One of dd's friends has had her first period - she is in Yr 5 and is 9 years old.

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Is this still unusual in this day and age? I am a little bit shocked, if I'm honest.

that's very young, but i do remember a girl i was at school with starting her's at about that age.

It is young but a few girls had started last year when DS was in Y6.

I feel quite sad for them actually having to cope with the horror of periods so young

I got mine at the age and that was nearly 21 years ago.
You will have to explain to your dd what has happened and that if she is a nice friend she will tell her if she has an accident and has a stain on her clothes. Wish my friends did. I had a bus of 65 kids yelling and screaming abuse at me after that.

I have a friend who started her periods age 7.

She had to go to the hospital for all sorts of tests and they said that she may struggle to conceive and she may suffer from osteoporosis quite young.

So far, she's healthy, happy and well.

Tis unusual.

That's on the young side, but not unusual.

My dd1 is 9, and I decided recently to have "the chat" to check if she knew about periods just in case (she hadn't a clue, but thought it sounded great fun ).

I think she'll be like me, and not start til she's 15, but I suspect there will be a few in her class before long. They get the school talk next summer.

I think 8-9 is the lower end of the 'normal' range. I've read somewhere that starting at this age has become more common. Huge sympathy, HTS, it was bad enough starting at 14.

I was 9.

I thought that you generally started at about the same age that your mother started hers...but this may be totally untrue!! My mother, my sister and I, all started at 15. Having said that though, it is apparently also linked to body fat and size in general so if this girl at 9 is fairly large for her age, then that can bring periods on earlier than if she were small for her age (apparently! But I'm definitely no doctor!). When I was at primary school I remember one girl starting a couple of years before we left, so about the same age that you are talking about...she was a little overweight if I'm honest, so maybe there is some truth in the body-fat thing being linked to early periods.

My dd1 is an absolute shrimp, as was I, so maybe I won't worry about it yet!

I read somewhere that the puberty hormones kick in when the body reaches about 7 stone. If children are getting generally heavier, then this would explain why the average age for starting periods is getting younger too.

The two people I know of who started very early were tiny.....

I am hoping that DDs start when I did - 1st year of secondary at nearly 13. The 'chat' will have to come soon though as DD1 is nearly 10.

That's interesting. She is a rather big girl.

My dd is the same age as her and very tall for her age (certainly quite a bit taller than this girl) and not skinny - but she still only weighs 5 1/2 stone.

I hope she doesn't start soon. I don't feel mentally prepared for it!

My sister began at 9 and she is now 44...she was a really skinny child too...no sign of any other maturity then.

My sister started at 9 and my sil told me she was 8. There were a few girls at primary school who were having periods. The girls who started young were on the larger side but not massively so.

Thankfully, the 7 stone thing hasn't applied to DD. I fretted about this as she's always been chunky but she's now 13 and probably about 8 1/2 st but still no periods.
It can come any time now! < breezy >

my mum started aged 8...

she was quite big for her age. self and sister much later...

it is more common with girls reaching 100lbs sooner.

My friends daughter started when she was 9, it was horrid, the school dealt with it reall badly saying that she had to knock on the staff room door and use the adult toilet for the sanitry bin. she was mortified and didn't do it, so friend bought her nappy sacks and a special zip up pencil case for her to put her used towel in and bring it home to the bin.
Blardy school

I started at just 10 and my DD started at 11. Both of us were skinny!

I started at 10 (nearly 32 years ago) and was quite small. I was fully grown though, am still small! We had no facilities and I had to go to the staff loos to dispose of my towels. Hope things have changed in most schools now!

I started mine at 9 (this was 26 years ago). I had no idea what was going on - I remember it being completely horrendous. I used the staff loos too!
I was really big (tall rather than chubby)for my age and fairly developed - ended up being fairly av 5 foot 4.
I really hope my daughter doesn't start so young.

I just wanted to say that my dd1 has started her periods. She is 9 (nearly 10) and in yr5. It is really hard for her, but she is coping brilliantly. We have tried to keep everything so normal for her. I told her teacher, who had a little word with her, but my dd was also reassured that it was going to happen at some point to all her friends. On the size front, she is already 5ft4 and 7+stone.

Take care love Lynne x

My DD has an overgrowth condition (Sotos) which causes delayed development (although catching up nicely) and overgrowth - very tall for her age, wears adult size 6 shoe at age 9. She is very tall and I was told by the endocronologist and Sotos specialist that, although she is tall for her age (not tallest in class but tall with me and her dad as parents), she will probably start her periods around age 9/10 as (apparently) you stop growing about 2 years after you start your periods so she will be adult height at about age 11/12 (probably about 5 ft 8, they estimate) so not overly tall for on the tall side for our family.

I have already had one chat with her about periods (nothing too involved) but will have more as and when appropriate.

She is currently in year 4 and I am sure she will start her periods whilst still in primary school.

This is the reason i think that more primary schools need to get their act together and sort out seperate changing for the girls and boys.

It is hugely embarassing for young girls who find it a struggle anyway to do PE when they have to change in mixed groups. And not much less so when they get to go to the toilets and change every four weeks

My daughter's friend started her periods in Y3 and I have a 6 year old in my class who has just had her first period. It's quite sad as she is very young for her age without going through that.