Did your daughter get her period younger than you? (RESPONSE SURVEY)

[Mama Soltera]

It does seem to be a trend and I wanted to do a survey (just a post reply survey) to find out if it is tending to be true for all of you. My daughter is still 11 and period-less so I'm thinking she may not start too much earlier than I did (I was almost thirteen). Obviously it could still happen. I do think she'll probably go a half year sooner than I did. For other families it seems their daughters are starting sooner than them. I would love a discussion about this too. :)

[philomom]

No. My daughter got her period almost the exact year and month I did. I was 10 years 6 months. She was 10 years and four months.

[sparklefairy]

Mine was a little bit older than I was. I was younger than my mom. My mom's mom was younger than all three of us.
 

[chel]

My dd was a couple months after me. I was surprised, as he father's side of the family (mother, sister, cousins) all started very early at 9.

[Caliope]

Yes, by about 10 or 11 months.  I had just turned 12 and dd got hers 2 months after her 11th birthday

[onlyzombiecat]

Dd started her period pretty close to the same age I was when mine started.

I have no idea how old my mom was when her period started but my sister started hers at a later age than I did.

[whatsnextmom]

No, I started mine at 12 and DD was 14 before hers started.

We are totally different body types and were raised on a different diet.

[Linda on the move]

One the same age, one older than me.

My mother was younger than me.

[TiredX2]

Within days (both 12 years, 11 months) of when I started mine.

[Mirzam]

Yes and no. I started at 13, DD#1 started at 12 3/4, but didn't have another period until she was 14. DD#2 hasn't started her period yet, she turns 15 next week.

[grethel]

At the same age, to the month. 12 years 9 months for both of us.

Edited by grethel - 9/22/12 at 3:51pm

[Mama Soltera]

Would you all say your daughter's diets are healthier than the average kid today? Maybe that statistic just isn't true when the girls are having a healthier diet (the statistic about girls starting earlier than their mothers). I do think my daughter, though her face looks like me a lot, has a slightly different body type than me. Still, I think she'll make it another year before she starts her period. 

Thanks for all the responses. It's very interesting to read. 

[whatsnextmom]

Originally Posted by Mama Soltera 

Would you all say your daughter's diets are healthier than the average kid today? Maybe that statistic just isn't true when the girls are having a healthier diet (the statistic about girls starting earlier than their mothers). I do think my daughter, though her face looks like me a lot, has a slightly different body type than me. Still, I think she'll make it another year before she starts her period. 

Thanks for all the responses. It's very interesting to read. 

I guess I would say that. DD has been raised a vegetarian and while not full vegan, consumes much smaller quantities of animal products on a whole. I do think her fruit and vegetable intake is higher than most her peers but believe me, she's still eats plenty of junk and we're not always great about the whole grains (too many yummy but useless carbs in our diet for sure.)

I think a lot of factors are at play with DD. Genetically, she has my DH's family body type... built just like my DH and 3 SIL's all long and lean unlike my short curvy build. The fact that her growth spurts never matched her peers and thus just on a later physical development schedule generally. Her diet... not a lot of unnatural hormone intake from meats and dairy. Her activity level (runner, dancer, rock climber) has kept her body fat levels low and her muscle mass high.

[philomom]

My daughter was raised with a much better diet than I was. I'm from the deep South. A lot of fried foods, sugary foods and heaping carbs at every meal. My daughter has had organic milk, veggies and organic dairy products and other organics that I could afford. She has also eaten more raw veggies and less carbs than I did growing up and I limited their sweets to one sweet a day.

[mtiger]

Nope. I started at 9 1/2. My daughter started at 13. But she is also an athlete, and that does affect her cycle.
 

[Jennyanydots]

I was 12, DD1 was 9, DD2 was 12, my mom was 10. DD1 is asthmatic and was on awful corticosteroids for years, which surely impacted her adrenal function.

[onlyzombiecat]

Originally Posted by Mama Soltera 

Would you all say your daughter's diets are healthier than the average kid today? Maybe that statistic just isn't true when the girls are having a healthier diet (the statistic about girls starting earlier than their mothers). I do think my daughter, though her face looks like me a lot, has a slightly different body type than me. Still, I think she'll make it another year before she starts her period. 

Thanks for all the responses. It's very interesting to read. 

Dd's body type is pretty similar to mine as a child- lower than average body weight- but my sister had the same body type and got her period later. None of us were athletic.

Dd's diet might be better than other kids. Most of her meals are eaten at home and we probably have less processed food, junk food, and soda pop on hand. I think dd might eat better in some ways but worse in others than I did as a child.

[kazjayne]

I was 12, but my daughter had only just turned 10. She started to develop breast buds and public hair at around 8. I'm a teacher and the girls are getting younger and younger. When my daughter started at such a young age, well to be honest, I was horrified...she was still playing with dolls. Of course I hid my attitude and we celebrated by allowing her to choose a restaurant to celebrate at. What were we celebrating...the fact that she was one day going to be able to have children. I told her about all the positives and how some young women never got their periods and couldn't be mothers.

Unfortunately as she got older, her periods got worse. She is now 16 and is on the pill to try to control the pain (this has worked). Before going on the pill, she suffered terribly, vomiting over several hours, she couldn't take any pain medication because she would vomit it up straight away. The pain was horrific and she would cry and moan in pain for hours on end. Every month she had to miss 2 days at school. I hope that this doesn't happen to any of you. Doctor says this type of pain does happen with up to 5% of women. Fortunately for the first 4 years she had relatively painless periods. Good luck, I hope none of you experience this.
 

[harrietsmama]

I got my period at 10 yrs 10 months, my dd is currently 12 years 10 months, and she is still very slim and wears a AA cup bra.  She has a little pubic hair.  She is 5'6' though and has been growing fast so I imagine it will be soon.  My mom was 11, my grandma 13.  We were all raised on pretty much the same diet.
 

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by Mama Soltera 
 For other families it seems their daughters are starting sooner than them. I would love a discussion about this too. :)

Have they asked their female in-laws when they had their first periods? You can't draw any conclusions about diet vs genetics if you are just looking at one side of the family.