When to expect first period

[FedUpandEatingChocolate]

It's a long time since I went through puberty, and I have no idea when my DD might start her periods.

She's changing body shape (breast buds and a bit of shape to them), oily skin and greasy hair - but still got a childlike figure (no hip definition) and no pubic hair.

I went through mine quite late, so was really surprised to see the changes in her start last summer.

She's now 11.

It’s all super random for sure - I would not have guessed my daughter would be one of the first. She can still fit into size 10 clothes and is one of the smaller children in her year. Several months in she’s okay now and thankfully hasn’t had any physical pain like her friend, but the logistics are still tricky as she will not entertain any thought of tampons. I haven’t seen any correlation of height or weight or activity levels or anything really - my daughter was younger than I was, or anyone else in our immediate family. So I think just being ready really, really early is key here - being unprepared makes it all much worse.

My dd was 10.5 but it was very much expected - started puberty as soon as she turned 8 and was wearing a bra at just gone 9. I’d read a lot about it beforehand and a lot of online sources say c2 years after puberty starts - however stories on this thread make it clear that’s not a rule. I’m surprised to hear stories of them starting with no other signs though or for girls who are very small - as most growth usually happens before periods start I’d be concerned if that was the case!

for the weight thing, again a lot of online sources suggest they don’t typically start until weight is around 7st - again this can’t be true for everyone but certainly was for my dd, she’s 48kg/7.5st and has been for a while.

I started mine when I was 10 and thinking back now my mum was kinda underprepared. We had talked about what the school explained to me and how I felt about it all but that was it. I remember waking up and I had already started, I was a bit confused and worried as to getting into trouble and didn’t have the right things to wear.

When my own dd starts I will be making up a little basket of things she will need and will talk over what each thing is. I’ll keep it in her room and ask if she would prefer it in the bathroom or her bedroom.

It’s nice a friend has started already and they can talk over it together. You could check in with your dd and ask whah she thinks and how she’s feeling.

My eldest dd had anorexia, and her periods stopped before she got down to 50kg. The target weight she was set (age 14, 5ft 7) was 57kg.

Not disbelieving anyone! It just seems extremely light to me! Maybe height and build make a huge difference!

Anytime I would say. I was 10. My mother lucky had already had the chat quite early on but I remember being quite scared when it first happened.

If you haven't already I would definitely be having the chat with her ready.

Anytime, I was 10. X

I started at 11.

I went to a girls' school. When you have 1000 females in synch you know about it the week before.

I'm only just over 50kg now and was probably only about 40kg when I started at 10. It happened about 18 months into puberty but I had no preparation for it in terms of having my own supply of pads in advance. Luckily I started at home. I remember my mum's surprise and can only assume she wasn't aware of the typical timeline of these things. She was a bit older when she started so must've assumed I would be older too, and I must've picked up on that assumption because I remember gasping with shock on the loo!