How to stay warm in the colder weather if you're pregnant

In this week’s baby bargainista column, Rebecca Atkinson shares tips for staying warm when you’re pregnancy belly starts showing during the last stretch of winter. Jenny, who needed a maternity coat for the whole winter shared her experience last fall.

The only problem with being pregnant in the winter months is that a growing belly can mean more than just trouble doing up your pants – it can also affect your outer layers. I’ve been finding that I’m having more and more trouble closing some of my winter coats lately, which given the minus double digits Toronto has been getting lately gave me two options:

1. Buy a new coat that will last me for the next six weeks (based on our Wiarton Willie’s predictions) and hope that if I become pregnant again it will be during the winter months again;

2. Hibernate until Spring (which considering I do work from home, could have been a real possibility).

As I was explaining this dilemma to my neighbour Moira she looked at me and said: “Oh no, you don’t need to go buy a new jacket, I have two options for you.”

1. Get the biggest, longest scarf you have (or invest in one, it will be cheaper than a jacket) and wrap it around so it hangs down in front of your belly. Now look at your jackets and see if you have one of the following: a) a double zipper that you could work to do up above your belly, or a jacket with snaps/buttons/Velcro (with or without a zipper option too) that you could then again just do up above your belly. This way you are warm(er) and even somewhat fashionable without spending big bucks.

Your second option, she advised me – especially if we had a lot more winter to go through, was to:
2. Go to a second-hand clothing store and look at picking up a jacket (bonus if they have any maternity clothes) in a size that would fit my expanding belly.

Now I personally prefer Moira’s first option, especially because I like the idea that it can be somewhat stylish and I can save my money to buy other maternity clothes that I’ll be wearing for longer periods of time. I was really impressed with the idea though and realized a few things from just that short conversation.

Lessons Learned:
1. If you find yourself facing a pregnancy-related issue and are looking for a cost-effective solution, ask your friends and neighbours who have had children if they had the same problem and see what they offer – you’d be surprised at the little tips and tricks you can pick up.

2. For the amount of time you’ll be wearing it, it doesn’t make any sense to buy new – especially if you can cash in on someone else who decided to buy new for a short period of time and then no longer needed it. Looking around online at forums also seems to provide this same advice. Sure buy a few pieces new, but again for the amount of time the clothes are usually worn, you can get some great deals at used clothing stores, although from the sounds of it, you have to look often as they seem to go fast.

Do you have any pregnancy clothing tips to share that will save other expectant moms money? If so, we’d love to hear them.