My daughter was 14 in November and hasn't started her periods. She is very worried about it, and although I keep reassuring her to be honest it's also worrying me. I started at 13.
What's odd is she started developing early - body hair, hips and the beginning of breast development by the age of ten. But then it all ground to a halt. She has been wearing the same bras since the end of primary school and has seen no change. She was also the tallest in her class all through primary and is now one of the shortest. She hasn't had a growth spurt and is a good 3" shorter than me, with quite small hands and feet. Her dad is tall.
For additional context, she's recently been diagnosed with scoliosis, which we first noticed last summer. The onset of scoliosis in teenage girls almost always coincides with the onset of periods - so much so that the consultant we saw in the Autumn was astonished that she hadn't yet started.
Obviously the scoliosis will have affected her height to an extent, but I can see from her lack of growth in general (legs the same, hands and feet the same) that this isn't the whole reason why she hasn't grown much over the last few years.
The only other thing worth mentioning is that we moved across the country just before she started secondary school and I wonder if such a huge change could have 'paused' her development. It was a happy move that she was very much looking forward to and she's thriving here socially and with schoolwork, so it's not as though it traumatised her.
Any thoughts gratefully received.