Looking for pregnancy hacks and pregnancy life hacks? If you’re pregnant and looking for tips and tricks to make your pregnancy easier, from food to jeans and maternity clothes, then read on…

The best pregnancy hacks

I love reading lists of life hacks; these are the really simple but effective suggestions to make your life easier. So simple – and often so very obvious – that they make you go ‘ahhh!’

So I thought a pregnancy version of pregnancy hacks would be appropriate; when better for life hacks than when you’re growing a new life? And anything that can make the pretty tough nine months even slightly easier is a bonus.

Here’s some of my (new) life hacks – nine simple tips for pregnancy (you can also read my 15 parenting life hacks once you’ve had the baby and the best breastfeeding hacks).

Here are ten of the best pregnancy hacks

• The thought of fruit and veg makes most people feel sick in the first trimester as it’s a natural reaction to protect your tiny baby from the body-poisoning bugs, germs and nasties that may hide in it. It’s why it’s common to crave bland, beige, carby food instead. Stealth fruit and veg is the key here. innocent smoothies have two of your five a day. Dried fruit also counts. I also found it easier to eat fruit that looks less like fruit (e.g. the really pretty pre-packaged pots from M&S) Toddler fruit tactics, but on yourself

• Nap whenever you can. If you already have a child, nap when they do during the day. Everyone will tell you to do this and you’ll probably ignore them first time, but second time…? You’ll be sneaking in some shut-eye whenever you can, trust me

• Ice lollies will help keep you hydrated, and will also make you feel less sick. Chilling / part freezing fruit like grapes or cucumber slices also helps

The best pregnancy jeans hack

• Make your normal jeans last longer with the pregnancy hairband trick. Loop an elastic hairband through itself around the eyelet, and then loop this over the button, for a couple of extra inches of stretch. This is also good post-baby when you just have to wear your old jeans again but aren’t quite…there yet
• Don’t buy a bump band – buy longer vests instead to wear under tops, cover you / your hairband up and bridge any gaps (also useful for breastfeeding later on)

A second pregnancy hack

• If it’s not your first child and you have lots of pregnancy-related medical appointments but no childcare, ask for your appointments to always be first thing in the morning. This means there is less likely to be the delay there always is in the middle of the day, so less waiting around in waiting rooms with a bored toddler, when you’re exhausted. In theory.

Maternity book hack!

• Instead of investing in loads of giant pregnancy books, get the app or the Kindle version instead. They are much easier to read in bed (and here’s a round-up of my favourite pregnancy apps)
• You’ll probably want to suck up all the information you can find, like a big pregnant sponge, but don’t be tempted by any pregnancy books that are ‘written’ by celebrities. They probably haven’t written them, and really, what’s Jules, Denise or Tess et al going to add to your experience?

Maternity clothes hack for pregnancy

• My final pregnancy life hack – at some point you probably will need to invest in some form of maternity clothes, but they can be really expensive, especially when you know you’re only wearing them for a relatively short amount of time (you won’t wear them after, trust me). So for the more premium brands, watch out for sales, even if the clothes are for mega-bumps and you’re still at the ‘slightly bloated from lunch’ stage. The almighty ASOS almost always has a sale on too. Other cheaper places; eBay, NCT sales, friends, making them yourself out of flowery bedsheets (joke, unless of course you’re a really gifted seamstress).

The photo was me last time at 28 weeks pregnant; here’s what I currently look like, second time round.

You can also read all my weekly pregnancy updates.

If you liked this post on pregnancy hacks, for more information read:

• How to keep your early pregnancy a secret
• The really early pregnancy signs and symptoms