Best Maternity Leggings

The short answer

Why leggings, specifically

Because they are the only garment that works across the entire range. A pair bought at 14 weeks still fits at 38 weeks, which is true of almost nothing else you can buy. They work for the sofa, the school run, a doctor's appointment and, in the flare cut, an office. And after the birth they are what you will live in while everything else is still wrong.

That is also why getting them right is worth more thought than getting jeans right: the jeans get worn twice a week, the leggings get worn five days out of seven.

The three things that go wrong

1. The waistband rolls down

The most common complaint in the category, and it is a construction problem. A thin over-belly panel pushed outward by a growing bump folds over at the top edge, and once it has started it does it every time you sit down. Ruched panels and thicker technical fabric resist it; cheap flat panels do not. A high rise helps because there is more fabric above the widest point of the bump.

2. They go sheer

Stretch plus wear plus washing thins the fabric, and it shows first across the seat and the knees. Light colors show it sooner. If you are buying one pair to wear out of the house, buy dark and buy denser fabric; if you are buying a multi-pack, assume at least one color will become indoor-only.

3. They bag at the knee

Fabric recovery again. Every legging bags a little by the end of a day; the question is whether a wash brings it back. Technical knits do. Cheap brushed fabric progressively does not, which is how a three-pack ends up as three pairs you only wear at home.

Pockets are not a gimmick

Worth saying plainly: pregnancy involves carrying a phone, a water bottle and often a snack, frequently while also carrying a toddler, and maternity clothes overwhelmingly have nowhere to put anything. A legging with a pocket that actually holds a phone is a meaningfully better garment, and it is one of the few features in this category where the marketing matches the experience. Our pick for leggings with pockets specifically goes into it further.

How we picked

Six axes: whether the waistband stays up, fabric recovery, opacity, pockets, size range and value per wear. Recovery and the waistband are weighted hardest because they are what the reported complaints are overwhelmingly about. We read the current listings and the recurring patterns rather than wearing anything — the method is on how we pick.

Over-belly or under-belly for leggings?

Almost always over-belly. The calculation is different from jeans: a legging has no structure to hold an under-belly waistband in place, so it slides far more readily, and the thin stretch fabric of an over-belly panel is far less hot than a denim one. Under-belly leggings exist and have their advocates, mostly in high summer. Start over-belly.

The one honest exception is a tender abdomen after a caesarean, where a waistband sitting on the incision hurts — and there, high over-belly is better again, because it clears the scar entirely. That is covered in postpartum compression leggings.

Can you exercise in them?

For walking and low-impact work, yes. ACOG and the NHS both encourage staying active in pregnancy within what your own provider has advised, and leggings are the usual garment for it. For anything with impact you will want a technical fabric rather than a brushed one, and a proper support bra matters considerably more than the leggings do. See maternity activewear.