Hi! I love your blog and I read it often!

I’m a tall first time pregnant woman, and I am having a extremely difficult time finding maternity wear for the long legged. Can you post some sites where a girl over 5’11” can get maternity jeans without going broke? Thanks so much!

Admittedly, pregnancy fashion for tall women is still a niche on the market. As a mum of two, I decided not to spend much on maternity clothes – and actually managed to, believe it or not! First time around – through necessity, as money was really tight. Second time around – through choice: to me, spending more money on clothes is an investment, while maternity wear is only needed for a couple of months.

Unfortunately, there is no magical solution I can offer to the lovely reader who sent me this message, as the few tall fashion websites selling maternity trousers/jeans are indeed very expensive. However, you may find helpful some of my fashion tips for tall mums-to-be.

And, before I go any further: congratulations!! Here is what I looked like about three years ago:

Teaser: can you tell if the trousers I am wearing here are maternity ones or not? Answer to be found below.

Now, here are my pieces of advice for pregnant tall women:

1. Decide what kind of a mum-to-be you are: a self-indulgent one, or a savvy shopper. If you are the first type, my post may only be useful for you to a certain extent, as my advice is how not to spend money on maternity wear.

If you do plan to treat yourself to some new clothes, here are some links for you:

Long Tall Sally Maternity Clothes

Tallgirls Maternity Range

Tall Maternity Store

Just Maternity Jeans

As you will notice, it is difficult to find a pair of trousers under £40, but I found a solution that worked for me – just read on. And here is the link to a tall fashionista’s blog who recently had a baby: All The Tall Things. You can find shopping maternity ideas from her older posts – while in mine you will find ideas on how to look good with a bump without breaking the bank.

2. Decide on your budget, explore your options and put your imagination to good use. Best thing to do is mix and match tall clothing with high street fashion. Both times I was pregnant I had to survive summer heat, which, admittedly, is not too bad in England. Nevertheless, with hormones boost and increased body weight, you’ll find that you may feel the heat more than you would normally do.

What I did was stock up on generously fitted tops, such as tunics – luckily, still in fashion and widely available from places like Matalan, Asda and Tesco. For those of you who are not in England: these are just supermarket and mainstream brands (Asda = Walmart). If you are lucky enough to be pregnant when the mid-season sales are on, you won’t feel the weight on your wallet.

3. Make the most of your leggings, and perhaps buy a couple of pairs bigger than your normal size. Even the maternity ones are not too expensive; at least not as bad as trousers. Just make sure the waist band is looser (and preferably wide), as you don’t want it to cut into your precious bump. Don’t worry: this won’t harm the baby, but will be uncomfortable for you.

4. Explore the charity/second-hand clothes shops, as they sometimes hide bargains to see you through your whole pregnancy. I had my first baby in November and had a really hard time that summer, as temperatures went crazy here in Britain. All I needed was a couple of second-hand oversized dresses and some crop trousers with elasticated waist bands. None of these need to be from a tall fashion range, so choose your brands to suit your taste and budget.

5. Main problem is, understandably, trousers. I didn’t actually buy any. What worked wonders for me was Belly Belt: a fabric panel you fit into the opening of your trousers. All you then need is a longer top to cover your belly. Not too sexy, I know, but it saves you a bucket of money you could spend on something else – or on your baby!

Belly Belt comes in a pack of two or three sizes, in three different colours, and caters for two different types of fastening (see photo). My advice would be to buy a new pack rather than second-hand, but if you opt for second-hand, just make sure none of the bits are missing. You can find them on Amazon, Mothercare, Ebay, Mamas & Papas, pretty much everywhere!

6. Don’t underestimate the power of Ebay! You may be lucky to find maternity tall brand clothes there, so still look good on a budget. The only problem is that you need the clothes there and then, which makes shopping on Ebay tricky.

The only tall brand maternity item I have ever bought was a Long Tall Skirt. I paid £20 for it, which is not too bad. The good news is that you are almost guaranteed to get your money back. When I no longer needed it, I sold it on Ebay myself and got nearly as much for it as I paid!

So, this is what I can advise based on experience. I will post the link to this article in the tall groups on Facebook, so if any of my readers there give me any more clever ideas, I will update the post.

Happy pregnancy!!