When do you start showing? First baby, second baby and twins

Nine weeks, and the jeans won't do up. By teatime there's a curve you'd swear is a bump, so you stand side on to the mirror for a proper look, and then you wake up flat again and wonder if you imagined it.

You didn't imagine it. It just isn't the baby yet.

• At 10 weeks your womb is about the size of a large orange (NHS).
• From 13 weeks a small bump may be visible as the womb grows upwards and outwards (NHS).
• Around 17 weeks your waist starts to vanish as the womb moves up and out of your pelvis (NHS).

When do you start showing in pregnancy?

For a first baby, a bump usually starts to stay put somewhere between 12 and 16 weeks, often nearer the end of that than the start. The NHS week 13 page puts it carefully: "A small baby bump may now be visible as your uterus (womb) grows upwards and outwards."

May. Plenty of people get to 16 weeks still looking like they've had a big lunch.

Before that, the womb sits down inside your pelvis, where it has room to grow without coming forward. At 17 weeks, the NHS says, "your waist will start to vanish as your womb moves up and out of your pelvis", and that "will make you look more obviously pregnant".

The NHS week by week pages give where your womb is at each stage, so here they are next to what many people notice at the same point. If you're not sure which week you're in, the due date calculator works it out in seconds.

Is it bloating or a bump?

Before 12 weeks, it's bloating nearly every time. We get asked this a lot, usually as one of three questions: is this bloat or bump, why do I look pregnant at night and not in the morning, and why won't my jeans do up at 9 weeks.

The NHS week 10 page explains it. Progesterone relaxes the muscles in your womb so it can expand, and the muscles in your digestive tract get looser at the same time. Hence the wind, the burping and the swelling: the curve you see at teatime.

It goes down overnight, though. A womb doesn't do that.

So here's the test. Look side on first thing in the morning, before breakfast. If the curve is there then, and the next morning, and the one after, it's the start of your bump. If it comes and goes with meals, it's bloat, even if it's quite a lot of bloat.

Jeans that won't do up at 9 weeks are the same story: normal, early, and mostly bloat.

For the bloating, the NHS suggests six small meals a day, nothing late at night, eating slowly, sipping drinks and a short walk after you eat. Coffee and rich, spicy or fatty food set some people off. Constipation, which is common in early pregnancy, makes it worse.

Some tummy ache alongside it is common too. The NHS stomach pain page says it's probably nothing to worry about if it's mild and goes away when you change position, rest, do a poo or pass wind.

Stomach pain with any bleeding or spotting is a call to your maternity unit straight away, the NHS says. Under 20 weeks that may mean your GP or an early pregnancy unit instead, and 111 if you can't get through. If you're not sure, ask your midwife.

When do you start showing with a second pregnancy?

Sooner, usually. Two of the four things on the NHS list of what decides how big your stomach gets are how many babies you've already had and the strength of your muscles. Your stomach muscles have stretched round a bump once already, so they let the womb come forward sooner.

"Showing at 9 weeks second pregnancy" is one of the searches that brings people here most often. At 9 weeks the womb is still small and low, so most of that early curve is bloat, sitting on muscles that don't hold it in the way they used to. The bump that stays tends to follow a few weeks earlier than it did last time.

You also know what you're looking at. The first time, a curve at 15 weeks gets put down to lunch. The second time, you clock it the first morning it's there.

The flutters are a different question with a different answer, and the baby moving at 9 weeks piece has it.

When do you start showing with twins?

Earlier than with one baby. Two babies need room sooner, and the NHS twins page lists "you seem bigger than you should be for your dates" as one reason people wonder about twins in the first place.

You'll usually find out at the 11 to 14 week scan, which the NHS says checks whether you're having more than one baby. Until then a big early bump doesn't tell you much, because a second pregnancy or a lot of bloat can look exactly the same in the mirror.

If you've only just found out, the first trimester to do list has the booking appointment and the scans.

Why some people show earlier or later

The NHS week 12 page lists four things: your hormones, your weight before pregnancy, how many babies you've already had, and the strength of your muscles. None of them are things you can change this week.

Two more aren't on that list but make sense once you picture them. A long body gives the womb room to grow upwards before it has to come forward, so taller women often show a little later. Strong stomach muscles can hold a first bump in for a while too. Later on, the way your baby is lying changes the shape from week to week.

Not showing at 16 weeks is common with a first baby, and bump size isn't how anyone checks on your baby this early. The scans do that.

What to wear when your jeans stop doing up

This is the awkward stretch: too big for your jeans, not big enough to fill a bump panel, and for many people it runs from about 10 weeks to somewhere past 16. One reviewer put it well: "I’m only 13 weeks pregnant at the moment but my jeans have already started to be too tight. Not that they don’t fit just at that uncomfortable stage."

First, the hair bobble. Loop it through the buttonhole and round the button and your jeans do up again. It's free and it buys you a couple of weeks, and a long top covers the gap.

The support band is the next step, and 12 to 20 weeks is its best window. It goes on under your bump and round your lower back, right where an undone waistband sits. Fastened over the top, it covers the gap, and it's flat, so it sits smoothly under a top or a dress.

It's support, not a fix: the product page says it isn't a medical device and won't make back or pelvic pain go away. If something hurts, tell your midwife. The band vs belt post has which one does what.

Then leggings. The soft, high waisted pair already in your drawer will get many people to 16 or even 20 weeks; a firm gym pair digs in sooner. Switch when the waistband sits under your bump and you're hitching it up every time you stand.

That's when over the bump maternity leggings earn their place. The panel comes right up over the bump, so there's no waistband underneath to roll down. Sizing and which fabric for what are in the maternity leggings guide; the short version is go by your dress size, not your bump.

If you're still deciding what's worth buying, and when, when to start wearing maternity clothes goes through it.

If you're not ready for anyone to notice

Plenty of people keep it quiet until the 12 week scan, or longer. The early weeks are the easy part, because the bloat comes and goes and a loose top covers it. The hide your pregnancy bump post has twelve ways to keep it to yourself, month by month.

Questions we get asked

Can you start showing at 8 weeks?

Not from the womb. The NHS says that at 8 weeks it will probably be a few more weeks before you start looking pregnant, so a curve now is bloating.

Is it normal to be showing at 9 weeks with a second pregnancy?

Yes, very. Your stomach muscles have stretched round a bump before, so the bloat shows more and the real bump comes sooner. At 9 weeks the womb itself is still low in your pelvis, so most of what you see will come and go for a few weeks yet.

I'm 16 weeks and not showing, is that normal?

Yes, especially with a first baby, a long body or strong stomach muscles. The NHS says a small bump may be visible from 13 weeks, and may is the word that matters. Your midwife starts measuring your bump at the 25 week appointment with a first baby, or 28 weeks if you've given birth before. If anything worries you, call your midwife; you don't have to wait for your next appointment.

Is bloating a sign of ectopic pregnancy?

Bloating on its own isn't on the NHS list of ectopic pregnancy symptoms. Those usually develop between 4 and 12 weeks: tummy pain low down on one side, vaginal bleeding, pain in the tip of your shoulder, and discomfort when you poo or pee. With a combination of these, contact your GP or call 111, and get advice right away for shoulder tip pain. Sudden, sharp, intense tummy pain with dizziness or fainting is a 999 call.

If your jeans are already on the hair bobble, the maternity leggings collection has the Activ+ and the soft Comfort+ bamboo pair side by side, and the size guide takes a minute.