity ward; others love an excuse to go wild with clothing made for a pregnant body – and others are ready to jump straight into a pair of joggers. There are no wrong choices here! The most important thing is to find what feels good – and what fits.

Tips for a pregnancy wardrobe – sans shopping trip

• Your regular jeans are often fine early in your first trimester. When your trousers start to feel tight, try using a hair tie at the button to make extra room in the waistline (premade extenders are available to buy if a hair tie doesn’t work).
• An oversize jumper or cardigan will hide your stomach – and a half-done trouser button – for a few weeks, which is also smart if you want to keep your secret for a little while.
• Finding stylish maternity trousers isn’t always easy. Instead, see if you can find a pair of (soft) ordinary trousers with a low rise, sitting closer to the hips than the waist.
• During your second and third trimesters, as your belly clearly becomes rounder in shape, you can knot your now too-short or too-tight T-shirt under your bust. This move looks great over a tank or a bodycon dress.
• Think stretch, stretch, stretch! Try a fitted dress or pencil skirt that’s nice and stretchy and shows off your pregnant belly. Skirts in soft materials, like jersey, can be worn throughout pregnancy, from when your belly just starts to swell, until it develops a hint of shape and all the way to when you’re about to pop (even if you’ve probably gone up a size or two by then).
• For a dressed-up look, try an open blazer over a stretchy dress.
• Relaxed shirts can often be buttoned over the bust and belly – but otherwise, try wearing it unbuttoned, with a tank top underneath, or knotted under the bust.
• Tunics or kaftans are great pieces that you can generally wear throughout pregnancy.
• Don’t forget to accessorise! Accessories are a fantastic tip if you have some pieces that fit, but you want to freshen up your look. Look through your drawers at home: try a shawl in your hair, necklace, earrings, watches...
• When your belly is big in winter, you’re going to need a particularly roomy coat. Maybe your winter coat is already well-proportioned – in that case, what you’ve got hanging on the hook could already fit a pregnant belly. We actually suggest not buying something new early on. Instead, wait and see how big your belly is likely to get. If the baby is coming in the middle of winter, there are coats with baby extenders – a simple way to wear your baby carrier and your jacket at the same time.
• Wrap dresses! A truly smart style tip for bodies in change, because a wrap dress can follow along through your pregnancy and be adjusted to fit your growing tummy.
• Roomy garments, like maxi dresses, can often be worn for a long time – just watch out, because you might start to feel like a tent. On the other hand, they’re nice and airy if you’re expecting a baby in the heat of summer.
• Is anyone in your family or friend group a few sizes bigger than you? See if you can take a look in their closet; they might have a bigger jacket, shirt, or pair of soft trousers that you can borrow when yours get too small.
• For now, put away the tight jeans and anything else that doesn’t fit – that way, they won’t take up space in your closet. Bonus: it will feel like you have a brand-new wardrobe when you take these items out again.

Pregnancy clothes to buy (or inherit)

Even if you can get pretty far with what you’ve already got in your closet, we still want to suggest a few maternity-wear items that might be smart to buy. But don’t stress: wait until your body changes, because otherwise you could easily end up buying things you won’t use and that don’t fit.

• Many people find maternity leggings with elastic over the tummy comfy during and after pregnancy (spoiler alert: your belly won’t disappear the moment after you’ve given birth; it will be around for a good while).
• A belly band covers the tummy when your jumper gets too short and leaves a gap at your bump. As always, it’s best to try this once you’ve got a bump, because not everybody likes the feeling of a belly band.
• Bigger underwear. It doesn’t have to be maternity underwear, but it will likely be more comfortable to have underwear a size or two bigger than you had before.
• Proper comfy shoes might not sound very sexy, but believe us when we say that it’s worth the investment to have comfortable feet! Skip the heels and tight shoes, which could cause your feet to swell even more. If you can’t even think about bending down to tie a pair of shoes, then opt for boots – or sandals with thick socks, which work much of the year.

Nursing bra for pregnancy and breastfeeding mums

We also suggest buying a comfortable nursing bra. This is a purchase you can make late in pregnancy, because your breasts will already be bigger before the baby arrives. If you’ll be breastfeeding, it’s important that your nursing bra has no underwire, because anything that sits firmly across your chest could increase the risk of mastitis. Being able to roll your bra down below your breasts helps your milk flow, while a regular bra pushed up over your breasts can inhibit milk from flowing. It’s also loads easier to breastfeed with a nursing bra.

A good nursing bra should be soft, with wide shoulder straps to support a heavy bust. It helps if the bra is seamless, easy to open one-handed, and made in a breathable material. If you will be breastfeeding later, a nursing tank top that unbuttons at the shoulder can also be handy.

When do you start wearing maternity clothing?

Nothing says you have to start wearing maternity clothing at all. There’s no magic week when you’ll start shopping for your new pregnancy style. Just remember that you should feel good in what you wear! Especially when you’re pregnant, there is simply no reason to wear clothes that squeeze, rub, chafe, or are at all uncomfortable. Items you already own, or that you can borrow or inherit, will often take you quite far. And great deals on dresses, shirts, and jackets in bigger sizes can be easy to find second-hand – and have a lower environmental impact. You might also be keen to embrace the feeling of being pregnant and excited to shop for clothing made for a bigger belly. But still, it can be nice to know that nothing says you absolutely must own a pair of stylish maternity trousers – by all means, go ahead and wear ones you already own.

Please note that all information above is based on Swedish recommendations.