Love Your Bump/Fertile Mind - Belly Belt Combo, The Ultimate Maternity Wear Solution

I am currently 25 weeks pregnant. I started out at my ideal weight of 140 lbs and have since gained about 15. It pains me to spend a lot of money on maternity clothes (and most of them are gigantic on me anyway), so I want to delay it for as long as possible. I can't speak to how these will work later on when I'm really huge, but they do the trick for now. I like the panels because they cover your panties at least. Even though I do wear long shirts, it's nice to have that extra layer of concealment in case things ride up or whatever. I can wear all of my pre-pregnancy jeans/pants/shorts with these, even then ones that are very fitted. The bands are also elasticized, which is nice because it adds a little extra "give." I'm still using the "short" band; I haven't needed to use the long hand or connect them together yet, so I think these will last me a long time... I'm praying all 9 months! A word of warning... these WILL NOT work if you add extra baggage to your thighs, hips, and/or butt while pregnant, because I would assume that would make it so you couldn't pull your pants up at all. If it's just your waistline that's expanding, these are a godsend, especially for cheapos like me :). I just don't like the idea of spending $30+ on pants that I'll only be able to wear for a few months. This belt won't save you from buying maternity shirts, but they're typically much cheaper than pants. The belt isn't seamless under fitted clothes, but you can always wear a belly band if that bothers you. I find that I wear a belly band only sometimes when my clothes are more fitted, but even without I think it looks okay. I'm not that picky though. If I think of it, I'll update on how these are working late in my third trimester. I have no idea how big I'll get, but it looks like I'll get a lot of wear out of these in the meantime.

I am on my 3rd kid...I knew b/c of the stretchyness of my belly I would probably not need a lot of maternity clothes & it would be cheaper/easier if I could keep wearing my regular clothes. This has been very helpful. Since my zipper area is covered up by my shirts anyway, that hasn't been a problem for me. I do think it's odd that only ONE button is 'reinforced'. I am using the smallest belt right now...on the smallest setting. My pants being too-tight is only really an issue when I'm sitting down/driving. I can see after a few weeks of wear that the elastic is starting to get wonky. If BOTH buttons were reinforced with the cloth underneath, I think it would be perfect! But that one issue makes me worry that I am going to pop out that button before I need to move up to the next size. I have also paired this with a belly band to cover my zipper & give the entire waist of my pants a reason to stay close to my body! :)**Update: It's 2 Jan, so about 3 months after my initial review. I eventually moved up to the last setting on the smallest belt, but feel as I moved up that the elastic portion of the belt was over stretched. The reason it stretched out was b/c the middle buttons are *not* reinforced (which I discussed briefly in my initial review). So the elastic around the button is all boogered out & loose, making the extender a little more loose than I'd really like it. Ideally, I'd like to have stayed on the middle button...but as it became stretched out the button came loose. I have no way of knowing if this is b/c I was using the wrong setting (should I have moved up sooner to the last button?) or simply b/c of the way it's made. I *am* still using them, though after 3 months...with about 8 weeks to go until the estimated due date I was thinking I might use the second (longer) belt that came with the set, but seem to have misplaced the box!Also, might be helpful to note these work MUCH better with a lower-rise (not necessarily low-rise, just below the belly button - sort of as pictured in the main image for this page) pant than higher rise pants. I have 3 pairs of jeans I use most often, two pairs that I guess are considered "mid" rise...right in between the top of my pubic area & my belly button and one pair comes to my belly button. The mid rise jeans perform better with the extender. I feel like the higher jeans need to be pulled up a lot more often or re-adjusted.

This is an amazing little piece of fabric. I am 17 weeks and have been able to wear my regular pants because of this belt. It works well with the bella band, but if you have oversized maternity shirts/blouses, they can pretty much cover up the fact that you have your button and zipper open. But if you have smaller blouses, you can just use the bella band to cover it up. Together, they provide added protection and comfort. I use the belly belt almost every day and it fits every kind of pants I have. The product comes with two small "belts" and two larger "belts". I'm still using the smaller belts, so I know that the larger belts will probably come in handy in my third trimester. They work with regular buttons and slider buttons, of which I have both. What's also nice is that when you go to the bathroom during the day you do not need to unbutton anything, you can just slide it off like you would a pair of pregnancy pants. This is definitely worth the money and much more secure than using a rubber band as a friend recommended before I discovered this on Amazon.