Maternity clothes--oh dear

I am a terrible shopper at the best of times (ahem, unless it is for books or horse stuff), but I find myself quickly running out of clothes that fit. I've looked in M&S and one other shop (Debenhams? maybe), but I really couldn't find a maternity section. Where are the best places to go? Should I just go online and guess sizes and etc?

I think I am going the dresses+leggings route for most things, if that matters.

I did most of my maternity shopping at Mamas and Papas or Mothercare. I didn't buy much though, as I am really small and had difficulty actually finding clothes. I never had any luck finding maternity clothes in regular shops, although I have a fairly hard time finding size 6's any time. Good luck!

High street stores such as Next: http://www.next.co.uk/women/maternity
and Topshop to name just 2 have maternity sections: http://www.topshop.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CatalogNavigationSearchResultCmd?catalogId=33057&viewAllFlag=false&langId=-1&categoryId=208537&storeId=12556&parent_categoryId=203984&sort_field=Newness&geoip=noredirect

Good luck in your search

Thanks guys! I've been into the Next in the Manchester city centre, but didn't see anything.  I do get tired and give up quite quickly though (would love to blame the pregnancy, but I have always been like that with clothes!).  I'll have a look online.

Dorothy Perkins and H&M both have maternity sections. Try your pre-pregnancy size first, don't guess.

I am also a terrible shopper and get frustrated really fast.  Although living here for a while I just discovered that Debanem's and john Lewis have a free personal shopping service at their stores and I fell in love!!! 

You can book an appointment and tell them what you need help with and they will help you.  You sit in the room and they bring stuff to you.  They don't work on commission and there is no obligation to buy (my friend is works as one so I know for sure) .  It has really helped me get comfortable with the brands and styles.  I found it most helpful post pregnancy to help me find stuff to fit my new shape.

Most shops seem to have slim pickings in the maternity section but lots more online. 

I am also a terrible shopper and get frustrated really fast.  Although living here for a while I just discovered that Debanem's and john Lewis have a free personal shopping service at their stores and I fell in love!!! 

You can book an appointment and tell them what you need help with and they will help you.  You sit in the room and they bring stuff to you.  They don't work on commission and there is no obligation to buy (my friend is works as one so I know for sure) .  It has really helped me get comfortable with the brands and styles.  I found it most helpful post pregnancy to help me find stuff to fit my new shape.

Most shops seem to have slim pickings in the maternity section but lots more online. 

This sounds amazing. Woop!

haha - it was!!!!

I was able to get a dress for a wedding that I LOVED and also a couple tops etc from the few times I've done it.  I've found I actually wear the stuff and they showed me how to mix and match it.  Also almost everything I ended up liking I would have NEVER tried on.  The shoppers were all very honest too and you get a normal receipt so you can take it back or just get some ideas and watch for the stuff later on. 

The marketing goal is to obviously sell you something but I didn't feel the pressure at all and I actually came out after 2 hours with stuff I liked and not frustrated.

I bought most of my stuff online in the US (Old Navy in particular) and has my mom send it to the UK. It fit better and came to about the same price as buying in the UK.

While a variety of companies carry maternity clothes, the only ones in my town (Inverness) that stock them are Mamas and Papas and H&M.

 M&P was is very expensive with a small selection and the work trousers I got from them never quite fit right. That said, their tights are amazingly comfortable with the best bump-gusset I've found. In my local shop at least, they only came in grey and plum though.

H&M's maternity range only goes up to an "18" which normally would work for me, I tend to wear a UK 16-18 depending on the brand, but their 18 is really small and I couldn't get anything on. They also had a sign in their maternity department suggesting you buy your standard size when the bump is small and go up two sizes over the course of your pregnancy which is NOT standard pregnancy-sizing. Going up sizes means the shoulders should be broader, the arm-cycles cut differently, sleeve lengths change... Bah.

Ordering online, NEXT was so frustrating that when their system ate my order just as I was getting ready to check out, that I threw my hands up in frustration and quit. M&S had a very limited selection, mostly only available in S,M,L and the stuff I ordered was mostly tatty so I only kept one shirt.

With New Look I hit gold. I ordered a couple sizes/lengths of jeans, some jumpers/sweaters, tshirts, and vests/camisoles and kept almost everything. I returned the jeans that didn't fit and one "red" camisole that turned out to be a shade of coral - not my colour at all. That's pretty much what I've been living in for the last 4 month, plus a few things from my "fat" closet like a double breasted peacoat that I can only do the top and sometimes bottom button on.

With ordering things online, if you don't get free shipping, see if you can order to a local store. Try it on then and there and return anything you don't like. Good luck.

Oh, and thrift shops are a great place to get baby clothes.  Babies grow out of things before they wear through them so they're usually as good as new and you can get a half dozen outfits in each preemie/newborn/0-3months and when baby shows up you can buy whichever size actually fits.

that's a good idea about the range of baby clothes--we are currently attempting to go with a "we don't have loads of space" mindset and only get a few things, to be added to when we actually meet the little one, but I love the idea of picking up some cheap stuff to try out sizes... We are in a student heavy area, so the thrift shop tends to be dominated with books/adult stuff, but I will keep an eye out. 
I am really hating this maternity clothes thing. I did order a few things from Next (got lucky, and it didn't eat the order!), but I *hate* clothes shopping, and I am finding it difficult to dress myself comfortably and well enough for work. My husband brought up having more kids after this one, and I suddenly thought "My god, I would be pregnant or breastfeeding for years" and nearly burst into tears at the idea. I think we'll need to revisit that one a bit later!

Well, if you do it again you'll have clothes although you might need tops that do double duty for maternity and breast feeding. Maternity clothes have been a huge frustration for me as well. My friends (back home) keep saying they lived in their husbsnd's sweats but my husband is smaller than me and outwith the occasional pj day, I don't like looking schlubby. And work would not have understood.

I had a meltdown in the middle of York town centre while looking for some maternity jeans one day.  Felt really bad for DH as I was a hormonal mess!!!  

Oh gosh, thanks guys, you are making me feel much better.  It is just such a process isn't it? I'm not generally a worrier, but the hormones plus pregnancy body plus everything is really making me more edgy than normal. Luckily, DH is a gem.

I had a hard time finding affordable leggings in different colors over here, so my MIL sent me some from Ireland. There was a pair of Red Herring maternity leggings, so I know they have a small section of maternity at Debenhams. Fortunately I was pregnant in the summer, so I could get away with dresses! Also, I wore a tunic from H&M all throughout my pregnancy that wasn't a maternity shirt. You might want to try looking for something like that.