Following on from my post on maternity clothes (among other things), I received an email from one of the many mailing lists that I’ve signed myself up for over the years, saying that Jollyroom in Sweden are now stocking the autumn season maternity clothes from Mom2moM. So there is one more place to source maternity wear if you’re here in Sweden.
Aug 29, 2012
Answers to those vital questions
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From asos.com
Looking at my stats page, it is interesting to see the different searches that bring people to my site.
Maternity clothes
The most common seems to be about where to buy maternity clothes in Stockholm. I have actually found this quite hard – the don’t think the choice here is so good. Zara used to have maternity wear but they have stopped selling that here and Polarn O Pyret have also stopped selling maternity clothes (but then I never bought from there anyway, as dressing in the same patterns as my newborn baby was top of my priority list). I used to buy most of my pregnancy outfits either at H&M or online (ASOS has a fantastic range as does Isabella Oliver).
I have also posted a few different Polyvore boards with maternity clothes that I’ve found online and loved:
- Winter maternity wear
- Stripy maternity wear
- Maternity glam
- Maternity leave wear
- Maternity work wear
- and I’ve also found some sites for designer maternity wear.
Best hospital for birth in Stockholm
Another popular search query is: the best hospital in which to give birth in Stockholm. I know I only have experience of two, but I would definitely say that the BB Stockholm ward at Danderyd Hospital wins hands down. It might have changed slightly now (as they now don’t have the same admission policy as before: no complications, no caesarians, no twins), but when Little O was born there, it was wonderful to be able to spend three nights in our little cocoon getting to know him. Even though he was born in the middle of a baby boom in Stockholm, we had a private room after the birth, where Husband and I could stay for the three nights with Little O and the staff were on hand with any problems or questions that we had.
Things were a little different when Baby E was born as it was all so quick that we did not have time to make it to Danderyd and went instead to Karolinska. Our experience there was probably not the norm as Baby E was born in an examination room (yes, it was that fast) and the ward was full so we slept in a birthing room, with Husband on the bed with the rubber sheet and me being woken by a gas mask hitting my head each time I turned over. We still received the same great care that you get when you give birth in Sweden, but it just had that more hospital feeling then BB Stockholm.
Pregnancy tests
Another search that brought someone here was for “pregnancy test sweden”. This is something that I found a little odd at first here. When I took a home pregnancy test and found that I was pregnant with Little O, I immediately contacted my doctor and tried to book an appointment for her to do a test and confirm. But that just doesn’t happen here. Instead, you get straight in contact with a midwife and have a booking-in appointment with her. She then does tests for iron levels, various diseases (HIV etc), whether you are in fact pregnant and so on. So, really, all you need to do is get yourself to the apoket (chemist) and buy a home pregnancy test; then, if you are pregnant, contact a midwife. I would highly recommend the midwives at BB Stockholm – I think they are wonderful.
Toddlers in Stockholm
Someone searched for “taking a toddler to Stockholm”. Absolutely no problem! This city is so incredibly child-friendly and there are so many things that you can easily do with a toddler here. I find Barn i Stan a great resource for what to do with children in the city.
Nappies
I love Libero nappies, so I think it’s great that someone found their way here by searching for that (although I cannot ever remember declaring my love for them on here). We tried out lots of different nappies for Little O but always ended up back with Libero, and so Baby E has not really been in any others. I also love the Libero club as on the site you can type in the code from the inside of each nappy pack and earn points. And we all know that points mean prizes! So far, I have redeemed points for a Lamaze toy, a Sweden football bodysuit, Duplo bricks and many 50kr vouchers off nappies. Also, if you’re a member of the club, Libero will send vouchers every few months. I don’t think I have paid full price for a pack of nappies since Baby E was born!
Everyone has babies in Stockholm
Hmmm, yes, that is very true! But there are very good reasons for this: as I said above, the city is wonderfully child-friendly, the state is also child-friendly, offering great maternity packages that encourage parents to take large chunks of time off with their children but also ensuring that they can return to work when they want and providing (very) low-cost nursery schooling that means that parents (mothers predominantly) can go back to work without the risk that most (if not all) of their salary goes on childcare.
