What age is normal for a first period?

[momlil]

My daughter is 11 years and 10 months and started bleeding today. Shes only 4ft 10 at the moment. Im so nervous thats the end of her growing? She suffers enough trying to fit in with her peers. Shes more on the shy side. Dont want her suffering in the future.
Is this very early to get a period? I was 13.5

That would be a very average age now. I remember reading girls stop growing a year after their periods start but that definitely isn't the case for my DD, she continued long afterwards although she does have PCOS so who knows if there's any chance that played a part. How tall are you? Girls generally meet or exceed the height of their mother's.

I spoke to a Dr about this, because my daughter is 14 and only had two periods, body fat needs to be at or over 19% for periods. But nothing to suggest that growth then stops, a lot of females have that up weight stage before they go up in hight.

I was reading some research the other day that claimed girls are starting puberty much younger than they did in the 50s, and no one's quite sure why. It was on A Mighty Girl, I think. My DD has two friends who are 9 who have already started developing. Fortunately the group of friends seems quite supportive about it.

I'm 5'3 and was 15. DD is a tiny 5' and was 13. My DM, even smaller and was 14.

I was 12, nearly 13. I definitely didn’t stop growing then, grew another 4 inches or so.

Specialist told me that girls continue to grow 2 years after starting periods.

Normal. My sister was 8, and continued to grow

Periods are generally starting earlier than in previous generations. Some of the reasons put forward are:

1. That kids are on average heavier nowadays (fatty weight rather than muscle weight) and the extra fat triggers earlier onset of the rise in hormones associated with puberty (evolutionarily-speaking this makes sense: mammals seek to reproduce more/faster/sooner when there is a glut of food, so if there is a gain in weight an animal's body will think it's a great time to be ready for having a baby.)

1. Hormones and a range of man-made chemicals in our environment triggering earlier onset of puberty.

1. Better nutrition (which is often but not always correlated with gaining fat). This could also mean the body is ready earlier to begin puberty.

In my DD's Y6 there was a huge range of body shapes and sizes, some girls very tall and developing curves, and others still looking like little girls. I would say about 1 or 2 in each class had already started periods when they left primary school.

There's always at least one early bloomer in a group too. One girl who starts to develop a bit first and the rest of the group catches up one by one over the high school years. There's always at least one late bloomer too.

My mother-in-law was 10 when she got hers, back in the 50s. So, even if the bell curve has shifted a bit towards younger years, that age was still considered normal, even then.

My mom and I were both 12, but quite a few of my pals at school had theirs by the time I got mine. Including a classmate who got her first at 9. This was in the early 90s.

Some of the most together and capable women I know are 5'0" in shoes. I am 5'9" and ... well, I can reach things at the top of my cabinets without a stool. Whoop de do.

I started mine at 14 and was short at the time. I grew to be 5 ft 8.

@TheTeenageYears Both my DDs are shorter than me and are now adults

How is this possible if you get your period at 14, 15 or 16?

Most girls stop growing at around 13.

I got my period at 14, and had stopped growing by then.

I was 12, DD was 13

My dds consultant said around two years of long bone growth after periods start, and some more growth can happen after that.
I started at 16 and grew until I was 19 , about a year after leaving school.

Dd was 10 and a few months. 3 other girls in her class were 10 or just turned 11. More were within a year or two of that.

Didn't appear to be linked to the tallest or heaviest girls either.

I was the first of my friends at 11 back in the 90s. I teach year 4 and two girls in my class (that I know about) started this year- one when she was 8 and one when she was 9. Children are heavier now so are starting earlier than they did in previous years.

I started aged 10, 46 years ago now, perfectly normal

One of my daughters were 9 the other 13 . I started my periods at 8 my sister was nearly 17.

Wow @Inthesameboatatmo quite a difficult between you and your sister!

• difference

Yes massive difference . We are completely different though in every way

Your mum must have been a bit perplexed waiting for your sister. My two were 14 and 16 and I was 13.

I’ve not heard this and definitely not the case for me. I started my periods at 14 and I was very small compared to my class. Also quite thin. Suddenly shot up at 15 and kept growing until I was about 17/18. 5’ 10” now.

I was 15, I felt left out because my friends had started at 13.

11 is a normal age to start.
Where have you heard that we stop growing when periods start?