Swimsuits · Roundup
Best Maternity Swimsuits (2026)
Six suits for a pregnant summer, sorted by what you will actually be doing in the water.
The short answer
For one suit to cover a whole pregnancy, the Kindred Bravely Gathered One Piece is the pick: side gathering that opens as the bump grows, adjustable straps and a double lining. If you are in and out of a bathroom all afternoon, buy a two-piece tankini instead — late in pregnancy that beats every other consideration.
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| # | Product | Best for | Style | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Top pick Kindred Bravely Gathered One Piece Maternity Swimsuit A one-piece from a maternity-only brand, cut with side gathering that opens as the bump grows rather than stretching flat over it. | Whole pregnancy, one suit | One piece | |
| 2 |  Budget pick Zando Maternity Swimsuit One Piece A plain high-stretch one-piece at a price that makes a four-month garment painless. | Cheapest workable suit | One piece | |
| 3 |  Upgrade pick Speedo Women's Maternity Fitness One Piece Swimsuit The only suit here built to swim in rather than sit in — a performance cut with a maternity panel, at a performance price. | Swimming laps pregnant | One piece, athletic back | |
| 4 |  Also good Summer Mae Maternity Two Piece Cross Back Tankini A two-piece tankini with a high-waist bottom and a cross-back top — the practical answer to a one-piece late in pregnancy. | Bathroom access | Two piece tankini | |
| 5 |  Also good Motherhood Maternity Asymmetrical Ruffle One Piece Swimsuit A mainstream maternity one-piece from the biggest name in the category, with a ruffle detail that breaks up the bump line. | Mid-range, wide sizing | One piece | |
| 6 |  Also good CUPSHE Maternity One Piece Swimsuit A V-neck one-piece from a swimwear brand rather than a maternity brand — better looking than most, less bump-specific. | Looks, lower price | One piece |
Buy for what you will do in the water
A maternity swimsuit is a garment with a four-month working life, bought at the point when you have the least idea what size you will end up. That combination is why so many of them are bought twice. The way to avoid it is to pick for the activity rather than for the look, because the activity is the thing you already know.
Swimming properly — laps, water aerobics, long swims off a dock — needs an athletic cut that stays put. Fashion maternity suits creep and ride on a real freestyle stroke, and you will spend the swim pulling the suit back into place.
Supervising children in shallow water is most of what a lake summer actually is, and it is standing, crouching, lifting and getting in and out constantly. That favors coverage that does not need adjusting and straps that do not slip when you bend.
Floating and sitting — a tube, a shaded chair, the shallows — is where comfort and sun coverage matter more than security, and where the pretty suit is a perfectly reasonable choice.
And one practical fact that outranks all three in the third trimester: a one-piece has to come all the way off. If you are an hour from home with a toddler and a full bladder, a two-piece tankini is a better suit than any one-piece on this page, whatever else it does.
Kindred Bravely Gathered One Piece Maternity Swimsuit
A one-piece from a maternity-only brand, cut with side gathering that opens as the bump grows rather than stretching flat over it.
Specifications
- Style
- One piece
- Bump shaping
- Gathered side seams
- Straps
- Adjustable
- Lining
- Double-lined with removable cups
What works
- Side gathering means the same suit fits at 20 weeks and at 36, which is the whole point of buying maternity
- Adjustable straps are the one feature that keeps a one-piece wearable as a bust changes size
- Double lining stops the thin-and-see-through problem that cheap stretched swimwear has
- Cut for full seat coverage, so it stays put getting out of a lake rather than riding up
What doesn’t
- The upper end of what a suit worn for four months is worth to most families
- A one-piece means getting fully out of it for a bathroom stop, which late in pregnancy is a real objection
Who it’s for
Anyone who wants to buy one suit, wear it all pregnancy, and not think about it again.
Bottom line
The buy-once pick. Confirm the cup and size guidance on the listing before ordering — maternity sizing is not street sizing.
Zando Maternity Swimsuit One Piece
A plain high-stretch one-piece at a price that makes a four-month garment painless.
Specifications
- Style
- One piece
- Bump shaping
- High-stretch body
- Straps
- Shoulder straps, fixed
- Coverage
- Full seat
What works
- Under half the price of the brand-name maternity suits, which for one summer is the honest calculation
- High-stretch fabric genuinely accommodates a late bump, even without a panel
- Plain styling that does not date, so it is fine for a second pregnancy
- Low enough cost to buy two and keep a dry one in the car
What doesn’t
- Thin fabric with minimal lining — check it against the light before a lake day
- Fixed straps and no bust structure, which is the usual complaint at this price
Who it’s for
Anyone who refuses to spend real money on a garment with a four-month life.
