My soon-to-be-wife is pregnant - due sometime in late January.
Could anybody recommend a good clothes store for pregnant women - preferably one that doesn't just focus on flowery casual stuff but also more formal stuff for business/office use...
Additionally, what shops do you recommend for all the stuff needed once PitBull Minor arrives - the Swiss equivalent of the UK's Mothercare I guess ?
I'm aware of Pro Baby in Dietikon - pretty good. I have also seen signs for Mac Baby somewhere near Alstetten but haven't ventured in yet. What others are there ?
I would say that in Zürich the best bet is H&M maternity range as it is fair in number and price It is the H&M in the Bahnhofstrasse, the second one on the right coming from the Bahnhof.
Otherwise, you also have Benetton Mamma range, sold at the Benetton in Rennweg but range is small and a bit pricier.
In the same street you have Formes which is a specialty store with nice stuff but expensive.
Esprit online shop also has an ok rnage with the advantage that returning stuff is for free (it says they give you a sticker pre paid for the return).
I bought 90% of my stuff at H&M and the rest at Benetton Mamma.
By the way, we have a Pregnant Women meet up every 2 weeks in Zürich and if your wife would like to join she is more than welcome
As for baby stores, there is also Bebe Haus Wehrli in Dietlikon which is not bad. Personally though we bought most of our stuff via the internet from Germany or Italy as it is cheaper
Just got the new autumn/winter Vertbaudet catalogue , which now has a new range of maternity wear, along with baby/children's clothes. (Click on "Umstandsmode" or equivalent in the French version.)
They are pricier than H&M, a bit more than La Redoute (belong to the same company, I think), but less than Benetton, Esprit and designer brands. They have some nice things now - IMO.
For maternity clothes a trip to Strassbourg in France is well worth it. Veronique has very nice maternity clothes. Twin sets, nice fitted shirts and jeans that you can wear the entire pregnancy with a belt at the beginning.
Shopping at H&M and C&A can leave you dressing the same as everyone else. You may not mind that, but it is embarrasing when everyone in the doctor's waiting room has the same top on
BabyWaltz in Konstanz has a good selection of maternity clothes and is 25% cheaper than ordering from the Swiss catalog. MacBaby is the cheapest for baby stuff and they are the only store I have ever seen with a discount on Bugaboo - which is normally excluded from other shop's sales. Car seats are also regulary discounted.
My suggestion is to make a list of what you want and call the stores to ask their price. A diaper bin can very CHF 50 for exactly the same thing! BTW Toys R Us have the cheapest ones...
I'm also pregnant at the moment living in Bern and agree that although H&M has some good stuff, it's quite limiting. I've also found baby 'stuff' quite limiting, so have done some research.
Stuff
www.babyjoe.ch (Are cheaper stockists of the bigger items like prams and car seats)
www.deltakids.ch are like above... (cheaper for the bigger items)
www.babywelt.ch is near Bern... not sure if there is one near you, but they are probably the best stockist of furniture, stuff and clothes here
www.mamasandpapas.co.uk (We have had our furniture shipped from M&P's at an alarmingly reasonable rate)
Of course Ikea do a limited range of furniture and stuff
www.mothercare.co.uk do actually ship some things here and basics are vastly cheaper in the UK, so it's worth paying the postage
Belly Button is a nice range of slightly more expensive maternity clothes available in Switzerland. It's stocked in quite a few shops here and I'm sure you'd find it in Zurich
Hope that helps for now. If you're on Facebook, then my husband and I set up a group called 'English speaking mums in Switzerland' which has had a huge response and has loads of tips. Hope I won't get in trouble for posting this here, but it's all about networking at the end of the day
Good Luck with your wife's pregnancy and you imminent little one!!
I bought most of our stuff in the UK for the junior. Bottles, steriliser, food warmer, monitor etc. and I saved almost CHF 500 on the UK prices without a tax rebate (would have been more if I had got the tax back in the UK).
Sadly the ranges here seem to be very limited (C&A, H&M and Benetton are the best shops), most 'baby shops' seem to stock maternity wear designed for 80-year olds and it's almost impossible to get nice work clothes.
However, I bought things online. I got a great suit and a couple of nice dresses from Mamas and Papas in the UK and I got a nice dress and shirt from Isabella Oliver in France (in the sale naturally!).
Hope this helps and good luck with your pregnancy!
I wouldn't wear clothes from C&A or H&M, so maternity clothes were out too. I find they don't fit when you have boobs and a waist and they don't wash well.
Take a trip up to Veronique in Strasbourg or a weekend trip to London for the Gap. The department stores also have a great selection in London.
Veronique has really nice clothes http://www.veroniquematernity.com / that are fitted and you don't look like you are wearing a tent. You can get jeans that are adjustable so you can wear them from when you start showing to the end. And you won't be dressed the same as every other pregnant lady in Switzerland
A weekend in Strasbourg or London is fine if you happen to be heading that direction anyway, otherwise that pushes the price a wee bit above the reasonable bracket for a lot of people. In any case you can only wear them a few weeks or months, who cares what everybody else is wearing. Fashion is based on following the masses.
It's worth also mentioning that you will be wearing your maternity clothes for a while after the baby arrives as it does take some time before you can fit back into your 'normal' clothes - some times months. So it's worth investing in the basics like a good pair of jeans and some casual tops you feel comfortable in.
If you do go for a shopping trip to London, also check out Blooming Marvelous and the Mamas and Papas store on Regents street.
Another great website I used when pregnant was Bras4Mums , they have a great range of pretty bras in all sizes and they are not too expensive. I'd skip the 'maternity bra' and go straight for a nursing bra, you'll get more use out of it that way. I'd also recommend some bra strap extenders, they cost a couple of francs but are really useful.
I had the same problems trying to find maternity clothes that didnt look obviously like maternity clothes, and that had a bit of fashion sense thrown in for good measure.
In Switzerland Basel you have only Huggi Haus who stock a variety of names, which stock maternity and kiddy wear, but they tend to be on the expensive side. Aside from that the only options you have are H&M and C&A - you can occasionaly find some okay items.
There is nothing to stop your wife though from just going up a dress size or two as the pregnancy progresses in normal clothes.
The UK is better for value and for the choice available, for both maternity and baby wear. (we were sourcing prices between the Switzerland, Germany and France and it was scary at the lack of choice, the crazy prices and in some cases the bad quality) I have just come back from the UK, with a full car load for everything a baby needs and for me through labour and birth and beyond, we bought everything, from simple things like cotton wool, medicines to a cot bed.......it really is soooo much cheaper, 16 boxes of pampers in progressive sizes to cover for the initial stages (great deals in ASDA at the moment). If you do get anything from the UK then if you order any thing from on line just make sure that you check out the following website which will have all recent discount codes for every shop/service you can think off, so £25 off for our cot bed from Argos and discounts with mothercare and verbadet galore.
I did sneak in a load of clothes for myself also (and none of them were maternity wear, you just need to look for the cuts that will work, and there are quite a few choices available....so, happy mummy means happy baby
I am ressurecting this thread to plead for help looking for maternity clothes in Zurich
H&M and C&A seem to be the only choice on the high street here, I'd rather not buy from the UK online as I am unsure what size to get due to being awkwardly between 2 sizes at the best of times let alone now - so postage costs sending things back AFTER paying for customs is a pain.
So at the moment i have only found H&M (Ok but too casual for work and small selection) C&A - hmmm naff and cheap