Shhh - share your leeeeetle white lies during pregnancy with PG tips Decaf and you could win £250 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

You may know know the advice is to cut down on caffeine during pregnancy.

Inspired by threads like this the team at PG tips Decaff want you to share your best little white lies told in early pregnancy. Maybe the ones about why you're not drinking or why your usual has changed that you told your friends or work colleagues in those precious few weeks between P-ingOAS and getting a positive and feeling confident enough to be able to announce the pregnancy. Or you may have a top tip on explaining why you're not on the strong(er) stuff all of a sudden.

The team at PG tips Decaff say "With PG tips decaf, you can still enjoy the splendid luxury and taste of a nice cuppa, without having to think about the caffeine as it contains less than 10mg per cup - available in packs of 40, 80 or 160"

So share your tips, lies told and examples of when you had to think on your feet on this thread: everyone who does will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £250 voucher for the store of their choice.

thanks and good luck

MNHQ

[Puppypoppet]

I found out I was pregnant at the end of January, many years ago now, so I said it was a new years resolution not to drink and I became very popular offering lifts on nights out.
I also stopped drinking coffee again I said I was on a health kick.
Due to morning sickness I started drinking orange juice, ginger drinks and bitter lemon drinks to try and reduce the sickness. It must have looked a bit strange to suddenly start drinking these at work but nobody queried it!

[mumsbe]

I dont really drink any way so that one was not a problem I took decaff ttea bags into work so no one knew. The difficult one was chocolate when im pregnant I feel sick when I eat chocolate and everyone knows how much I love it so I just said I was on a diet.

[HootyMcOwlface]

Someone at work signed me up for a very silly, physical team challenge in my early stages of pregnancy. It involved bending and lifting at speed, against other teams, all in the name of charity.
I had to pretend to have a meeting and book the fake meeting into my online calendar, which is visible to everyone. Then of course I ran into one of the team mates right before the event, so ended up mumbling excuses about forgetting which meeting room I was supposed to be in, while striding away quickly. I looked like a right idiot.

[janeyh31]

I tended to avoid going out or would have to drive because had to do something the next day when it came to drinking alcohol. At work I would use the being healthier excuse for not drinking so much tea/ coffee.

[Totesamazeballs]

I drink PG Tips decaf tea when pregnant. For my first pregnancy I snuck a box into the office and replenished the caffeinated tea tin with decaf bags! . No-one noticed the difference and it meant I could accept a cup of tea without arousing suspicion!

Now I am a SAHM I don't have to worry about work but I only have decaf tea in the house and serve it to everyone. I don't bother telling them it's decaf (including my husband who unwittingly drinks it in the morning) as no-one seems to taste the difference!

[peeapod]

I had 3 weeks of "really bad flu". I think most people had worked it out by the time I had told them what my flu actually was, or at least they did when I told them. :D

[mrscumberbatch]

I just told everyone I was carrying a few extra pounds.

My mum gave me a right ribbing to 'get that weight off'.

I wish I'd thought of something better

[MoominIsGoingToBeAMumWaitWHAT]

Drinking - I told people I'd had a sudden change of heart and disagreed with drinking alcohol as it went against my (non-existant) beliefs. This was after spending the whole year before (I'm an undergrad at uni and was living the full student life!) getting hammered, dancing on tables, doing karaoke and other studenty activities.

I found out I was pregnant two weeks before Freshers' Week. It must say something for my acting skills (I'm on a drama degree) that my friends actually believed me!

[ToffeeJungle]

Ttc in January so said I was doing the Dryathlon!

Have also used the 'Im on antibiotics' excuse.

Is tricky though, am sure I've been rumbled!!

[Hippymama]

I had hyperemesis every time I was pregnant so no hiding the fact I was up the duff! I might have laid it on a wee bit thick about how tired I was ;)

[ItsATIARA]

Ooh Totes, you're bloody lucky you didn't work in my office. I'd have murdered you if you replaced the work teabags with decaff and I suddenly came down with withdrawal migraines.

[Hopezibah]

I used to pick a slightly unusual flavour juice or soft drink and just say it was my absolute fave and so that's what I'm drinking now.

[zipzap]

I don't drink tea or coffee so haven't ever had to worry about the decaff thing when pregnant - and when it's come to alcohol excuses, I've either 'had' a dental problem and the strong antibiotics that really make you ill if you drink alcohol, or been the driver or just been too tired to drink much (I had ME when I was younger and drinking half a glass of wine had the same effect as knocking back a couple of sleeping tablets, if I'm run down it can still make me get really tired really quickly, and most good friends were already used to me going out some nights and not drinking 'just because' I didn't want to fall asleep while I was out!

