Dd worrying about periods

[StepAwayFromCake]

Dd is 14, fit and healthy, but hasn't started her periods yet. She is showing all the other signs of puberty, but in every aspect of pubertyis physically less developed than most of her peers.

She eats well, does PE at school and goes to a swimming club once a week.

I have no concerns about her health, but she is worried that she hasn't started periods yet.

Dd is 166cm tall and weighs 50kg, which puts her on the borderline for healthy weight/underweight. Is this significant enough to explain why she hasn't started? Or is she just having a very slow puberty? Does that matter? She is also quite hairy/furry all over, always has been, but this hasn't changed much. Is it significant?

www.nhs.uk/Livewell/menstrualcycle/Pages/Why-havent-I-started-my-periods.aspx apparently not an issue if you haven't started before age 16 as long as other signs of puberty are present.

She's normal as she has all the other signs of puberty - it will happen . As you say at 50kg she's slim and this may well be why she hasn't started yet . Obesity in kids is one of the contributors to menstruation in primary schools .

My youngest daughter did not start until 17 almost 18 had slight concerns but gp just said wait and see. They consider family history , maternal age of periods starting, height, weight ,general development, healthy diet, lots of sports etc. Dd just started having regular periods and grew taller still skinny but hips wider. Try not to worry.

One of my daughters was 15 when she started. No health problems, just a late developer.

BMI calculator puts her at 25th percentile weight for height, which is fine (remember most people are overweight, this is not a time you want to be average). Starting periods relatively late is a good thing for long term health, btw.

Do you know how old you were? Dd started same age as me.

I'm sure she's fine I did a lot of dancing and sport and started at about fifteen and a half (16 is the age when they say it might be worth looking into). I was glad I didn't start younger tbh - it made dancing/swimming/life in general much easier not having to worry about it.

I had the trial pack of pads in my drawer for years, all the packaging had changed by the time I actually started!