Can I Just Wear Regular Pants Instead of Maternity?

You totally can! I only had one pair of maternity pants while I was pregnant because I had the same problem. None of them fit me right. I just bought regular clothes but a size or more larger. And it all depends on the clothes, some might fit you differently than others, just try them on. I thought it was a waste of money to buy clothes I couldn't wear all the time, so I did not invest heavily on maternity clothes. It saved me a lot of money. And I also wore a lot fo casual dresses. It kept me cooler anyways.

Good Luck and congratulations!

You sound a lot like me. I am 5'4 and wear a size 1 at stores that run small (in junior's, not women's) and they do not make maternity clothes of any type in my size. I have had 2 children and have worn regular jeans the entire time with each of them. The key is to find the jeans that are both very low rise and made from fabric that has a little stretch to it. Then if you need to towards the end of pregnancy you can use a rubber band to expand the waist a bit (stick the rubber band through the buttonhole of the jeans and then hook both ends around the snap of the jeans on the other side. The other thing I wore occasionally was exercise pants (cute ones) when I was tired of low rise jeans.

I really don't recommend bigger size jeans. I had some left over from when I was a few pounds heavier and they are not all that much bigger in the waist (not enough to make a difference in the third trimester) but are big enough everywhere else to look weird. Good luck, I know it's a pain.

Low rise jeans are fashion's gift to pregnant women who hate maternity jeans! :) I am 35wks right now and wear almost all just regular pants. I did end up with two pair of the secret fit jeans, but since my belly doesn't get very big I get a little puckering of the stretchy fabric up top so I end up rolling that part down and having it sit under my belly.
A lot of the times the higher end jeans (like True Religion) have more give and thus more wiggle room-this time around I was able to wear my Trues until about a month ago. Last pregnancy I ended up getting a couple of pair of my regular jeans in a bigger size and it worked until I delivered at 39wks.

For me the belly bands tend to creep down on the top, or creep up on the bottom, so they don't do a ton of good for me, I have more luck just wearing a long fitted tee. A lot of people do love those though.

i did that and i also bought one of those belly band things that you wear over your own pants to cover up the fact that you are leaving them unzipped and un buttoned..didnt buy hardly any mat pants

I am petite and I never bought any maternity clothes. I bought a larger size.

You can also take ANY pair of pants into a seamstress/tailor and get them fitted.

I was pregnant during the summer and couldnt afford to buy a bunch of new pants so i just wore empire waist dresses from the juniors department

Check out Forever21.com they are supposed to be coming out with a maternity line. I bet you could find something there that would work for you! Good luck!

I know women who just continued to wear their regular sized jeans during the early months of their pregnancy. Their jeans had a placket (zipper) and they held the top together with hair elastic bands and wore the longer shirts that are now in style. It sounds like you want to wear skinny legged jeans and I don't know if that would work for them. They seem to fit even more snugly around the hips than regular jeans.

You could go to a maternity shop and try on the smallest size that they have with the fake pregnant tummy and see how they look.

You could also talk with a skilled seamstress about how they could be altered if necessary and how much it would cost.

try that band thing. The way I carried my last pregnancy I wore my regular jeans the entire time. I didn't even go up a size :) with my first I got the low low rise waist and in a size larger then what I wear and my belly sat right over them so it wasn't an issue either.

I did a lot of low waist pants with no problem. The belly band is great, too. I've even seen them in consignment shops. Larger size pants should work, too. Congratulations!

sounds like you most likely wont even need to buy bigger jeans. Just wear your usual jeans and when they are too tight unbutton the top button and wear a belly band (cost like $20 at motherhood maternity). Then you don't have to worry about it unless you grow out of the jeans you already have!

I am very petite and my mom gave me suspenders. I could leave things unbuttoned or unsnapped and the suspenders held my pants or skirts up. But I hated finding the right top to cover straps and bumps from open flies, plus it is an extra step every time you go to the bathroom. Good luck!

Possibilities include wearing a belly band to cover the unbuttoned 'regular' jeans, converting regular jeans to maternity with simple material & 2-3" elastic, OR hit the consignment shop. I've seen super-nice designer maternity jeans at Childish Things in Boulder.
Good luck! & Good Job Mommin'!

the belly band is available in almost every store you can think of. its great you just tuck it into your pants and then fold it over the open zipper and button. i wore it thru most of my last pregnancy and it worked like a charm. also after you have the baby it helps cuz it aleviates the pressure on your belly from buttoned jeans. it looks kinda like a girdle and its spandex. when i first got pregnant you had to order them online and they were pretty costly, but now they are everywhere and very cheap. you can get them in lots of colors and some have lace and patterns on them and look very chic. good luck and congrats

You can buy those belly bands from motherhood maternity. I love them. Then you can wear your regular pants, unbuttoned, and the band just goes around them to hide. Looks like you are wearing a longer shirt under your reg shirt.

