If you have a daughter who has started her period...

My dd who is 13 started a while ago and has always been regular and has never complained about it. I have alwys been a light bleeder and short bleeder so I think she is like me. However i know it is very normal to be very abnormal at first. If you have a family Dr might not hurt to ask him/her to ease your mind.

amy

Not every woman is a "28 day" cycler. Some are 3 weeks, some are 5 or more.
It's pretty normal to not be really regular the first couple of years after you start, but if you're really worried I would call and ask a professional just for ease of mind. I had really heavy cycles when I first started too, though.

I know that it's normal for periods to be irregular when first starting, I guess I just always assumed that meant they might happen at longer intervals than "normal." It never occurred to me that it could happen at closer intervals. This is her second period to use cloth pads instead of disposable, so I'm hoping that will help. When I first started using cloth, I had MUCH shorter periods with less bleeding. Of course, I've only had 5 periods in the last 4.5 years (thank you, extended breastfeeding!), so I might not be the one to compare to. Thanks for the reassurances. I'm going to wait and see what happens with this period and then maybe give my midwife a call, though I don't know that there's anything she could tell me other than what you guys have.

There might be some nutritional stuff you could do for her- magnesium comes to mind because I take that all month long and it's helped tremendously with menstrual pain, but I'm sure there are other nutrients that could help with heavy bleeding and short cycles.

I got my period every 18-21 days from age 12-about 18. Even until I got pregnant at 25, my period rarely came more than 24 days apart. It was just me. Maybe that's her normal? If so, how awful! If there is concern over it being abnormal I would second the call-the-midwife idea. Good luck!

I had hoped that she would bleed less while using cloth pads, but her period lasted 8 days again and she's started another one, 6 days after the last one ended. This really sucks! I am going to email my midwife. Thanks for the input, everyone!

It sounds exactly what happened to me. I would get my period and bleed SO heavily I was changing a pad every hour and I had such severe cramps I could barely stand. Turns out I have endometriosis. Now I'm not saying your daughter has this but I would maybe get it checked out. Also the only reason they found mine was when my appendix ruptured and they took it out.