Periods

[Egyptiancamal]

Hello all, what do parents of young teens do about periods when going on holiday? My daughter isn't comfortable trying tampons yet but she loves to be in the water, I'm worried her period will fall on the week we are away.

Modibodi seems to start at age 8-10. Not sure about other brands. Even if you just bought a pair of bikini bottoms, she could wear them under her normal swimsuit

Yeah, I only know because I made the same mistake and DD's were on the small side!

This was from the FAQ.

I would get her the relevant items (tampons, period swim wear if you want). Then have some conversations about, ‘I know you aren’t sure about this quite yet, but let’s make sure you know how it works in case you want it one day’. Open a tampon, have a good look at it together, mime on yourself (dressed) how she might stand, the angle she would direct a tampon, how to know when to change it etc. Then leave her to it.
My daughter thought it was an awful idea, then one day after she had been swimming with friends she calmly announced that her period had started the day before and ‘by the way, I used one of those tampons and it was fine’. The desire to be with her friends had moved her forwards to the next step very nicely!

I'd encourage her to try tampons and explain how much easier it is to swim, play sport etc. My eldest used them the first month she started (age 12) and my youngest has just done the same. I gave them a variety of things to try/use and discussed them all beforehand, but they both decided that in order to continue doing the things they loved (mainly sport) without periods getting in the way, tampons were the best option. They do smaller ones to start with which I'd recommend starting with. Mine refused just using period pants as they were worried about a smell. They have however used them with a tampon when they have had a heavy month as an extra back up. I haven't used them so can't comment.

DD got period bikini bottoms as her period clashed with a Scout watersport camp. No issues at all.

She also used tampons when she was 12 and we were in Cyprus. The Lillet teen range is good even for younger girls. She practised at home when she had a strong flow day and was happy how easy it was. But now she only uses them as a back up and prefers the modibodi pants.