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Original poster

*How* *Old* *Were* *You* When* *Puberty* *Started*

51 replies

liteblue2 · 25/11/2007 16:58

How old were you when you started puberty?

How were you told?

How did you feel?

Finally any advice tips would be grateful,as my dd 8 has started puberty.

OP posts:
ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 25/11/2007 20:09

Think I was about 11 when I first started with pubic hair; boobs began soon after but didn't need a bra til I was 13+. Didn't start periods til I was 14.. last of my group of friends.

DD already has a breast bud at 8.

moljam · 25/11/2007 20:12

my mum told me when i was 9 as she was pregnant and i asked loads of questions.i was 13 i think and although id been told i was still shock,ashamed,embarressed!im one of 4 sisters and felt crap i had to go through it first!

Bluestocking · 25/11/2007 20:15

Started getting breast buds and pubic hair around twelve, periods started when I was fourteen.

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colditz · 25/11/2007 20:16

Probbaly about 9 or 10, started getting pubes, breast buds, etc.

started periods at 12.

ShinyHappyPeopleHoldingHands · 25/11/2007 20:17

Hope I'm not being too... bossy.. or something here.. but I have found that maybe it's a good idea to let out daughters grow up with the idea so it's it never frightening or a big deal at all.

EG, tampons are kept in th bathroom cupboard and DD had a rough idea what they were for when she was 2.. because she asked, and I told her. Obviously the explanations have evovled as she has grown up.

She seems pretty unphased by it all. I meanwhile was told nothing by my parents even though I kept asking. I found out scary versions in the playground and used to get down on my knees and PRAY (!) every night that that terrible period thing would never happen to me! I was sick for fear for years!

By the time I'd got to 14 and was getting down on my kneed and praying the opposite of course! But I can't emphasise enough the accidental "damage" my parents did by being too embarassed to tell me anything.

LoveAngelGabriel · 25/11/2007 20:51

I was 13. By then I knew loads about it through friends, my mum, the films and books they showed us at school etc and I was dying to start my period!!!

SoMuchToBits · 25/11/2007 20:56

Pubic hair etc at about 11, periods at 13. Knew quite a bit by then, as had been told some stuff by older sister, and had sex ed at school at 11. I am 46 btw - I think girls are starting earlier these days.

kittylouise · 25/11/2007 21:04

All my development energy went into making me grow vertically, so was just shy of 6 foot at 15, with no periods, hips, boobs or pubic/underarm hair at all. Was a beanpole.

Puberty seemed to happen overnight when I was 15 and a half - I was very bloody relieved!

DD is 11 and is reasonable developed, no periods yet though.

hk78 · 26/11/2007 11:10

i was 11 when periods started, was NOT happy at being one of the first in class!
breasts were already well in place by that time . can't remember about the pubes, strangely.

dd1 seems to have little breast buds and is starting with mood swings (athough that might just be life stuff!)

PatsyCline · 26/11/2007 13:32

Eleven plus one week. My mum hadn't told me about periods when I started and I really thought I was dying. When my mum cottoned on and presented me with the biggest sanitary towels in the world and a belt I was so .

Ah, those happy childhood days!

LadyOfWaffle · 26/11/2007 13:36

Erm, 13 I think. Mum didn't tell me anything about it and I threw up everywhere in my French lesson and went to the toilet and I was bleeding and I was so ashamed for reason. I mentioned it to my mum in a roundabout way the next day who got me a sanitary towel which I stuck on the outside of my knickers as I didn't know how they worked

MrsTittleMouse · 26/11/2007 14:08

First signs at 10/11 (which is when my Mum told me about it), first period at 14. By which point I was starting to get really worried as the only other girl in the class who didn't have periods was much lighter than me and didn't show any signs, whereas I had discharge (sorry!), breasts and hair. I actually pleaded with my Mum to take me to the doctor to see if there was something wrong with me, but she refused.
I had dreadful PMT by the way and period pain, and have grown out of both (mostly). It didn't help that my Mum wouldn't let me have painkillers and told me that the athletes on TV didn't complain about their periods and therefore I shouldn't, when I was in agony! If only I'd known that they were all on the pill!

grendel · 26/11/2007 14:59

Pubic hair started at 12, first period at 14.

I did know what it was because obviously by then most of my friends had started. But I got my first information from a lesson early in secondary school. Before then I had NO IDEA!

My mother never mentioned it. So when my period started I felt I couldn't tell her. Horrible, horrible time. Even after she found out that I had started she never gave me any help or advice. I think she was just really embarrassed.

It won't be like that for my daughter. I've already given her the basic info and will drip feed further details over the next year or so, or whenever she asks.

MrsArchieTheInventor · 26/11/2007 15:09

I was 11. Wasn't really told as such, just knew about women's bodies changing and asking my big sister and mum questions (for example - "does a tampon go in the same place as a penis does when you have sex?" Answer - "yes". Thought - why don't I make the same noises when I insert a tampon as mum does when she's having sex?" A disturbing thought for so many reasons)

If she's started showing signs of puberty now might be a good time to suggest she keeps a spare pair of knickers in her bag along with a sanitary towel just in case.

CountTo10 · 26/11/2007 15:10

I was 13 when I first got the marbles in my chest and then nearly 15 when I got my first period. My mum had discussed purberty when I was about 7/8 - not graphically. We had the body book and she read it to us as part of talking about what it would mean, what would happen etc. It was fine cause we were doing it at school as well. She made it sound totally normal so I wasn't afraid at all just more curious!!!

JoanWilder · 26/11/2007 15:12

I was 14 when i got my period, quite late really, got it after my riding lesson! was flat chested till about then too, really,

IntergalacticWalrus · 26/11/2007 15:13

sterted periods on 9th birthday

was in a bra by 10

Got piss ripped at school for it

IntergalacticWalrus · 26/11/2007 15:15

Sorry liteblue

I didn;t read your OP, me sating I got the pisse ripped at school probably doesn't help does it?

[foot in mouth]

KittyletteItBe · 26/11/2007 15:16

13/14 for periods.

Iwas a late starter for everything, didnt have my first kiss till 2 weeks off being 16!

IntergalacticWalrus · 26/11/2007 15:19

tell your dd everything#]

My m um, nevr told me what was happening. I was terrifioed. I thought my bottomwas falling out

Notyummy · 26/11/2007 15:22

Puberty started at 11, periods at 12. Mum started drip feeding me info VERY early so it wasn't a shock. I remember having a book at 2/3 years old all about how different animal babies (and humans) are mad.

The only thing I wish my Mum had done differently was buying a huge chocolate cake, putting candles on it and having a 'special tea' when my Dad arrived home from work 'because notyummy has become a woman today'. OMG!!!! I wanted to die.

In retrospect I think the intention was quite sweet (celebrate womanhood/nothing dirty etc) however I wanted to die at the time......

Notyummy · 26/11/2007 15:23

made....not mad !! (Altho dd can be a bit freaky at time....)

hellobellosback · 02/12/2007 17:06

I think I was about 11. I had one period, which my mum said was backache, then I got too thin and only had about 2 more periods till I was 16. Since then, regular as clockwork.

edam · 02/12/2007 17:22

14 when I got breasts, 15 when I had my first period. My little sister, three years younger, got her first period only six months later.

edam · 02/12/2007 17:24

One of the most embarrassing moments of my life was my mother offering to show me how to insert a tampon... I said no, thanks, I'll just read the instructions!

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