I recently went to London with my mum and sister to do some shopping, and was extremely disappointed to find that despite having huge stores the length of Oxford St and Regent St, so many of the “big” stores don’t stock maternity clothes. Sadly it seems that this is the same situation in most high streets.

The exceptions here are Topshop (which I don’t tend to shop in anyway anymore), H&M (good for basics) and New Look (again, not a favourite of mine)

When not pregnant, I buy most of my clothes from Next and Gap, with occasional purchases from White Stuff, Fat Face, Marks and Spencer etc.

On our day out in London, we visited several Marks and Spencer stores, and a few Next stores also and not one of them stocked maternity wear – with the exception of a small range of tights in Marks and Spencer.

It really angers me that pregnant shoppers are being forced away from the High Street, at a time where we really need to be able to try on different sizes, and buy things like nightwear for hospital etc. I don’t know why this decision was made?

I like shopping, spending a day pottering in shops and picking out a few new clothes is really fun. I have to say that I was saved by H&M on my day out in London where I was able to pick up a couple of tops and some winter tights, otherwise I would have been returning home empty handed.

I have bought some items of clothing online during this pregnancy, from Mamas and Papas and Seraphine, and have also picked some items up at Mothercare, but it’s not the same buying clothes from specialist pregnancy/maternity stores, I want to feel like I’m still welcome in my “regular” stores, not banished to the World Wide Web for the duration of my pregnancy. In a time where there is so much focus on the purpose and future of our high street, why are so many stores sending shoppers away? We keep being told we’re in a baby boom, so I don’t understand why companies would want to hide their stock away from the browsing public?

Is it the same everywhere, or have I just been unlucky?

*end of rant*