Loreen feet
Absolutely no idea on this one… I guess it has something to do with her performing barefoot? I know that I mentioned her once in a post and I guess I have also written about feet at one point. I just hope that the person searching for her feet was not too disappointed to arrive here!
Feb 7, 2011
A week without… denim
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I am so bored with throwing on one of the same two or three pairs of jeans each day. So I’ve decided to do something about it, starting with a week of not wearing denim. I could have made it really easy for myself and waited until the first week in March to do this, when I return to work and I will wear anything but denim each day, but that would be cheating, wouldn’t it?
(Apologies for bad picture quality!)
So from today and until Sunday, there will be no denim. Every day I’ll post a photo of my outfit, just to prove that I am sticking to my word.
Today’s outfit:
- Dress: Kookai, a couple of years ago
- Vest top: H&M
- Cardigan: Banana Republic
It was actually an interesting experience this morning and has helped to slim down my wardrobe by a further three items. I found one dress that I had used during pregnancy had stretched too much (it wasn’t actually a maternity dress and is knitted, so no real surprises there), a jumper that clung in all the wrong places (into the charity shop bag) and a pair of tights that would not go on, no matter how hard I tried.
I am hoping that day two is as effective in trimming my wardrobe down. It is currently a bad mixture of pre-wedding, pregnancy and post pregnancy random items. Maybe I can even create the holy grail of “the capsule wardrobe”!
Apr 29, 2010
How to say no to the dungarees
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Photo from asos.com
I’ve noticed from the stats for my blog that a lot of people are directed here after searching for information on maternity clothes. So, I thought I’d offer a little info on the options available here in Sweden and where I found the clothes that have sustained me through pregnancy.
For the basics (vest tops, leggings, tights, maternity bras), I found that I could not go wrong with H&M. A pack of two maternity/breastfeeding bras costs around 200-250kr (one black, one white) and you can also pick up a maternity starter pack of vest top, leggings and bump cover in black for around 300kr. I also found a great pair of jeans there for just under 500kr but I advise you to try these on first as they can be a bit hit and miss. The advantage of H&M is that if your local store does not stock maternity wear (mammakläder), then you can always buy online and have the items delivered to your door.
After H&M, I headed to ASOS, another online store, this one based in the UK. Here you can find some slightly more interesting maternity gear and although the pregnancy outfits do not change as frequently as the stock in other parts of the store, the range is pretty good. ASOS is also good if you’re looking for something a little more dressy or fashion-forward. The postage to Sweden is a flat rate of 60kr for standard delivery (within 6 days) and 120kr for express (within 4 days).
I’ve also picked up a few tops in Zara (some maternity, others not) but here in Sweden their maternity range is limited to one very small rack, and when I was in London even the large stores in the West End did not seem to stock clothes for pregnant ladies, which was very disappointing. That said, one of the maternity tops I bought there I have definitely had my money’s worth from!
Mamas & Papas in the UK offers a good range of clothes and now also delivers overseas (to Europe for €15). I picked up quite a few items here during my London trip in December. The shop offers a good range of basics as well as seasonal clothes too.
If you want to take things more upscale, two options I have found to lust over are Isabella Oliver and Mama La Mode if you want to splash out.
On the whole, I’ve been disappointed with the range of pregnancy clothes available here in Sweden, finding Polarn O Pyret too expensive for what you get and a little too frumpy and the ranges in most other stores too narrow.
However, one tip I have been given by all friends who have already had children is Boob breastfeeding tops. Unfortunately, they are redoing their English site but on the Swedish part of the site you can see how these tops work and even buy online. Also available are maternity clothes. Most of the big maternity stores in Stockholm also stock some Boob clothing.
In brief: English, living in Sweden, with my Swedish/Hungarian husband and our sons, Little O and Baby E, and trying to juggle all the different aspects of my new life - the me I was before, the me I am now and the me that I would like to be... 