Bottom line
The value pick, and genuinely adequate. Buy the lining you need with the next tier up.
Speedo Women's Maternity Fitness One Piece Swimsuit
The only suit here built to swim in rather than sit in — a performance cut with a maternity panel, at a performance price.
Specifications
- Style
- One piece, athletic back
- Bump shaping
- Expanding front panel
- Built for
- Lap swimming and water fitness
- Coverage
- Full seat, secure straps
What works
- Holds position through a proper freestyle stroke, which fashion maternity suits do not
- A cut that stays put off a diving ledge or a dock is the difference between swimming and adjusting
- Built from the fabric weight Speedo uses for training suits, so chlorine and lake water do not finish it in a season
- Swimming is the exercise most people stay with through a pregnancy — the suit should survive the whole run
What doesn’t
- By far the most expensive suit on this page, and plainly a sports suit rather than a beach one
- A snug athletic cut over a bump is not what everyone wants in a family photo
Who it’s for
Anyone swimming laps or doing water aerobics through pregnancy, and strong lake swimmers.
Bottom line
Buy it if you swim. For floating with the kids, almost anything else here is better value.
Summer Mae Maternity Two Piece Cross Back Tankini
A two-piece tankini with a high-waist bottom and a cross-back top — the practical answer to a one-piece late in pregnancy.
Specifications
- Style
- Two piece tankini
- Bottom
- High waist, elastic over the bump
- Back
- Cross back, adjustable
- Top length
- Covers the waistband
What works
- A two-piece is the single biggest quality-of-life difference in the third trimester, when bathroom trips are constant
- A high-waist bottom supports the bump instead of cutting under it, which is what makes cheap bikini bottoms unwearable
- Cross-back straps spread the load off the shoulders as the bust gets heavier
- The top keeps covering the waistband when you reach up, which is more than most tankinis manage
What doesn’t
- Two pieces means two chances for the sizing to be wrong, and the top and bottom do not always grow at the same rate
- Less secure than a one-piece for actual swimming — fine for wading, not for a dive
Who it’s for
Third-trimester lake days with toddlers, and anyone who is in and out of a bathroom all afternoon.
Bottom line
The practical pick. If you only swim, a one-piece stays put better.
Motherhood Maternity Asymmetrical Ruffle One Piece Swimsuit
A mainstream maternity one-piece from the biggest name in the category, with a ruffle detail that breaks up the bump line.
Specifications
- Style
- One piece
- Detail
- Asymmetrical ruffle front
- Bump shaping
- Ruched, stretch panel
- Coverage
- Full seat
What works
- A maternity specialist's sizing, so the suit is drafted for a bump rather than graded up from a regular pattern
- The ruffle genuinely does what it is there for — it reads as a detail rather than as a stretched panel
- Mid-range price for a suit designed to be worn for one summer
- Widely stocked, which matters if you need to exchange a size quickly
What doesn’t
- Ruffle fabric adds bulk that some find reads heavier, not lighter, on photos
- Less structured in the bust than the dedicated nursing-brand suits
Who it’s for
A first maternity suit, and anyone who wants a normal-looking swimsuit rather than a sports one.
Bottom line
The safe middle choice. Nothing it does badly, nothing it does exceptionally.
CUPSHE Maternity One Piece Swimsuit
A V-neck one-piece from a swimwear brand rather than a maternity brand — better looking than most, less bump-specific.
Specifications
- Style
- One piece
- Neckline
- V neck
- Bump shaping
- Stretch body, no panel
- Straps
- Adjustable
What works
- Designed by a swimwear brand, and it shows — this is the one here people compliment
- A V neck and adjustable straps between them handle a bust that changes size faster than the bump does
- Noticeably cheaper than the maternity-specialist suits
- Works postpartum too, because it is not shaped only around a bump
What doesn’t
- A stretch body rather than a true maternity panel means it gets tight at the end rather than opening out
- Bust support is the weakest of the one-pieces here
Who it’s for
Earlier pregnancy, smaller bumps, and anyone who wants a suit they will keep wearing afterwards.
Bottom line
The good-looking option. Size up for the third trimester, or buy a dedicated maternity cut.
What makes a suit a maternity suit
Plenty of suits sold as maternity are ordinary suits in stretchy fabric. The difference is worth knowing, because it decides whether the suit still fits at 36 weeks.
A real maternity cut has extra fabric engineered into the front, gathered or ruched at the sides so that it releases as the bump grows. The suit is cut long through the body too, because a bump takes up vertical length as well as depth — that is why a regular suit starts cutting into the shoulders and riding up at the back long before it feels tight across the front.
