Pregnancy Self-Care by Amy Lafayette

In the next segment of iCandy's Stay at Home Series, we caught up with Stylist and mum-to-be Amy Lafayette to get her top tips on how to feel good at home during the first trimester of pregnancy. From a loungewear delivery to a lipstick fuelled walk, Amy is focusing on self-care...

 

Maternity Fashion-First Trimester

As a Fashion stylist I have so many women say to me that once they’re pregnant and become a Mum they completely loose sense of how to dress and just don’t feel stylish anymore. Now, as a first time Mum-to-be myself, I really understand the challenges there can be to dressing a whole new shape and body you’re not used to and I think it’s really important not to lose your identity and who you are throughout motherhood. It should be a happy time where you feel great about yourself, so I’ve put together a fashion guide for how to dress your bump for each stage of pregnancy to hopefully help with any style dilemmas you have!

 

I know being pregnant in this scary and uncertain time can feel unsettling but hopefully if we focus on the positives that we’re growing a tiny miracle and look forward to all the excitement and joy that babies bring we’ll get through this together.

 

Personally, I found the first trimester the hardest, it’s all new, you’re feeling exhausted and nauseous and will probably be wanting to keep the pregnancy a secret until the 12-week scan (which by the way seems to take forever to get to!). It also fell over the Christmas party season for me - not ideal when people are taking drinking very seriously and you don’t really have an excuse as to why you’re not participating…so how do you get through the first trimester and time and what do you wear?

 

Pregnancy Self-Care in Lockdown

Lockdown can be used as an advantage as depending on your changing shape you usually have to choose your outfits very carefully at this point. I showed quite early on in my stomach so had to avoid anything clingy in this area, but everyone is different. As we’re all staying in our homes right now, I would suggest making the most of this time and just wearing whatever is most comfortable especially if you’re battling with morning sickness or all-day sickness should I say!

 

I’m living in loungewear sets at the minute and cheered myself up with some cute new pyjamas and slippers as I knew this would make me feel a bit more put together at home. It’s so easy to start feeling a bit fed up being stuck inside and missing friends and family but a few tips I’ve found help to snap me out of it are:

 

• Having a bit of routine where you can, waking up and going to bed at set times really helps
• Self-care- it sounds silly but even just washing your hair and giving yourself some at-home pampering with face and hair masks can make you feel 10 times better
• Putting on some makeup even when you don’t feel like it, even just for your walk of the day, means you will feel a bit of normality and ready to take on the day
• Invest in some good skincare at this point, especially for your body and get into the habit of massaging it in each day. This will be a routine that really benefits you later to avoid stretch marks!
• If you’re not over the 12-week point yet I wouldn’t focus on anything too strenuous in terms of exercise/training. I just tried to walk as much as I could which I feel is great for you and baby
• Take full advantage of all the nibbles throughout the day, eating little and often can really help with the nauseous hunger that early pregnancy brings
• Read up on all things baby-you might not get so much time at home again so make the most of it

 

Pregnancy Hair Tie Hack

Luckily I was still fitting into most of my wardrobe at this point, so by day I was able to wear my usual jeans and once they did start feeling uncomfortable around my stomach, I would do the hairband through the belt loop trick and just wear a longer top to cover it. If you aren’t aware of this, it’s a life saver, you just loop an elastic hair band through the button hole of your jeans in a knot and then fasten them by looping it over the button and doing the zip up as far as you still can! It just means you can still wear your fave jeans/trousers without being uncomfortable.

 

Quarantine Glam

If you do fancy getting glammed up for a video call or a FaceTime quiz night with friends but want to hide the nausea and tired eyes….well it’s amazing what a bit of red lipstick and a flick of eyeliner can hide! You can just fill a glass with some Shloer and avoid all of those “why aren’t you drinking?” comments you may have been dealing with! When I was pregnant at this early stage for evening looks I mixed it up and wore blazers and jeans with heels, I just avoided anything too body con.

 also experimented with my makeup and jewellery to help me feel a bit more stylish when I felt as sick as a dog but still had to go out. So even though you may not be going out, why not use this time to think about all the fun maternity looks you can experiment with and start up a Pinterest inspiration board as something fun to do and look forward to!

Pregnancy is such a special time and something to be celebrated so be proud of your changing shape and once you’ve got into the groove with your pregnancy wardrobe, you’ll feel a million times better.

Amy x