10 Pregnancy Essentials – Must-Have Products During Pregnancy

March 5, 2015

If You’re Pregnant, Read This Post With 10 Pregnancy Essentials

What were your pregnancy essentials, your essential items for pregnancy? You know, the things you bought, used, and tried that kept you going throughout the nine and a bit months, things that you’d really recommend to other pregnant women.

Here are ten of my must-have items for pregnancy, my top 10 pregnancy essentials.

Essential items for pregnancy - from maternity clothes to beauty, the essential items you need when you're expecting

Pregnancy; It’s Tough! Here’s What Helps

Pregnancy can be tough, mentally and on your body. It’s magical but exhausting, it’s weird and so much goes on so quickly. And while you don’t need to buy loads and loads of stuff, as I said in my list of what not to buy when you’re pregnant, there are lots of pregnancy essential items that can help to make it better.

But here’s my pregnancy survival guide; some things I found genuinely useful.

Here Are My Top Ten Pregnancy Essentials

Unusual pregnancy symptoms

A good cover story for why you’re not drinking: 

If you socialise a reasonable amount and are waiting for the three month marker to tell people your news then this really is essential. But using the old antibiotics excuse? Everyone will automatically think you’re pregnant. It actually draws more attention if you say you’re not drinking. I found it easier to accept a glass and just hold it. Or just say you’re so hungover you can’t face another drink yet.

Something to help with morning sickness

Morning sickness? Something to stop the nausea: peppermint oil and snacking on bland baked goods were the only things that really worked for me.

A good maternity dress

From the casual to the more formal, a good maternity dress. My favourites were from New Look Maternity, Isabella Oliver, ASOS and Tiffany Rose for special occasions. H&M is also brilliant for all things striped, stretchy and non-maternity.

A perfect pair of maternity jeans;

First time I wore H&M ones, but second time I wasn’t into them at all and really liked my Mothercare boyfriend maternity jeans. It’s trial and error. Also, use the hairband trick as long as you can, with a long vest on top.

Support, both literal and metaphorical.

Did you know you’re not supposed to wear underwired bras when you’re pregnant? I wore my Bravado bras throughout. Also, having people to vent and support you and chat to makes such a difference.

Easy pregnancy beauty.

There’s some tips in my parenting life hacks on hot cloth cleaners and lipstick (not at the same time).  I’m biased, but took Pregnancare Max vitamins throughout.

A good outlet for pregnancy rage

Another pregnancy essential is a good outlet for all that pregnancy rage. Blogging, apparently. What can I say? It’s a pregnancy essential!

Pregnancy books and pregnancy apps:

First time round I read everything I could get my hands on. Second time? Not so much. Here’s a list of my top pregnancy apps.

Five minutes to yourself:

Pregnancy can be such an overwhelming time that sometimes you just need a minute. And from right here over on the other side, I say take all the minutes you can get while you can get them. Netflix is great, here’s some good things to watch on TV when you’re pregnant, and it’s also good for your toddler to watch if you need a bit of a break.

An early night:

This should be top of the list of pregnancy essentials. I was terrible at this during my second pregnancy. but it’s completely free and will make you feel loads better.

What were your pregnancy essentials, the items you really loved during pregnancy?

Also; how  to get a baby on board badge for you and how not to talk to pregnant women – for everyone else. And something else we found essential was NCT classes.

Pregnancy essentials! A must-read list of brilliant items you'll need when you're pregnancy. All the essential items from sleep to the best jeans. Make sure you read if you're pregnant!

14 Comments

  • Sarah Rooftops

    March 6, 2015 at 9:09 am

    My pregnancy has been all about the pelvic girdle pain – the only things I’ve NEEDED were things which helped to ease that, so: maternity tights and really long non-maternity T-shirts (so supportive); a yoga ball; and a body pillow. Also: patience (mine and my partner’s).

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    March 7, 2015 at 2:39 pm

    […] posts from this week: how Sundays have changed since our childhood, and my pregnancy essentials (everything from dresses to good excuses for not drinking and outlets for all that pregnancy rage). […]

  • Kathryn

    March 7, 2015 at 9:38 pm

    These are great tips, it seems like ages since I was pregnant but it all comes flooding back!

  • Jess @ Along Came Cherry

    March 8, 2015 at 7:11 pm

    I can barely even remember being pregnant, so weird! Indigestion tablets were a huge essential for me though, I had it so badly! x

    1. gillian

      March 25, 2015 at 10:42 am

      Isn’t it odd how it’s so all-consuming yet you forget once you’re out of it? And yeah re indeigestion tablets – I didn’t have it at all with E but really did with F – fun x

  • Vicky

    March 8, 2015 at 8:14 pm

    I’ve never heard of peppermint oil for nausea – I wish I’d known that when I was expecting Daisy! Great tips, I thoroughly agree about the ranting!

  • katie albury

    March 9, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    This is such a good post and perfect timing for me! I’ve bookmarked it to come back and visit all the links as I’m only four months but all of these already sound super helpful! x

  • Jenny R

    March 9, 2015 at 5:31 pm

    This is so useful! I’ve been munching on ginger biscuits to help with nausea, but peppermint oil sounds like a good alternative. I’ve also been using a pregnancy time-lapse app called Bump2Baby so I can remember how my body’s changing. Looks good so far, but we’ll see in a few months!

    1. gillian

      March 25, 2015 at 10:41 am

      Ah ginger’s also brilliant for the old sickness, isn’t it? That app sounds great – so does it give you a time lapse of your bump growing? What a fantastic record to have x

  • kirsty

    March 29, 2015 at 3:54 pm

    A good pregnancy dress and some maternity jeans were essential for me too! I found all the ones on the high street weren’t comfortable enough or they just didn’t have styles I liked. In the end I went to a pregnancy site called My Tummy and got the best maternity dress, it was comfy and felt high quality, expanded easily and doubled up as a great breastfeeding dress after pregnancy too. If I was pregnant again I’d get another one in the same style but maybe a different colour to mix things up a bit.
    It’s interesting that you mentioned pregnancy pillows as I had on one on my bed for years that I would use when reading, watching TV etc so it just seemed natural to me to use it during pregnancy and breastfeeding too. I still have it and don’t think I could do without it! x

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    […] you pregnant? Here are my essential items for pregnancy, and a week-by-week guide to my first pregnancy and second pregnancy. Also, how not to talk to a […]

  • josina smith

    June 11, 2015 at 9:53 am

    It’s really a great post. Felling Nauseous is common in the early weeks of pregnancy. I have found few helpful remedies for you. Some essentials cures first, ginger tea, syrup or capsules can help to nausea and second, cold meal can better than hot.

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  • Meagan Bickerstaff

    August 4, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    The pregnancy apps list is really useful! I’ve downloaded Pregnancy + and love it. So much helpful information and a lot of it! It’s much better than the other apps I’ve been using. Thanks for this post. : )

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