An overflowing wardrobe of clothes that are too big...
March 17, 2018 4:17 PM Subscribe
How long should I keep off-size clothes in my childbearing years?
I am 33 and I have a 13 month old that I just stopped breastfeeding. Before I was pregnant, I was a size 3/5 and had been since puberty. I was at my natural shape, not actively trying to manage it. I have a ton of clothes I wore in those times. Once I got too pregnant for them, I got a small maternity wardrobe. Postpartum, I wore my maternity clothes and got 4 pairs of pants that were a size up from my pre-pregnancy clothes. As the year went on, I seem to have lost the bubble butt I had and lost waist girth to the point that now I only have a pair of skinny jeans and a bunch of leggings that fit me pants wise. None of my pre-pregnancy slacks fit without wearing a belt to hold them up and it looks bad because the waist band gets bunched oddly in the belt. I feel like I need to cull and make a wardrobe of clothes that fit me, but I also don't know if its common to gain weight after finishing breastfeeding and I will probably have another kid at some point. Should I hang on to my old clothes or let them go now?
I am 33 and I have a 13 month old that I just stopped breastfeeding. Before I was pregnant, I was a size 3/5 and had been since puberty. I was at my natural shape, not actively trying to manage it. I have a ton of clothes I wore in those times. Once I got too pregnant for them, I got a small maternity wardrobe. Postpartum, I wore my maternity clothes and got 4 pairs of pants that were a size up from my pre-pregnancy clothes. As the year went on, I seem to have lost the bubble butt I had and lost waist girth to the point that now I only have a pair of skinny jeans and a bunch of leggings that fit me pants wise. None of my pre-pregnancy slacks fit without wearing a belt to hold them up and it looks bad because the waist band gets bunched oddly in the belt. I feel like I need to cull and make a wardrobe of clothes that fit me, but I also don't know if its common to gain weight after finishing breastfeeding and I will probably have another kid at some point. Should I hang on to my old clothes or let them go now?
I also was below my pre-pregnancy weight while nursing, and slowly slid back to my normal as we nursed less and ultimately weaned. I have other friends who permanently gained weight after pregnancy. There is really no way to predict, but I was glad that I held onto all my clothes.
posted by tchemgrrl at 4:39 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by tchemgrrl at 4:39 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
It depends on your level of storage space, money, patience, and worry about your size. Therefore could range from "dump 'em all!" to "now is the perfectly wrong time to make this decision."
posted by sheldman at 4:44 PM on March 17, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by sheldman at 4:44 PM on March 17, 2018 [6 favorites]
I waited until, like you, I was like "gah, why do I have no clothes that fit?" and then I designated one storage tub to keep pre-pregnancy clothes I really liked but wasn't sure if they'd ever fit again, and purged the rest of the stuff that didn't fit. Storing that one tub in my closet wasn't a big deal. I went through it again a year later (or after the next pregnancy, as pertained that year) and got rid of anything I'd decided I wouldn't wear again even if it fit, pulled out the things I liked that now fit, put a few new things in there that now didn't, and boxed it all back up. Keeping it contained to one bin kept it from overwhelming my closet, and made me feel okay about purging and keeping -- I could hang on to things I loved so I could purge without guilt, but I had a very limited amount of space so I couldn't just hang on to EVERYTHING "just in case."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:45 PM on March 17, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 4:45 PM on March 17, 2018 [9 favorites]
Let them go 6-12 months post-nursing. The sooner you accept that your body is different post-babies - not worse! different! - the happier you will be.... but give yourself time to make sure. Some women do revert to their prebaby body, but if you are still seeing significant shifts in your general shape/weight distribution after a year post-wean then at that point I think its probably just your new normal.
posted by gatorae at 4:45 PM on March 17, 2018
posted by gatorae at 4:45 PM on March 17, 2018
I lost all of my baby weight but I am 5 years post baby and my body is simply different. My very cute, very expensive Hudson jeans simply don’t fit the way that they did pre-baby and I just gave up on them. No point in having a bunch of pants you can’t wear.
posted by polkadot at 4:48 PM on March 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by polkadot at 4:48 PM on March 17, 2018 [3 favorites]
With both kids it took 2 years to find my new baseline. In terms of weight I ended at a similar point but my hips/feet were different enough that in general pre-kid clothes weren't terribly useful. That said I was very happy I hung on to the transition clothes of those two years for the second kid.
posted by typecloud at 6:43 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by typecloud at 6:43 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
I agree with Eyebrows. Save the pre-pregnancy clothes that you like, get rid of what you're ho-hum about. Your sweet, beautiful baby is a vampire sucking nutrients out of your body...you need to wait till you've stopped nursing for a while before judging your "new normal" size.
posted by wryly at 7:24 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by wryly at 7:24 PM on March 17, 2018 [2 favorites]
Breastfeeding burns a huge amount of energy, like 500 calories. Put it this way, the average person will have to go for a 45 min run every day to do the same. This is why so many mothers may initially lose the weight but after breastfeeding. But if you're still eating somewhat the same but without the feeding or exercise to compensate, most of us put at least some of the weight back on.
Why don't you wait and see how your body adjusts, unless you're looking forward to buying new clothes anyway.
posted by Jubey at 7:55 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
Why don't you wait and see how your body adjusts, unless you're looking forward to buying new clothes anyway.
posted by Jubey at 7:55 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
I kept my maternity clothes (in the loft, in a vacuum storage bag). My assumption was that maternity clothes are flexible enough to wear again in a second pregnancy.
Non-maternity clothes I just ditched. I sent them to the charity shop so somebody else could get some use out of them before they get too unfashionable - yes they might fit me again in five years, but it’s unlikely I’ll want to wear them then. I also took a literal shopping bag full of bras and sports bras to a bra charity - I was sad to ditch perfectly good bras, but I have to be realistic about what breastfeeding has done to my chest!
posted by tinkletown at 2:37 AM on March 18, 2018
Non-maternity clothes I just ditched. I sent them to the charity shop so somebody else could get some use out of them before they get too unfashionable - yes they might fit me again in five years, but it’s unlikely I’ll want to wear them then. I also took a literal shopping bag full of bras and sports bras to a bra charity - I was sad to ditch perfectly good bras, but I have to be realistic about what breastfeeding has done to my chest!
posted by tinkletown at 2:37 AM on March 18, 2018
I fluctuated between kids, up and down, but ultimately ended up fitting in all my pre-first child clothes except bras. I was underweight after my second, but have settled back into my pre-pregnancy weight now that he’s turned two (I breastfed my first and not my second, breastfeeding actually made me hold onto pregnancy weight).
If you’re planning on another kid relatively soon I’d box up anything you like and put it away until you’re done with kids and then reassess. I would have been sad, in hindsight, if I’d gotten rid of clothes I loved thinking they would never fit me again. All bodies are different and unfortunately you won’t know what your body decides to do until after you’ve let the dust settle for a while.
posted by lydhre at 6:22 AM on March 18, 2018
If you’re planning on another kid relatively soon I’d box up anything you like and put it away until you’re done with kids and then reassess. I would have been sad, in hindsight, if I’d gotten rid of clothes I loved thinking they would never fit me again. All bodies are different and unfortunately you won’t know what your body decides to do until after you’ve let the dust settle for a while.
posted by lydhre at 6:22 AM on March 18, 2018
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posted by LizardBreath at 4:34 PM on March 17, 2018 [1 favorite]