.. 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???

This is exactly what happened to me. I’m not sad about it though, 5’5” is a great height!
my DD is 12 and only 5’1”. No sign of periods and I’m hoping she grows a bit more before starting.

My sister started her periods at 11, I started mine at 13. She's 2 inches taller than me

She will grow more. But it's likely that many of her peers who are shorter than her currently will be later developers and overtake her. That was my experience as an autumn born relatively early developer. And then the boys of course all overtake. It can be hard to lose that status that height gives you, especially as a child, and may well mean she loses her advantage in sport. Though it won't happen overnight.

Wow I started my periods age 9 and I can’t imagine I was my current height (5ft6) then… I vote old wife’s tale.

How tall are you and her dad? That will be the biggest influence to her height. I started my period at age 10 when i was about 4'8. I am another who grew an extra inch at uni aged 18 i am now 5'2. I have read somewhere that early puberty can mean shorter stature particularly in leg growth but i cant remember where however that doesn't mean you stop growing entirely.

To echo others no one knows how much she will grow after this but at 11 she hasnt stopped growing simply because of her period.

DD2 was 5’4” when she started her periods at age 12, and had always been significantly shorter than DD1. DD2 is now 5’11” and DD1 is 5’8”.

Change yes, but not grow. I am the same height now as I was at 11. My breaststroke are bigger, my hips/bum is bigger (and my waist) but my height is the same.

on average girls who start periods before 12 grow an average of 4" more; girls who start after 13 grow on average another 2" these are averages some will be more some less, but it is not true they stop growing but on average they stop growing 2 years after periods start, this is on average medically

Ancedotally my DD started at 10 grew 3.5" but has not grown in height since she was 12 she is now 13.

@DrManhattan yep, she was 5ft at the start of year 6 and 5 ft 9 in year 8. She has always been head and shoulders above her peers though. All the women on my paternal side are 6ft + although I'm pretty average and whilst the men on her dads side are tall the women barely scrap 5ft.

I grew about 8 inches in a year before I started my period at 13.5, and grew another 3 inches over the next few years, ending up at 5'11" when I was 16 😊

@Singleandproud wow! One of my boys grew 8 cm in a year and I thought that was a lot!

I started my period just turned 10 but have been 5'7 since I was 14

I started my periods at 14 and definitely grew a lot after that. I was short and plump when I started my periods. I grew to be tall (5 ft 8).

I was 5’9” at the end of primary school…,I’m still 5’9”.

Do you actually think this is true?

If so I despair at the future. Of course children still grow, do you see many women who stopped growing at 8 or 9 walking around, since periods can start much earlier than 11!

My DD started her period at 12 for a few months, then they stopped for 6 months during which she had a growth spurt, then restarted. Now 5 foot 9. So not sure how much truth there is in this claim that you stop growing when periods start - thought it was more linked to weight/fat Levels etc ?

Oh plus I definitely grew an extra two inches somewhere between 16 (measured at school) and 22 when I got measured for nursing school and realised I wasn't 5 foot 4 but 5 foot 6 by then!

I stopped growing at the age of 13 when I started my periods.

I'm 4 foot 11. 😒 I think it depends on genetics really.

Exactly what happened to me lol

DD started her periods at Primary. She was teeny tiny, and still is, but she is definitely way taller than she was then!

She's also immensely sporty, and at 5", has competed in netball, high jump and various sprints to county level; is a competent rock climber, abseiler and all sorts of scary outdoor things that I won't let her show me the videos of; and can fly a plane.

Whether she grows or not, there's no stopping her!

There are sites that take parents height and can give a range of heights likely.

DD2 had a massive growth spurt end of yr5 - I was really worried as she'd put on weight before hand noticeable so - then bam biggest every growth spurt - everyone said oh she started periods or she would soon - no she was 12, y8, few months off 13. She had gradual growth since. DD1 was steady growth no notable spurts and stopped abut 15 half.

DH and I were oddly both tall pre puberty which was earlier side and grew little afterwards. My periods started at 11 - but DD were much nearer 13. FIL grew foot and half between 15 leaving school and 16 and kept growing to 18 - some in his family grew past aged 20 which according to some internet sites is impossible I assume it's late bone fusing.

Who knows? Everyone is different biologically. Some grow, some don't. Never promise what you can't deliver!

I started my period at 13 or 14 (can't remember exactly). I'm 5'2". My identical twin sister started hers around the same time and she's 5'3". She gained her extra height when she went to university and was in catered halls that served 3 hot meals a day so I'd say to your DD to make sure she is properly nourished.

I started my periods at 13 and was still growing at uni at 18

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1070801/

Myth: menarche means the end of growth is near
The reality is that the average gain in height after menarche is about 7 cm (3 inches), and it is even greater for girls who menstruate on the early side of normal. Follow-up data from the Fels Longitudinal Study show that girls who start menstruating at age 10 grow, on average, 10 cm (4 inches), while those in whom menarche is delayed until age 15 grow, on average, 5 cm (2 inches).7 Additional reassurance is provided by data suggesting that earlier thelarche is associated with a increased interval before menarche: for example, an 8- or 9-year-old girl who has just started developing breasts will have an average time to menarche that is closer to 3 years than 2.8 The combination of a longer time before menarche and greater height gain after the start of menstruation may explain why girls who start puberty at about 6 to 8 years old do not end up short as adults. Conversely, the lesser gain in height after menarche and shorter interval between thelarche and menarche in girls with pubertal delay may explain why the pharmacologic delay of puberty (using depot gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist preparations) has inconsistent and limited effects on increasing their final height.9

I suspect a lot like many PP have said it's about genetics -

medicover-genetics.com/the-genetics-of-height/
Scientists estimate that about 80 % of an individual’s height is determined by the DNA sequence variations they have inherited, but which genes these changes are in and what they do to affect height are only partially understood.

Our family has very tall and very small people and DH and I only have an inch between us - so it's likely they'll be similar height - DD1 is other two already at my height and have growing time left.