Ahhh, the question of maternity clothes – I actually received this question via email just today, so I thought I’d jump right on it with a simple answer – NO! Pregnant women don’t NEED maternity clothes at all, but I doubt that is the answer the asker was looking for. Twin pregnancies differ widely from one pregnancy to the next, but all tend to mean growing larger than you would if you were pregnant with just one infant. In some cases that could mean outgrowing maternity clothes and therefore wasting a ton of money that you could have used for diapers instead.

Being Comfortable When You’re Pregnant With Twins
The bane of my existence is the women of the world who manage to carry twins or triplets without one complication, excessive weight gain or problem. They waltz into the store and buy fashionable maternity clothes and they look amazing for nearly 40 weeks – have babies – and look amazing in their regular clothes when they leave the hospital. Now that we’ve described less than 1% of twin pregnancies, let’s take a look at the real world scenario. 

You’ll start showing around the fourth or fifth month, much like a regular pregnancy. I was heavier when I found out I was having twins so my pregnancy started showing about the third month. (I also have a history of giving birth to large for gestational age infants.) You will likely need to start wearing clothes that are one to two sizes bigger by the middle of the second trimester. By the third trimester, I had already outgrown the clothes I bought earlier and all the maternity clothes on the rack. I managed to get by with a few Goodwill dresses and skirts. 

The Simplest Way to Dress Your Twin Belly
I found the best choice when buying clothes during my pregnancy was to stick with dresses and skirts. You can pull a long skirt up over your belly quite easily. If you’re not too worried about style – stick with drawstring – one size fits all skirts for the duration.