Puberty is starting earlier

Isn’t there something too about chemicals leeching out of plastics? The reason why BPA etc. is used much less is because there’s something in it that mimics oestrogen.

I think its also worth noting that the medication used to stop/slow down puberty also stops mental development.. so anyone feeling its too much for a 10 year old to deal with ( not denying it would be difficult) well delaying it won't help. They will just ne 12/13/14 years of age with the same emotional and mental maturity of that 10 year old who started medication.

So effectively it wouldn't help. It wouldn't change anything. Just instead of being 10 and maybe still figuring out how to deal with them in high school , you'd be 16 trying to figure out how to get through your gcse exam with out leaking.

As a late starter I can assure you that that is hard enough without being stuck with thr maturity of a 10 year old still.

Ultimately probably the best thing we can do is be there for our dds. Do our best to equip them as well as possible and keep tabs on their Internet usage in the hope that they don't start ordering shit online thinking it will solve problems.

I wonder if there could be an inverse thing there? that girls who will start puberty earlier will also have some factor that will give them a higher childhood BMI?

I was 15 but very sporty. My mother started at 10. My children are also slow growers.

I was skinny and smallest in class and started periods in primary school. I think there is a genetic aspect though as my mother and sister were the same

Could it be at least partly, that stuff like puberty is now discussed and researched?

I was told by a paediatrician friend that the research indicates that a high protein and fat diet is a major contributor even if they are not considered obese. They have done population level studies which indicates higher bmi at age 5 is an indicator (not all but increases likelihood). Whilst by no means any sort of proof, my 2 DD's (skinny unlike me, started at 15&16, my dsd's (both overweight) were 10&12, no shared parentage so could be coincidental but across the population that's what they are seeing on average

That's what I'm.questioning dino

Because at least in part, I think.its important to ask and at least attempt to try and separate out, if some of the problem is actually being created by those flogging the " solution"

When children have so much access now to the Internet and are hearing things like puberty might make u want to hurt or kill yourself and how all these adults would have been.happier of they'd have had access to Lupron or whatever, it must have an affect.

The flip side of all the awareness and information and solutions etc in.some.ways seems to simultaneously be responsible for making you feel there's something wrong because there's nothing wrong.

Yes they aren't fun but they were probably far worse fir people decades ago

Most things were worse decades ago, they just didn't have the option to opt out. And actually I don't think things have moved on, there is no accurate way to predict when they will happen, or how heavy it will be, and the same crap medication which doesn't really stop the pain.

It's not an inability to deal with puberty, it's the fact that someone is offering a magic wand poisoned chalice

Here's one article showing that over a century ago girls started their period at around 16. Like I said, now the average age is 10

www.sciencealert.com/girls-are-going-through-puberty-earlier-than-ever-before-with-long-term-effects

That's a huge difference hence the comment about girls being physically but not emotionally ready. You can prepare girls as much as you want and have as many great products as you want, nevertheless it's a lot for a 10 year old to deal with.

Of course It's not the only reason girls are identifying out of their sex but I does give a bit of context as to one of the reasons that they might be.

Early puberty also has other physical and mental health impacts.

I'm in no position to assess this paper as it's archaeological but there are some interesting distinctions between the age of entering puberty, the age when menarche happens, and the age at which puberty ends.

Puberty is divided into five clinical stages, with pre-puberty at stage one and onset (or thelarche) at stage two. Menarche (a girls first period) occurs at stage three. The age at which a child enters puberty (stage one) varies. Today, puberty onset occurs between the ages of ten and 14 in girls and 12 to 16 in boys, with some ethnic groups starting around a year earlier. The end of puberty, or full maturation, is reached by 13-17 years for girls, and 15-18 years for boys.
…
A girl’s first period is a significant milestone in her development, but it is a highly variable and environmentally fragile indicator of maturation. Today, menarche starts at a median age of 12.5 years in the UK, with 2-3% of girls experiencing menarche at ten.

In England, just before the industrial revolution, historical sources suggest menarche occurred between 12-14 years. By the 1840s, girls had their first period between 14-17 years. While we have a rich record for ages of menarche, there are no written sources to tell us when children in the past first entered puberty.

We're introduced to a fascinating study about bones in medieval England and using bone markers to assess the stages of puberty.

The average age at which children entered puberty was the same as for most boys and girls today: between ten to 12 years. But medieval teenagers took longer to reach the later milestones, including menarche.

The adolescent growth spurt that signals the most obvious external physical changes occurred between 11-16 years, and menarche at 12-16 years, with the average age at 15 years. In medieval London, some girls were as old as 17 before they had a period. And boys and girls did not complete their adolescent growth spurt until 17 or 18 years.

For these teenagers, growing up in a rapidly expanding and overcrowded London, 26% had not completed puberty before they died at 25 years of age. The age at which modern and medieval children progressed through the pubertal stages after puberty onset was different.

research.reading.ac.uk/research-blog/children-arent-starting-puberty-younger-medieval-skeletons-reveal/

Huge numbers of women take the contraceptive pill. The sewage facilities are not good at removing those hormones as the urine is processed into drinking water (those particular chemicals are very hard to break down). Tap water in the UK has hormones from the contraceptive pill in it. 🤢 The question isn’t whether that affects children, but how.

www.purewaterpeople.co.uk/blog/oestrogen-in-water/

Also cows are given extra oestrogen to make them prodcue more milk and yep, those hormones end up in their milk. Ever had a latte or eaten a cheese sanwich?