A stretch-only suit has no extra fabric, just elastic enough to deform around a bump. Early on it is indistinguishable and often better-looking. Late on it gets tight rather than roomier, the fabric thins as it stretches, and the panel over the bump can go sheer. That is the single most common complaint about buying a regular suit a size up instead of a maternity one.
Adjustable straps are the quiet essential. The bust changes size more and earlier than the bump does, and fixed straps that fit in month four dig in by month seven. If a suit has one adjustable feature, this is the one worth paying for.
| What you are doing | Cut to buy | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Lap swimming, water aerobics | Athletic one-piece, maternity panel | Stays put through a stroke; chlorine-grade fabric |
| Third trimester, long days out | Two-piece tankini, high-waist bottom | Bathroom access without undressing |
| Chasing toddlers in the shallows | One-piece, adjustable straps | No adjusting while your hands are full |
| Floating and sitting in the sun | Any lined one-piece, or a tankini | Comfort and coverage over security |
| Early pregnancy, small bump | Stretch one-piece, no panel | Fits now and keeps fitting afterwards |
| Planning to nurse next summer | Nursing-friendly maternity cut | One suit covers pregnancy and postpartum |
Sizing a bump you cannot measure yet
This is the genuinely hard part, and the honest answer is that nobody can size the bump you will have in three months. What you can do is reduce the guesswork.
Size to your pre-pregnancy size in most maternity ranges, not to your current one. Maternity patterns already build the bump allowance in, so sizing up on top usually produces a suit that is loose everywhere except the bump. Where a brand gives its own guidance, follow that over this rule — several maternity brands size by bust and cup rather than by a dress size, and those charts are better than any general advice.
Buy the ribcage, not the bump. The band under the bust is the measurement that does not have an escape route. A suit that fits there and is generous over the front will keep working; one that is snug at the ribcage in month five will be unwearable in month eight.
Buy for the end of the season you need, not for today. A suit bought in April for a July due date is being bought for a July body. Most people under-buy because they size against the bump in the mirror.
Check the suit against the light before a lake day. Stretched fabric thins, and a lining that is adequate in the shop can be less so over a bump at the end. This is a thirty-second check at home that saves an afternoon of self-consciousness. The general version of this check, and the other fit failures worth knowing about, is in our swimsuit fit problems guide.
One-piece or tankini?
In the first and second trimesters, a one-piece is the better swimming garment: fewer edges to roll, more secure in moving water, and the smooth line is what most people want in photographs.
In the third trimester the calculation inverts, and it inverts hard. Bathroom trips get frequent and urgent, and a wet one-piece peeled off in a damp lakeside restroom with a toddler in tow is genuinely miserable. A tankini with a high-waist bottom solves that in a way nothing else does.
If the budget allows one suit, buy the one that matches the trimester you will be in during swimming season. If it allows two, a one-piece plus a cheap tankini bottom covers both cases for less than two good suits.
Sun, support, and swimming while pregnant
Pregnancy frequently brings melasma, and sun exposure makes it worse. That is a real argument for either a UPF-rated suit or a long-sleeve layer over whatever you buy. A women's rash guard over a maternity suit covers the shoulders and chest where it matters, and it costs less than upgrading the suit.
Support matters more than usual and not only in the bust. A high-waist tankini bottom that sits over the bump rather than cutting under it genuinely takes some load off the lower back, which is why the high-waist cut is standard in maternity swimwear and why bikini bottoms stop being wearable.
Swimming itself is the exercise most people keep up through a pregnancy, because the water takes the weight off everything that hurts. That is also the argument for spending once on a suit that is actually built to swim in, if swimming is what you are going to do with it.
Will you wear it again?
Two things decide whether a maternity suit has a second life. The first is whether it is cut for nursing — a crossover or pull-aside front keeps the suit useful through the following summer, which halves the real cost. The second is simply whether it looks like a maternity suit: a plain stretch one-piece with no visible panel gets worn postpartum, and a heavily ruched one usually does not.
If a second pregnancy is likely, treat the suit as a two-season purchase and buy accordingly. Rinse it in fresh water after every swim and dry it flat out of the sun, exactly as you would any suit — the care that keeps a swimsuit alive is in how to wash a swimsuit, and it matters more on a garment you are storing for two years.
And if the answer is no — one summer, one bump, done — then the cheapest suit here that fits properly is the right answer, and there is nothing wrong with that calculation. Fit is the thing worth being fussy about. Price is not.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What size maternity swimsuit should I buy?
Can I just buy a regular swimsuit a size up?
One-piece or tankini for pregnancy?
Do maternity swimsuits work for nursing afterwards?
Is a high-waist bottom better during pregnancy?
Do I need a UPF swimsuit while pregnant?
Sources
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