I was the same way as you i am very small and i had trouble finding a pair of jeans to wear all the maternity pant was to big for my bellly and when i got a bigger size of jean it was to big on my butt.... so half the time i just wore my regular jeans i had before i got pregnant i just wouldnt tie them up and i would wear a long shirt to cover it up... i didnt find the elastic band worked good cuz it was still to big

I was just like you... I wore my regular jeans for a long time! I just used a belly band or a tie that I looped through the botton hole. That worked fine, but then I found jeans at Motherhood that had this thin material that goes all the way over the belly. They were called Secret Fit Belly!
At first I was like why would I want more material over my belly, but this material is SO thin and even kinda helped to hold my belly up! I was ALL belly with both babies!
I ended up buying jeans, skirts and casual pants with this Secret Fit Belly attachement! I will say I still had to wait until i was a bit bigger to wear them, but with my second I could do that a bit sooner even though they were a tad loose. Good luck, but truly go try them once you are showing and see if it works for you! I thought nothing would ever fit me and these were great!

Well I have a hard time imagining you being so small that you can't possibly wear any maternity jeans. Have you lookd at Pea in the Pod? They carry AMNY brands of jeans, some some so small I wonder how any person fits into them... if they are too expensive, then try them all on, find your size, and then write it all down and buy them on eBay - that's what I did.

Babystyle was a store that went out of business and they carried extremely small clothes - you might find some of their stuff on eBay too. many times these clothes are new, by the way...

I have known skinny girls who wore regular jeans the whole time. Boy was I jealous!! Good luck and be comfortable.

I wore my normal pants for almost all of my last pregnancy, and used a belly band, they are awesome. Also I found that the new style of maternity pants with the real thin material on the top that goes to the top of your belly are actually really comfortable and stay in place and since they are elastic like they work good. Good Luck!

get some BELLA BANDS :) it's a tube of fabric that is like swimsuit material- that way you wear your regular jeans, just leave them unbottoned/unzipped and wear this band around the base of your belly and the top of the jeans. It holds them up around you and just looks like you're layering :) best investment ever.

Congratulations Andrea on the new baby!

You can wear whatever is most comfortable, there is no 'rule' about maternity clothes. I do have a suggestion that I give to mama's who shop in my store with your similar situation...the BellaBand. Then you can wear it to hold up pants that are too big now, and if they get too tight later you can wear it over unbuttoned pants. Don't be fooled by cheaper brands of the belly bands...the BellaBand is the only one that we have seen that really holds up your pants.

Shameless plug here..I carry them in my online store (www.shop.thebabystoreplus.com) or you can purchase them at a local shop. Most mama's don't need but one or two because you can wear them several times before needing to wash them.

Contact me through my site & I can email you a discount code for your purchase.

Have a Wonderful Pregnancy!

A.

I had a Bella Band that held things up, but over all, even though I could have worn regular pants though my whole pregnancy (and did wear my regular scrubs the whole time) I thought that maternity pants were just so much more comfortable.

I too was like you. When I was pregnant, (15 & 17 years ago), I just bought pants (almost like the leggings of today), in a bigger size and wore them backwards. The back crotch is cut longer to accommodate your but, but worn backwards, accommodates your growing belly. They were also great post baby until everything went back to normal. I was at Kohl's this week and saw some really cute denim leggings, no pockets, but top-stitched to look like a fly and pockets. What I wouldn't have given for some of those in my day. Hope this helps.

I have been able to wear my regular jeans until about 7 months or so then no dice. Although I can pull them up, my belly is just too low to keep them up. I do, however, up until then use a rubber band where my button for the jeans are. Then I can wear them longer. I do not do maternity pants well either, I cannot stand anything over my belly, drives me crazy, so my options for jeans is pretty slight as well.

As far as buying early, I have never had luck buying maternity before I am ready for it. I am on my 4th pregnancy and my body is just different every time.

Good luck and congrats!

Lucky you! I have a few small framed friends who never needed maternity pants, just low rise pants. As someone else has suggested you might find dresses pretty comfortable too, and there again, if you go for the right cut, it doesn't need to be maternity.
Good luck!