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

I tried to cut caffeine right down during pregnancy, I said I'd been having migraines and the doctor had told me that caffeine can trigger them. I switched to caffeine free coke and caffeine free tea. I'm pretty sure some of the women at work knew what was going on, especially as I kept offering to drive for the works Xmas do so that I had an excuse not to drink. Combined the few 'dodgy takeaways' that led to me throwing up in the staff toilets, it was probably pretty obvious but they all played along. Doubt the men at work picked up on it though.

When using my own decaf bags at work instead of the communal ones I said I felt I had been particularly sensitive to caffeine recently and it had made me a bit hyperactive then crash afterwards. My lovely colleague's response was "Good thinking, you can be a bit scatty" - thanks!

My MIL seemed to be watching me like a hawk expecting some news (SIL was already pregnant). She commented after we went to watch the Jubilee pageant that she had "noticed I hadn't had a drink ". I told her I was doing My Fitness Pal, did she know how many calories were in a glass of wine, and if it came to a choice I'd rather have chocolate!

To avoid alcohol I quietly manipulated things so that I was nearly always the driver - and when I didn't manage that, claimed to be hungover/on the wagon after a recent heavy night. Everyone thought I was a complete lush .

I don't drink alcohol but don't think I cut down on caffeine in my first pregnancy - in fact when I was at work I'd eat a toblerone and Pepsi daily from the vending machine!

We didn't tell anyone until 12 weeks, though a couple of people guessed due to my apparently strange eating habits. But I couldn't lie to them so had to say I was.

I had friends who were big gossips come and stay when I was just 5 weeks pregnant. I kept schloer (spelling?) In the fridge along with the wine and made sure I was the one nipping back to the kitchen to refill glasses.
Had to start telling everyone pretty soon after that though as I had such bad hyperemesis I was hospitalised.

I cut down on caffeine soon as I knew I was expecting - difficult to hide as I was known as a real coffee lover and would have one cup after another most of the day.
Tried disguising it as being on a health kick - but I'm not that good at lying...so it soon came out.

At family parties just before we told people about ds2, I would swap wine glasses with Dp. So he'd end up with a fairly full one and I'd get a more or less empty one that he had drunk at speed.

Luckily his family are so vague and got pissed fairly quickly they didn't notice us switching glasses/emptying into plants etc.

Like many others I offered to drive a lot, as it was over Christmas time. I also had bad flu in the early days of my second pregnancy so blamed that for a while regarding my taste changes..I couldn't bear coffee for a while.

I actually switched to PG Tips Decaff throughout my pregnancy as it was the only one I found that still tasted like a proper cup of tea!

Because the shape of the tea bag is the same as regular, I just kept them in my drawer at work and whipped out a single tea bag when someone was doing the rounds and people were none the wiser!

I wasn't very good at thinking on my feet. I remember going on a business trip to France with my boss when I was in the early stages of pregnancy. He knew all too well my fondness for red wine, stinky cheese and suchlike, so the moment I refused both he looked me in the eye and said "you're pregnant, aren't you?" My flaming red cheeks gave me away immediately, but he was a lovely chap, and a recent father himself, so I wasn't too fussed about him knowing so early.

Apart from that, I used the old "antibiotics" excuse, or said I was getting over a headache earlier in the day.

I used the health kick white lie - giving up booze, caffeine etc. But of course I gained lots of weight rather than lost it!

I said I'd damaged a ligament in me knee so couldn't join in with my regular running group. I used the same injury as my work excuse for my first antenatal appointment, saying I was having physio (a few work people are in my same running group).

My colleagues I were outside chatting surveying a footbridge we had in progress when a car drove past through a puddle and splashed me all up my expensive suit

The car had to almost drive back past us due to the road layout, so I ran towards it and was about to leap over the armco barrier which separated us then thought better of it due to my 'condition'

Instead I just gesticulated madly to the driver in the manner of a raving lunatic much to the amusement (and bemusement) of my colleagues

They joked about how maybe my recent switch to decaff wasn't perhaps such a good idea... a couple of weeks later all became clear to them

I managed to convince myself of the white lies I told.

I cut caffeine out during our IVF which few people knew about. My white lie was that I was getting heart palpitations and not sleeping due to exams; which was partly true but I bigged it up at the time. I then continued the whole "being healthy / not had caffeine over 2 months during exams, why switch back" line.

When pregnant, I said to my netball team that I'd pulled my back. I got so many well wishes and texts asking when I was coming back, felt quite guilty!

I found out I was pregnant on the day of my work Christmas do! I told my friend at work straight away as I needed her to do the 'little white lying' for me! Luckily I usually drink spirits with a mixer anyway, so nursed a couple of cokes all night whilst my friend was making sure everyone heard her say, "Another rum and coke?" as she went to the bar!

Since going back to work after Christmas I've been using the old detox after Christmas excuse. Only issue is, my tummy is much bigger due to the pregnancy bloat so people are probably either guessing and not saying, or think I'm getting the detox very, very wrong!

I was so so tired in the first weeks of pg, I told everyone at work I was reading a really good book so I could be on my own at lunch break and rest my eyes. As a beauty therapist it was all too tempting with a massage table in my "office".

I had loads of weddings/hen dos in the first 3 months of my pregnancy where people would have asked why I wasn't drinking. I just said that I had given up alcohol for lent. Failing that I used to decant sparkling grape juice into a white wine bottle and pour my drink from that! Ingenious I thought..

Cutting out caffeinated tea has to be down to a diet really. I thought maybe inventing some ailment to try to get rid of would be best. Like headaches (no, too serious, might worry people) or a tummy problem (no, too near to seeming pregnant, someone will guess)...skin sensitivity! Yes, that's it. It actually worked for the first pregnancy but then I got asked about the skin irritations throughout the pregnancy so often made the mistake of telling people 'it's justvsomething women in my family get when pregnant'. Which meant it wasn't much use as a little white lie for the next pregnancy.

Anyone else wondering if Johnny Vegas or Monkeh will be the proud father?

I just drank alcohol free beer and made the bartender put it in a pint glass or lemonade and pretended it had vodka in. All worked really well until my friends oh(who is a gp) spent an entire evening insisting that I must be pregnant because I looked so rough. I was very close to cock punching him.

I took along a bottle of white wine with me to Book Club, it was a screw top, and I had replaced the contents with alcohol-free wine. I knew I was safe because the others all drink red wine! I totally pulled it off!

I found out the day before I went to a festival. Spent the whole weekend telling people that I'd just had a drink with the last person I was with and hoping that none of them talked to each other.

I always drank tea and coffee very weak with lots of milk so didn't have to change that. I wasn't a great one for drinking either so drinking orange juice wasn't remarked on. However, around the seven week mark I was absolutely starving and eating far more than I usually did - but always had a reason like "been out in the fresh air all day", missed lunch etc.

I don't drink so never had an issue with that - I always find it strange that people have to justify why they aren't drinking alcohol.
My eczema has flared up very bad on my face - I have found myself making up a few reasons for it (stopping bfing my youngest, the weather, allergic reaction) although I do know that it is down to pregnancy. I was also caught out recently when someone asked me if we would be having any more children and I said that we were happy with what we had. Although that's true, I did feel slightly guilty afterwards for lying.