Most girls start their periods when they're about 12, but they can start as early as 8, so it's important to talk to girls from an early age to make sure they're prepared. Respond to questions or opportunities as they arise and do not be embarrassed.
Periods typically start when children are 11-14½ years old, but it can be earlier or later. Children need to know what's going to happen in their bodies before they get their first periods. For periods, children need pads, period-proof underpants, tampons or a menstrual cup, plus help to use them.
Most people get their periods between 11 and 14. Signs of menarche include light bleeding, cramping and mood swings. Menarche marks an important milestone during puberty when you're capable of becoming pregnant.
Now the average age for a first period is closer to 12, with one University of Cincinnati study reporting that about 10 to 15 percent of girls enter puberty at age 7 or younger, a phenomenon known as precocious puberty. This is up from just 5 percent in similar studies conducted in the early 1990s.
For most girls this is around age 12. But it can be as early as age 8 or as late as 15. Talk to your doctor if your period started before age 8 or you are 15 and haven't started your period.
Sara Kreckman, UnityPoint Health pediatrician. “This can be both emotionally and mentally challenging for girls this young, as well as their parents.” If a girl starts menstruation at a young age, it's usually because the hormones in her body responsible for puberty are being produced earlier.
Today, most researchers have honed in on numerous reasons for childhood puberty including obesity, prematurity, genetics, hormone-like environmental chemicals, family stress or even, a brain tumor.
Causes of Early Puberty
These hormones tell the body to make sex hormones- testosterone in males and estrogen in females. For most children, early puberty starts for no known reason. It can run in families. Sometimes there is a problem in the brain, such as an injury, a tumor or an infection.
What does an early period mean? Getting your period early usually means your hormones are a slightly off-balance. Fluctuations in your hormones from month to month are common and are typically nothing to worry about, especially if you've only just started menstruating.
Most of the time, a girl gets her period about 2 years after her breasts start to develop. Another sign is vaginal discharge fluid (sort of like mucus) that a girl might see or feel on her underwear. This discharge usually begins about 6 months to a year before a girl gets her first period.
PMS (premenstrual syndrome) is when a girl has emotional and physical symptoms that happen before or during her period. These symptoms can include moodiness, sadness, anxiety, bloating, and acne. The go away after the first few days of a period.
If you are bleeding enough to soak through a pair of knickers and it's not time for your period, you should consult a doctor. Is spotting before my period normal? Light spotting just before you get your period can be completely normal. You may even notice light bleeding up to a week before your period is due.
Most commonly, especially in girls, precocious puberty is due to the brain sending signals earlier than it should. There is no other underlying medical problem or trigger. This also can often run in families. Less often, precocious puberty stems from a more serious problem, such as a tumor or trauma.
Your first period should last anywhere from 2 to 7 days. It may be very light, with just a few spots of brownish blood. Or it may start and end more brownish, but be brighter red on heavier flow days.
Your first menstrual period is called menarche. It usually happens around age 12. But it may start earlier or later. Your period is a part of your menstrual cycle.
"All menstruating women will experience occasional early periods during their lifetime." Phew! On average, your flow lasts about five days, though some women may experience metrorrhagia, or bleeding between periods, or polymenorrhea, which refers to periods that occur more often than every 21 days.
What if you get your period at night? If you start bleeding in the evening or overnight, it can be confusing whether to count that as your Day 1 since there are just a few hours left in that day. For the sake of simplicity, I recommend that you do count that as your Day 1.
Dark red or brown period blood
“The primary reason that period blood could be brown is because it's old blood,” said Dr. Cummings. It usually happens at the beginning or the end of your period, when your flow is lighter.
High protein intake elevates IGF-1 levels and promotes growth, which could accelerate the onset of puberty. Poor diet. Children with lower-nutrient diets tend to enter puberty earlier. A diet rich in processed foods and meats, dairy, and fast food is disruptive to normal physical development.
Children with early puberty are more at risk for low self-esteem, depression, and substance abuse. Your son or daughter may require counseling to help address the changes in their body and the effects of any treatments they receive.
Furthermore, early puberty may result in a short adult stature which may impact wellness [11]. Early puberty is associated also with cardiovascular disease [12] that is probably independent of obesity [13], breast cancer [14], and endometrial and ovarian cancers [15].
It is normal for production of these hormones to increase (something we call adrenarche) and for pubic hair to appear after age 8 in girls or 9 in boys. The reason why this increase occurs earlier in some children is not known.
Final height is influenced by both height and the age of onset of the PGS in normal maturing children. A normal but early puberty exerts a negative effect on final height. A delayed PGS exerts a positive effect on final height.
Early pubic and armpit hair is considered normal if a child is growing normally and tracking along the same percentile on the doctor's growth curve, and there is no significant enlargement of the clitoris in females or penile growth or testicular enlargement in boys.