I’ll be 23 weeks pregnant tomorrow and haven’t talked about my pregnancy much. I thought I’d remedy that with a review on maternity belly bands. I have purchased the products mentioned in this review myself and have not been contacted by any company to promote their products, so what you read here is my unbiased opinion and personal experience.
This is a stock photo from Target.com
Normally this is an item I would make myself instead of paying $16.99-$35.00 for a simple tube of fabric. But while I have felt my healthiest this pregnancy, I have also felt my most overwhelmed. Trying to juggle 3 businesses while still homeschooling, preparing our home to list, and caring for my family has just about snowed me under and I haven’t touched my sewing machine (except to make an emergency Christmas program costume at the very last minute) in months.
About 16 weeks pregnant, I could no longer wear my pre-pregnancy pants, and my maternity pants looked clownishly large on me (even though the labels said they were the same size.) I had purchased regular jeans one size larger at the thrift store on half price day fully expecting to cut off the tops and add maternity panels (following the tutorials here.) But honestly I can’t tell you when I will be able to do it. So they were laying useless in the bottom of my drawer.
In desperation I plunked down the $16.99 at Target for a black Bebelly Band made by Bella. I bought the smallest size (I was prepregnancy a size 6.) To be completely honet, I felt guilty about the cost all the way home., though it is the lowest price band on the market.
My first impression of the band was less than complementary, but I was mad at myself for buying it instead of making it and was looking for a reason to take it back. There is no tag, and the brand and size etc is screen printed on the inside. This makes the fabric stretch weird at that spot and at first glance looks like it might have runs in it. It does not though and it holds up great with repeated washings. The fabric is a nylon lycra blend, like swimsuit fabric but with a matt finish instead of shiny. Almost like a dry-fit type of fabric. It is very light and very stretchy, with good recovery and good support.
Can I make it myself? Yes and no. On close inspection of the band I realized I could not make it myself. The band is completely seamless with no elastic but is knitted specially at the top and the bottom to make it hold well and not slip. It is pure genious and I’m so relieved that I can stop feeling guilty for not making it myself. It held up my too big maternity pants like a pro, and gave support to my back at the same time. As a bonus the slight compression also helped me retain less water throughout the day. Somestimes I would wear it just for the support even when I didn’t need it to hold up my pants. Now if I just wanted it to cover my belly for shorter shirts or nursing and not hold up my pants, I could have totally made it myself in about 5 minutes from some cotton/lycra knit for less than $5. But I’m convinced that a cotton band would not effectively hold up my pants. I’d love to hear your experience with them since I haven’t tried it. (To make a belly cover myself, I would sew a tube a fabric about 18 inches tall and about 2″ smaller than my hips with a stretch stitched hem.) For more on making one yourself skip to the last paragraph.
Does the pressre cause nausea? There were times that the band became uncomfortable and upset my stomach, I either removed it or folded it down under my belly to relieve the pressure.
I still wear my band often even though my maternity pants fit great now. I even went back and bought a second band in the light khaki/nude color. This works a lot beter under my lighter colored tops and with my khaki pants and is nearly invisible. I’d love to have a white one too, but haven’t justified the cost yet.
Do they work to hold up unzipped jeans? Just recently, I pulled out my thrift store jeans waiting a transformation and slipped them on completely unzipped and pulled the belly band over. I was amazed how comfortable it was. The belly band smoothed out the bumps from the open jeans and even under tighter shirts was undetectable. I was surprised how comfortable it was. I didn’t feel the zipper in my skin or pressure from the buttons. And the fabric gave with me as I moved and breathed without slipping.
So are belly bands worth it? I think so. I highly recommend the BeBelly bands from Target for their quality price and effectiveness. I’ve heard lots mixed reviews about some of the other brands but havn’t tried them to speak to their effectiveness.
Even though the Target price is the lowest I’ve found for the seamless nylon/lycra bands, I totally get that some of you can’t spend that much right now. I think you could make one that is almost as good yourself if you choose your fabric carefully. The higher the lycra content the more effective it will be. Also using 2″ wide hems will help the band not to roll at the edges and give you more support without elastic. One fabric that looks promising is this Dryflex High performance knit that is 90% poly 10% spandex and only $7 a yard.