I did go to a wedding with dh before I'd told anyone that I was pg - so both dh and I had a glass of soft drink with our meal as well as a glass of wine and the toast for the champagne. I'd occasionally take a sip of my alcohol and play around with the glass - but dh would be drinking from both my glass and his glass so they went down and nobody noticed, meanwhile I was drinking more of his soft drink.

Didn't need to tell too many fibs beforehand, although my aunt was in hospital and I lived much closer than my mum, who therefore expected me to go and visit her much more than I actually did (mostly because I kept falling asleep very heavily in the afternoons). I just had to lie about being ill, and then apologise lots afterwards.

The only thing I actively lied about was finding out what sex the dc were going to be - we found out both times but just said that they couldn't tell as the legs were crossed. Not least it was because everyone expected me to have girls as everybody else in the family has lots of girls and no boys - I have boys and couldn't cope with with all the big deal they were making about having girls so it was much easier to say I didn't know and let them get the surprise when they didn't have any time to mull and bore me obsessively over it. At least once the dc were born they were distracted with the baby itself.

[NicNak71]

My husbands company organised a fancy evening out as a treat for the managers and their partners at a gorgeous hotel, I was 9 weeks pregnant. It was a 7 course meal, but they surprised us with a whole wine sampling experience too, in a panic I blurted out the first thing that I could think of - I'm allergic to grapes!
I'm not sure anyone bought that lie though, the sommelier looked at me as though I'd come from another planet.

[MummyAbroad]

I used: the antibiotics one, driving, having a hangover to big to ever want to drink again, being on a diet, and drinking virgin cocktails and just hoping no one noticed, they all worked but the hard thing was to keep thinking of something new... made me realise how often I hang around with drinkers - too many excuses were needed!

[Belo]

With my first pregnancy, I had planned on having a dry/detox january and had told all my friends that I was going to do it back in December. So, mid Jan when I found out I was pregnant it was easy to carry on drinking green teas and avoiding alcohol without any suspicion. When I carried on into Feb I just told people that I was feeling so good on it that I was going to see if I could make it to Easter. Nobody was suspicious. With my 2nd pregnancy, people were guessing at 7 weeks as I kept being sick and was already showing. None of my lies worked that time.

[OhTheIroning]

I don't drink, don't smoke, never have caffeine. So didn't need to lie. Also vegan, so didn't need to avoid all those dodgy foodstuffs either. I was invited to a wedding abroad though when I would have been eight months, so had to decline on financial grounds, though this was easily accepted, as an overseas wedding is expensive.

[Spirael]

I'm not a big drinker anyway, but there was a celebration at work over moving to new premises when I was about 8 weeks. They were serving pink champagne but had some lemonade available too.

By chance I had a bottle of summer fruits squash on my desk, so I stealthily nabbed a clean wine glass, filled the bottom with squash and then topped up with the lemonade. Looked just like I was drinking the champage, so no-one questioned me at all. :)

[surr3ymum]

I pretended I was on a course of antibiotics at the big annual industry awards event where I won an award... It was so difficult to turn down the pleas of 'just a glass of champers won't hurt'...

[AndiMac]

I got very absent-minded during my pregnancy. I forgot to go and teach a class that I had been teaching every Monday afternoon for the previous 3 years. I had to call the participants the next day (when I eventually remembered!) and tell them I had had transportation problems. Fortunately this was before mobile phones were everywhere, so it seemed plausible. I then confessed and apologised again once the 12 weeks were past.

[newbiefrugalgal]

Switching tea bags in the staff room kitchen has got to be the best

[nellieellie]

My early days of pregnancy were in December, so numerous meetings up the pub, and the Office party and meal. Everyone knew I liked to drink and was fairly scathing of "detoxes", so my story was that my partner had jokingly bet me that I would not be able to be teetotal throughout December. I, as a contrary being had taken on the bet and stood togain £50 if I saw it through. In reality I wouldn't have done such a thing for three times that, but everyone was convinced - I even asked people to witness my teetotalness in the event of a dispute. I eventually told people the truth when I was 20 weeks which meant that after December at any drinks opportunity 'd have to get the round in and pretend there was vodka in my orange juice! Caffeine wasn't a problem as drunk water at work and an occasional decaff coffee orRedbush tea. It was tricky fibbing like that - especially as one fib led to another - after the xmas hol it was "so, did you win your bet?" and I then had to relate an entire an fictional conversation, my partner's good natured but disappointed handing over of the money and my sense of victory...........

[MardyPants]

If you get a wine glass and fill it with Diet Coke, and put a shot of blackcurrant cordial in, it looks like red wine. Tastes a bit sickly - but I like really sweet drinks.

Also it's quite hilarious to make a massive one then down it in one when people are looking

[MardyPants]

(Caffeine free Diet Coke, obviously)