Spotting before periods

[18yearstooold]

Dd is 11.5 and showing some signs of puberty -breast buds and a few spots but no other changes

Yesterday morning she had some spotting, but has had nothing since then

Is this the start of her periods or something else?

Her older sister was much more physically developed when she started her periods, as was I, and we both started with proper periods so this has thrown me a bit

Dd is taking it all in her stride but i'm not sure if I should now be encouraging her to wear pads just incase or not -she has a little purse with a pad and a spare pair of pants in that she keeps in her school bag so I have prepared her but i'm just not convinced she has actually started

My dd (10) had spotting one month, a trickle the next and then a bit more the next month.
After the first goggle said it was normal but that period 2 could take months to appear although it didn't! !

My niece has just turned 11and has just had some spotting. Her mum and I are wondering the same.

I had a bit of spotting once when I was 11, first real period showed up right after my 12th birthday.

I remember having spotting about 6 months before my first period arrived properly.