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.
I made my own belly bands. I cut the top off of old tank tops that were to small, to tight, or just outdated. I just cut off the tank top right below the neck band straight around. Sometimes I would sew 2 tanktops together to make a thicker belly band and 2 colors, depending on the thickness. They worked great the whole pregnancy and I had many colors. I even found some 25 cent small stretch tank tops at some yard sales. They worked great. I had belly bands in every color.
Liz
http://workwithliz.com
Good tip. I’ve read about making them this way before, but I wondered if they would actually hold up a pair of pants or just be a good belly cover. Did they hold up your pants?
I so loved Targets Belly Bands. I even used it when I didn’t need it because I felt like it gave me some support. It is also GREAT for after your pregnancy to help make your post-baby-belly look smooth, and to cover your belly if you have to lift your shirt to nurse. I think its a must have for ones maternity wardrobe.
When I was pregnant with my daughter last year I bought a white one that I wore a ton! You’re right, it held up really well, was comfortable during pregnancy and after. It was nice when I could (mostly) fit back into regular pants after delivering but couldn’t quite button them – the band holds them up and smoothes out the bumps. I don’t plan on having any more babies but couldn’t bring myself to get rid of this. I could see it being useful again at some point if I pants that look lumpy under a shirt or something like that.
I agree … the belly bands are awesome. I did try to make one two pregnancies ago. It worked as a cover, but not as a “band” to hold anything up. I wore one from Target all pregnancy this time around. I loved it for all the same reasons you detailed. I still wear it almost daily, 3 months after giving birth, because I love the warmth and coverage during nursing.
I am 17 weeks pregnant, and my cousin loaned her BeBand to me–I also was hesitant to purchase one because i thought it would be incredibly simple to sew one. However, after using it the last few weeks I have found that I do want another one! While easy to make, it would be really difficult to achieve that much support and ability to hold up my pants with a homemade band–unless you spent nearly that much on the proper material (even then you would still have a seam somewhere that could potentially become uncomfortable.) I think Target’s Beband is high quality and could easily last through all your pregnancies if taken well care of. Definitely worth it.
I agree – totally worth it. My baby is three months old now and I loved the BeBand. I bought one in black and later went back for white. I didn’t feel like it was ugly – kind of looked like a tank underneath my top. I also bought the little waistband extenders -worked much better than a rubber band. Totally worth it!
I bought a black and a white one this pregnancy (my second). After the first wear, I was hooked! I got through my ENTIRE pregnancy with it holding up pants that wouldn’t zip or button (I do not know how I ended up with so many pairs of pants that were so big on me pre-pregnancy)… I wish I’d thought of wearing it OVER my maternity pants; that is absolutely brilliant! I found that my regular pants held up by the band stayed on much nicer than maternity pants which slipped down on me all the time.
This time I didn’t shrink as quickly postpartum as I did with my first son… bummer. While it was depressing to me that my smaller pants wouldn’t fit, I was comforted being able to wear regular pants with the band instead of wearing baggy maternity pants. Per wear that band is worth every cent.
Hmm. I had 2 of these bands loaned to me by a friend and used them maybe twice (I’m almost 25 weeks) when I was at the stage you describe and didn’t like them. I think they may have been a little stretched out and were a size too big, though, so they didn’t smooth things out well, looked lumpy and made my partly unzipped regular pants just slide down. At 25 weeks I don’t know if it’s worth it to buy one now since maternity jeans aren’t as gigantic now? Wish I’d had some that fit! Sounds like they’re great.
I’ve found these Be-Belly bands on eBay for around $9 each including shipping. I’m planning on ordering one after reading your review! I tried making my own belly bands during my last pregnancy with the top portion of a few old tank tops and elastic and they did not provide the support I needed (I’m not much of a seamstress, so it was probably due to that fact).
Kris, Let me know how you like them! I almost ordered from them then noticed that they were Be-belly instead of Bebella. They are a knock-off but may be fine. They had mixed reviews in their feedback but mostly good. In the end I decided not to risk it, but I’m still curious.
I bought one at about 20 weeks and have worn it so much that I had to get out my sewing machine to re-sew the hem that I wore out. I am now 32 weeks and still wearing it. Last week, I couldn’t see buying new maternity pants this late in my pregnancy to wear to a Christmas party so I wore a pair of prepregnancy pants (which didn’t come anywhere close to closing) with my belly band and it worked perfectly. This is my 6th baby and wish I had them for all of my pregnancies. I have thought about making my own from a clearanced swimsuit I bought for $2, after reading the previous posts, I just may give it a try. Merry Christmas everyone!
This is a great idea! and the tutorial links were very helpful! thanks for sharing!
One thought is if you’re lucky enough to find a matte swimsuit at the thrift store you could scrap it for a belly band!