One in 10 women have tricked a man into getting them pregnant, Bounty has discovered.  And astonishingly less than half of these actually wanted the person they ‘used’ to stick around once the baby was born.

Incredibly, 23 per cent of women who hoodwinked their partner said they knew he would give in one day, but needed to be “encouraged” to speed things up. A third of unrepentant women said their biological clock was ticking, while 19 per cent of tricksters knew their partner never wanted to have a baby.

We polled 3,000 mums, and discovered that 65 per cent were successful the very first time they tried to trick their partner.  And those women who didn’t fall pregnant first time round continued to sleep with someone and lie to them a further nine times until they finally conceived.

The parent trap

The most common ways to trap an unsuspecting male into conceiving a child were:

1. Avoiding any conversation about children or contraception – 29% 
2. Lying to a partner about being on the pill – 19%
3. Lying about having had the injection – 15%
4. Dropping a pill every now and then – 12%
5. Getting a partner drunk – 11%

Bounty's Faye Mingo says, “Thankfully our research found that 86 per cent women polled would never consider ‘tricking’ their partners into conceiving, yet over a quarter admitted they fell pregnant before their partner had actually agreed to ‘try for a baby’. Whilst we do understand that some women in stable relationships may feel the need to nudge things along when their biological clock starts ticking, the possible implications of tricking a partner must be considered.

Research shows that when dads are positively involved children do better in all sorts of ways - from behaviour and sociability through to IQ, language and development. This is even the case in pregnancy as studies show that the better the relationship between a pregnant woman and her partner, the lower the women’s stress levels which can effect healthy birth weight, prematurity and child behavioural and emotional issues.”

The poll also shows that:

• Only 35% of women who have tricked a partner into conceiving a baby have revealed all in the end.
• Only 27% of conned men bothered to question how their partner or one night stand got pregnant in the first place
• 54% of people are still with the person they ended up having a child with
• Only 15% regret their decision to be deceptive – 24% of these felt guilty about trapping someone into fatherhood, and 18% say it ruined their relationship

A further 18 per cent found themselves facing life as a single parent, while 12 per cent reckon the dad never loved the child as much as they did.

Faye continues: “Over half of mums who ‘tricked’ their partners said this was the best decision they ever made, yet the majority of women recognise there is a big difference between ‘tricking’ someone into pregnancy and trusting your instinct about your relationship enough to give things a gentle push! For most couples deciding to have a child is one of the biggest decisions they’ll ever make and together they’ll have lots of fun trying for a baby.”

Common tricks

Ten of the most common ways women 'trick' someone:

1. You just didn’t talk about it
2. You told them you were on the pill
3. You told them you’d had the injection
4. You weren’t very careful about taking the pill
5. You got them drunk
6. You told them you’d had the coil fitted
7. You put a needle through the condom / wrapper
8. You told them it was the wrong time of the month to conceive
9. You had a one night stand and didn’t make them use contraception
10. You told them you were infertile