.. to tell my DD she’ll grow more?!

[Pleasegrowmore]

DD (11) has just started her period. Year or so younger than her sister was.

main issue is she’s really upset because the sport she does and loves it really helps to be tall. She’s pretty tall for her age already but I (and she) have read online that once you get periods you either (depends on what you read) basically stop growing or at most a little more.

but Internet seems to vary about this and it’s all a bit old wives tale y.

anyone know any actual science on this

and mainly can anyone reassure me (and her!!) that she could still grow more???

Dd2 started at 11 and she's now 13. I'd say she has grown an inch maybe 2 but definitely slowed down a lot. She's about 5ft 4 now and I can't see her getting above 5ft 6.

Her twin sister still hasn't started and she's 5ft 6 and seems to be growing by the hour.

When they were born I was always fascinated by the growth lines in their red books. Dd1 was on the 50th centile line for height which seems to match where she'll roughly end up. Dd1 was on the 95th.....

Agree with others, of course she should expect to keep on growing! Do you still have her baby book? What percentile has she been on over time? 11 is on the young side to start periods, so she might have already had relatively more of her pubescent growth spurt than a later-maturing girl. (Is she on a higher percentile now than she was as a young child?) But she will definitely keep growing.

FWIW the old mid-parental height/ double the height at two calculations have seemed to work pretty well for people I know.

How tall are you OP and when did you stop growing? That is probably a better way to tell if she will grow more.

This is fascinating - I was the same height when I started my periods at 11; same height now!! So different for all of us OP.

Exactly my experience too.

I was tall for my age in years 5, 6 and 7 but I stopped growing and now I'm 5'3.

I was just 11 when I started getting periods.

I was 5'5'' at age 11 and started my periods aged 12. I am 6ft tall so definitely continued to grow!!

Girls grow for 3 years after the start of their period.

I was 9 when I started my periods I was under 5” I’m now 5”10 so I certainly grew my DD started last summer aged 12 in the past 6 months she’s grown almost 2 inches but she is still only just 5” so will be interesting to see how tall she gets her brothers are both over 6”4

Poor girl is your typical second child - barely measured compared to her sister and have no idea where her red book is or whether it would show much anyway 😬😬

shes 5 foot 4.5 ish now I think. I am 5 foot 7, and I think I stopped growing around year 7 or 8?

she is taller than her sister already (who is quite a bit older) but she - her sister - was always very small baby and toddler - she was very poorly when she was born and I always wonder if that’s partly why

See this is the sort of thing people say but it’s not evidence based is it??

I grew another 4 inches between 16-18! I'm now 5'9 and taller than my own dad (my mum is 5ft and DB 5'7/5'8) , so there was no precedent for me to be tall.

One of my daughters started her period age 9, she stopped growing about a year after and probably grew a couple of inches in that time (very similar growth pattern and height to me).

My other daughter started at age 12, her growth shows no sign of slowing down at all and at age 14 she's now towering over me and her sister, she's about 5'9" now, suspect she'll end up close to her dad's height.

I grew about 4" after starting my period at 14. My daughter started age 11, she's nearly 14 now and has grown about 3 inches so far and doesn't seem to be stopping!

Mine started at 9. I'm 5ft 10... definitely grew!

These charts from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health definitely show growth beyond 11 so I think it's an old wives tale https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Girls2-188yearsgrowthhchart.pdf

I was 5'4 when my periods started aged 12, and I then grew to be 5'6. I've never heard you stop growing when you get your period, I thought girls grew until age 16?

I always thought this was true! Based on my experience and all women in my family, we only grew an inch at most after starting periods all around age 11. We’re a short bunch.
Good to hear it’s not scientifically backed up at all. I can reassure my niece this may not be the end for her 😀

Oh the opposite side I stopped growing at 12. Didn’t get a period until 16.

This sounds very much like the pattern my dd has followed. She grew a fair amount both before and after her period started age 11. She also grew from the waist up age 13. I know this because her blazer that I bought at the start of the school year school was too big within months as it is a ridiculously long style and the wasI f sits very low. I don’t anticipate her growing much now as she’s only about half a centimetre grown in the past year. She’s 14 and neither dh nor I had big growth spurts in later teens. I also know a woman, who had a big growth spurt between the ages of 17/18 and her brothers continued to spurt age18/19. So I think there is also a familial element to growth.

She probably will still grow.

I knew a 16yo who was pregnant. They were concerned her baby was very small. Basically the consultant was saying it can happen in teens who are still growing their own body takes priority over the baby hence baby measuring small.

Y6 teacher here.
Lots of girls start periods in primary school.
They definitely carry on growing.

I think there’s no simple answer to this. But the idea that growing is done once periods start is not a one size fits all.

I was fairly short, like my sisters, when I started my periods at 14. I ended up at 5’8.5, which has made me the tallest of the 4 of us.

And my son is 19 and his bones plates are not yet fused, so he’s still growing (like a weed), long after his peers.

Did you really never notice that the rest of the female population wasn't the height of 11 or 12 year olds?

Started at 10 - grew about 4” after that.

SIL started at 12, she’s grown to 6’2 since. Definitely wasn’t that tall at 12.

Ha! That’s a good point 😆 but tbf the range of age girls get their period varies. Eg. My best (tall!) friend as a teenager was 15/16 getting hers. I guess I never gave it much thought beyond that.