As comfortable as maternity clothes are, I mean who wouldn’t love pants that expand as you do, I hate how I feel in them. For the most part I have found them to be frumpy and unflattering. And the clothes that are somewhat stylish, are wayyyyy too expensive. Or so I thought. In my first pregnancy I didn’t know any better. Now I do.

Maternity clothes are not something you ever think about until you need them. I never noticed what stores carried them, and here’s why. Most of the stores that carry a maternity line, carry them within the baby section of their store. Which means that if you are pregnant for the first time, chances are you haven’t spent too much time perusing the baby clothes section and never noticed the maternity lines. I know I didn’t. Therefore, when the day came when I couldn’t button my pants anymore (which seemed to happen overnight) I panicked and drove straight to what I thought was my only option- Destination Maternity. And I did not like the options I had. If I wanted to have a stylish pregnancy I would need to drop a fortune on clothes or if I wanted to opt for the more reasonable line (which wasn’t that reasonable) I was left with much less stylish options. So I bought what I needed and left feeling scammed. It seemed like they knew you need the clothes, there weren’t many options out there, so they figured they could charge what they want and you have no choice but to pay it.

It wasn’t until halfway through my pregnancy that I realized there were much better options out there. At my 20 week ultrasound I found out we were having a baby boy. I couldn’t wait to go out and buy him his first outfit. That was when I realized that the stores I shopped at all the time, had maternity sections. I just never noticed because I never had any reason to shop in the baby section. Also, in some of the stores the maternity sections are so small they are literally just a maternity rack. But that’s OK, especially when you see their prices.

The first store that I found which had a rather large maternity section is Target. If you like Target clothes than chances are you will like their maternity clothes. I didn’t find any work clothes here that I liked but they had a large selection of casual clothes and sweaters. Target also sells belly bands bands that you wear over your regular pants so no one sees that they aren’t zippered or buttoned, which is a great way to save money on clothes.

Old Navy is my next go to for maternity clothes. Their selection is a little more limited than Target with only a couple racks in the back of the baby section devoted to maternity clothes. However, they have reasonable prices to begin with and typically you can find at least one or two items on sale there. Just yesterday I bought a pretty cotton tank dress for only $10 and a cotton cardigan for $7. If you have the patience to check the store once a week or so, you might be able to get away with purchasing your entire wardrobe on sale. And if you don’t have the time/patience for that, their regular prices are still great. Just remember that Old Navy sizes tend to run big so either try the clothes on in the store or don’t cut the tags off until you go to wear them and you know they fit.

If you love the styles H&M has to offer as well as the great prices then you will love their maternity line. Not only does their maternity style fit in with the rest of their fashion lines, but so do the prices. However, not all stores carry their maternity line so call before you make a special trip just for that.

My last and favorite store for maternity clothes is Kohl’s! Even though they had the most limited selection of all the stores with only 1 or 2 racks in the baby section dedicated to maternity clothes, I got the best deals here. Very often Kohl’s runs promotions where they will send you a coupon (or you can ask for it at the register to scratch off) for either 15, 20 or 30% off your entire purchase with almost no exclusions. Keep in mind you do have to use your Kohl’s charge to get the discount, however, it is so worth it. Especially if the clothes are already discounted and you can get an additional 30% off.

Keep in mind, there ARE other stores that carry a maternity section, however, these are my favorites for great styles with reasonable prices.

Now don’t let the lack of selection or no selection at all in these stores discourage you from shopping there. All of them have a much larger maternity selection online! And for Kohl’s you can even use the coupon online. The only drawback is you can’t try them on, but you can return them in the store. Happy shopping, mamas!