☹️

I'm hoping period pants and swimwear makes our daughters lives a lot easier.

Because it is disgusting, unpredictable, painful and limiting. I would also have taken a pill to stop it, I would now but age and experience has told me the side effects are not worth it

Yes they aren't fun but they were probably far worse fir people decades ago before the invention of half the products we have now. There's an entire aisle dedicated to pads and tampons. You can get ones custom made for you now. We also have medication/means to deal with them more than we did when we were growing up. There is technically no reason for many ( not evergone obviously cos of endo etc ) to not be aware of tbe options and having a large variety to chose from to attenpt to make it as easy as possible I'm.not saying that this doesn't have an effect. I'm questioning whether it's purely coincidental that the inability to deal with puberty also comes at a time where certain groups of people openly discuss how traumatic puberty is and promote/advocate medication to stop it. Is it becoming a self fulfilling prophecy? And also how much cones from.us as parents who were never really able to discuss it with our parents and were perhaps under prepared and we are almost accidentally passing on sone of the shame etc without meaning too.

Leaking on your clothes.... the anxiety and constantly checking if you have blood showing. Has that never happened to you? Having a flood and having to go buy new pants and trousers at your lunch break.

I've already had 2 phone calls from my DD asking to pick her up as she's leaked on her clothes and she's hiding in the toilets, too embarrassed to let anyone see her.

Then there's the cramps and the diarrhea and sometimes your pads smell. Hoping that no one hears you unwrap a pad or that a class mate finds your wee bag with period stuff in it and ask you in front of the boys not knowing what it is.

They may have read about their periods but dealing with all that is a lot.

The issue isn’t being equipped with access to products - it’s keeping track of your period which tends to be irregular when you’re young and more irregular when it comes early. Its dealing with heavy periods while at school and the embarrassment when you’re young and people are immature about bodies. It’s discomfort with having to deal with “down there” - I remember the first time I used a tampon to go swimming I had never put my fingers in my vagina before. I also had trouble swallowing pills as a child so couldn’t take aspirin and had to get chewable Tylenol. It’s dealing with a changing, frightening body. It’s worrying about dancing or gymnastics or swimming or field hockey while on your period. It’s not knowing as well how to manage your hygiene. If we’re talking about 8 year olds, at that age you’re probably not even bathing every day or have to be reminded to bathe in many cases, and suddenly you have a period. Like you’re not that many years into even managing wiping yourself properly at that age.

I started my periods at 9 (37 now) was tall but pretty skinny

If as a teen you told me I could not be a girl, take a pill and stop my period, I would!

What's the reason for this though

Because it is disgusting, unpredictable, painful and limiting. I would also have taken a pill to stop it, I would now but age and experience has told me the side effects are not worth it.
Periods are a serious design floor.

There was an interesting thread on MN about this a year or so ago, which said it isn't so much that girls are starting periods earlier now, it is just a reversion to the norm ie pre-industrialisation. I've had a quick look but can't find it, but I found this article which explains it:
theconversation.com/children-arent-starting-puberty-younger-medieval-skeletons-reveal-91095

Our girls are physically ready for menstruation but not emotionally. . Is it any wonder that many are identifying out of being female in increasing numbers? If as a teen you told me I could not be a girl, take a pill and stop my period, I would!

What's the reason for this though. I mean alot of us on MN will tell u that we basically missed the whole carrie white scenario thanks to play ground talk and Judy Blume. Now, the world and his wife has written a book, books aimed for all ages, created a period box, set up a scheme to provide free San pro in schools. There is no reason or excuse to not be fully set up/equipped for it all.

So who is it that's really not ready. The kids? Or the parent who immediately come out with prases such as " your a woman now"?

I researched this a little for a project at work. Around 150 years ago the average age for a girl to start her period was 16. 50 years ago it was 13. Now the average age is 11 years.

Weight, nutrition and lack of movement has an impact. Hormones? Possibly as well as genetic component.

Our girls are physically ready for menstruation but not emotionally. . Is it any wonder that many are identifying out of being female in increasing numbers? If as a teen you told me I could not be a girl, take a pill and stop my period, I would!

we're all so disassociated from our bodies now. More time on phones and gaming's but also contraception that means lots of women don't have periods anymore. I kind of miss mine now that they have stopped.

Funnily enough I watched a documentary about a family with twin girls who were early teens and they said that 7.5 stone is roughly the weight that periods will kick in.

Also, it’s amazing that we know so little about puberty, even why it starts, but doctors are perfectly confident prescribing blockers and saying there’s no effects…

I read that girls can go into puberty earlier with unrelated men in the house:

news.berkeley.edu/2010/09/17/puberty/

oh and DD is 25th centile for weight 91st for height. In fact most of the other girls on the private FB group I am in dont look overweight.