10 year old starting period?

[user1468352643]

Hi all, new here!.. My daughter is 10, and recently went on a trip with her school. I was unpacking her bag when she got home to discover a pair of my childs knickers stuffed in a bag and it clearly had quite alot of blood in them. Since then I have had a chat with my daughter and she tells me she woke up with blood in her knickers. But that was all and that she didnt want to tell me because she was embarrased and that she just dosent want to grow up :( Broke my heart :'( this was two weeks ago, Since then there has been no signs of a period. She is quite developed for her age and I have suspected for a good few months that her period is impending, I was 11 when I started my period, but I started and had a proper period which lasted a few days. With my daughters slight bleed, does this mean she has started her period? This might seem such a silly question :S

Sounds a bit strange for it to be just one pair affected. Could she have injured herself in some way while she was away?

I think hiding knickers is very normal- I remember hiding all of mine because I had no idea what was happening. You've probably only found one pair, or she's had a very light first period.

Have you given her sanitary products to use for next time?

Periods are often irregular when they start. When my 12 year old got hers, there was a 2 month gap between her first 3 before it became monthly.

My DD was only just 10 when she started her periods. Had you prepared her? I knew my DD was developed and was expecting her periods do had read books with her and had talks beforehand. She mostly knew what to expect.

She's 11 (year 6) now and is post-puberty, having developed in all ways, before any of her friends have even started puberty.

I'd say it's likely she has hidden or washed other knickers, just missed the pair you found.

Unusual to have just one pair of pants with lots of blood in. Could be sinuses as spitting if there was only a small amount of blood but if there was lots then there was probably more.

Poor girl, to start when you weren't there to talk to. I'd say you probably have a bit of work to do reassuring her that bloody knickers, trousers, PJs and bedding are not a problem and to just discretely let you know and you'll sort out cleaning them.

Oh, and my DDs periods started and were immediately heavy and regular.

I was expecting big gaps between periods and lighter bleeding. From the word go she had 3 weekly cycles and heavy periods. So no 'easing into it' for my princess.

Hi all thanks for your replies :)
Yes I gave her Lilet pads to put in her draw and also notified the school and gave them pads and spare pair of knickers just incase. I found it strange that I only found one pair, she insisted that it only affected those and that she woke with them like that. But I did find some blood stains on her jeans too that she wore. There has been nothing since then. Perhaps we wont have another episode now for another month or two. It just breaks my heart to see her so upset. I had a talk with her months ago now about periods, also her school has been doing sex education for her age group so shes not in the dark about body changes. x Thanks again all for your replies. x

Correction: Could be sinuses as spitting (damn autocorrect) considered as spotting if there was only a small amount of blood

It was probably her first period. My dd was 10 when she started as well. The first time was only a couple of days, then from around her 3 period they evened out. Every now and then she would have one every 45 days or so, but I think that's quite normal at first.

Did you have the talk with her already OP?

I was so shocked when dd started, it was literally as we were leaving the house to go on the school run. She went to the loo as we were leaving and then found out she had started. I wasn't expecting her to start so soon, I had no pads in the house, but we had discussed periods, and what to expect prior to that. Luckily I am good friends with a teacher from school, I took her wearing panty liner and my friend gave her some pads for the day once she got to school. I wanted to keep her home but she was writing an exam that day so had to go. I sobbed the whole morning about it .

I bought her some new underwear, all sorts of pads and a little set of bath products, lotions and some chocolates and left them all on her bed for when she got home. She was very quick to let me know which brand of pad she preferred, so I just buy those now for her.

I think its not too unusual to be secretive about it, given the fact that she wasn't at home at the time.

Sorry to be the elephant in the room and I don't want to alarm or upset but just oneed episode one one night, nothing in the day or whatever, literally just one bit on a night sounds a bit weird to me? I dont want to suggest anything untoward but it is possible? If anybody had done anything to her would she tell you?

Also (more innocently) what had she been doing on the trip? Particularly that day/afternoon. Had she been horseriding or anything? Any activity that could have ruptured her hymen and caused a little bleed? (Especially given a bit on her jeans)

Hiya, not to worry. I am happy you raised your concerns. This is a great forum full of honest insights. I have had my concerns about it. I have had another talk with her and she has given me more infomation about her experience. She did infact bleed for two days and she put another pair of knickers in the bin, the pair I found was quite soiled with blood and it was on her jeans too, she tells me she wasnt injured, she woke with it and then it stopped, started again midday and then stopped, then started again the following morning. Bless her. She feels very awkward talking about it, but lastnight I managed to get more out of her about it. Its a delicate subject for such a young child isnt it :'( Thanks everyone Xx I will keep an eye on her XX

A tip I learnt regarding a child in primary school starting her periods:

My DD is mortified by any sanitary pads with wings and will refuse to wear them. I'd not expected this and didn't understand why.

Because she's still in primary (my DD was in Y5), they still do lots of sitting cross legged on the floor. Or handstands on the school field. Pants may well be visible and the idea that wings from a pad might be visible if wearing a skirt is mortifying to my DD.

Fate, my dd always wears cycling shorts under her school dress, for this very reason.

I do not think that age 10 isn't that unusual anymore to be starting periods. When my dd started, we had an appointment with the paediatrician for something else, so I mentioned it to him. As she was already developing, heading towards a certain body weight (I think she was 43kgs, and he said that when a preteen reaches around 45kgs, you can expect her to start soon if she is developing already).