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Ah, the dreaded maternity jean. I think jeans are hard to shop for in general and we all get in the habit of finding a brand we love and sticking with it. Just like your traditional jean, the maternity jean search had been a struggle. I tried to research a ton online and was surprised at how little information was out there about fit, comfort and style. I thought I would share some of the insight I found while searching since it was a question I got asked most frequently. I honestly tried on probably 100 to find what worked for me and think that’s probably not uncommon. I figured I was going to be living in these things for a while so I better make sure they were comfortable, but most of all made me feel good about myself. 

First a few things to consider, these will help you weed out certain brands and styles:

Do you want a belly band or not?

This is a little trickier than you might think. I am a high waisted jean girl ALL the way. I don’t own a single pair of low or mid rise jeans and hate even trying them on. I always feel like they are cutting me off at a weird spot and with my body shape a high waist is much more flattering. Due to that fact, I assumed I would be team belly band all the way. Boy was I wrong. After trying on several jeans with the belly band, I realized they just weren’t for me. It made me feel more suffocated than anything and added yet another layer of clothing on top of my bump. After I finally gave up on those it was a bit easier to narrow down my faves. 

Narrow down a style 

Like most jeans, it is easy to get lost in all the fits and styles. Unfortunately, you will be using these jeans for so little time that I don’t reccomend investing in more than one or two pairs! I knew I would want a blue denim pair with some distressing and a black pair. These are the two most common styles I wear, so narrow down what you are wearing now and focus in on those. 

Pick your budget

There is a wide range of maternity jeans and you can really narrow them down based on budget. I heard from several friends to just invest in a good pair that would last me my whole pregnancy instead of having to purchase several lower price pairs but I feel like there are quite a few options in every budget available. 

Personally, I ended up with the Madewell pair! They recently released their maternity line and I can’t say enough good things about them. They aren’t crazy expensive and fit well in all the right places. I ordered my pre pregnancy size, which I did for all the pairs I ordered. They’re stretchy, comfortable and I have been wearing them daily for weeks. Most brands that didn’t work for me pre pregnancy like Citizens of Humanity (not meant for people with hips and booty) still didn’t work in maternity version.

I rounded up some of my favorites below based on budget and style and hope it helps a bit with anyone shopping! I know I was searching for something like this forever.