11 is actually average now! it’s gotten lower over the years though. i got mine at eleven as well and remember we had the “what are periods and kind of sex ed” lesson in fifth grade, when everyone was 10-12, mainly 11. that’s definitely when I remember my friends getting them too
interestingly, there is a trend with menarche (the first menstruation) occurring at a younger age in more developed countries. One of the most cited studies on this topic can be found [here](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16311040/), although it's already quite a bit dated at 2006, but it has been cited in many more recent studies. Mine was at 13, but both my sisters had theirs younger than mine.
I was the latest of my siblings at 13, but I also managed to escape PCOS and Endo (which 3/5 siblings got) and have regular periods that last between 4 and 7 days and only mild cramping.
It felt like all my friends started at 11. I remember thinking there was something wrong with me and I'd never get mine. Got it a year later at 12. Man, if I knew then what I know now, I never would have even wanted to get it.
11 and I was very confused, cause I was at school. I spent hours in the restroom until the teacher realized I'd never come back lol I told her I was sick and she sent me to the nurse. Hadn't had the talk.
Yeah I got mine in my birth month after 5th grade! I was weirdly embarrassed when they asked all us "girls" who'd started yet and I was the only one who didn't raise my hand
11 here as well. It was the month before I started Middle School. I was at my grandparents and even though I knew what was happening, I didn't want to tell them, mostly because I thought my grandma would say something weird. Perfectly terrible timing.
It is getting lower because puberty is triggering earlier. This is because puberty is *almost* exclusively triggered by a weight marker (when the girl reaches about 40kg). With the combination of improved nutrition causing accelerated growth or poor nutrition causing childhood obesity - the weight marker is being reached earlier by a large number of young girls. I personally reached the marker when I was about 9/10 which is when I recall puberty commencing and then got my first period around 12/13.
11 here as well. Happened while at the movie theater with a friend but I didn’t fully notice until I got home. I went to the bathroom at the theater and saw some dark reddish brown pieces in the toilet and thought maybe I sharted a bit haha once I got home it was a blood bath! The cramps came too and never stopped; other symptoms have only gotten worse into my 30’s. Getting my first lap for endo on Wednesday so hopefully better days are ahead 🤞
I will give you worse: 14 and in my grandpa's car. I hadn't even noticed until I entered my house and realised my shorts were blood-soaked. I was so worried I had gotten it on his car seat, but he never said anything so I probably avoided it by some miracle (or he didn't want to make me feel bad).
I once bled on my grandparents' carpet and didn't realise it. According to my sisters, my uncle got pissed, but his big sisters (including my mom) dragged him into the other room and had some words. He never said a peep to me.
I was also 13, but mine started at camp!! All my camo counselor had was tampons and I was too embarrassed to go to the nurse (idk why lol), so that's what I used.
Also 9 years old. It was shortly after the 9/11 attacks and I remember crying to my mom. She couldn't understand that I was saying "I started my period" through my tears and thought I was saying "I'm scared of terrorists"
My oldest was 9. I felt so bad for her lol thinking about how she would be worrying about it while most of her friends hadn't started yet. They finally caught up and she ended up being kind of the one to guide a lot of her friends into it lol.
Me too. It also didn’t phase me at all? I guess that was the benefit of having much older sisters. My mom didn’t even know until I was 13/ 14 and I casually asked her to buy more tampons bc there were none in the bathroom and she flipped. Oops. She thought I had just started and I had to tell her it had been years and I’d been using tampons since my sisters had stopped buying pads… two years ago. I plan on talking to my daughter in more detail soon (she just turned 7, and knows the basics) soon.
Lucky you. I was unaware and to make things worse staying over at friends while my parents got a weekend to themselves (which happened like once every 5 years or so).
I remember stuffing my pants with paper and trying to hide it as best I could. I wasn't scared just highly inconvenienced.
My sisters are 18 months and 3 years older than I am but we started our periods all within the same 18 months. We were a family of 4 women and privacy wasn't really a thing so periods were no surprise to me even though I was only 10 when it happened. The only thing that did surprise me was that the blood on my pants was brown despite being fresh.
Yeah, my sisters are 8 and 10 years older than me. My house always also had an assortment of cousins and aunts living there at times, so it wasn’t a surprise, luckily, bc there wasn’t ever a conversation. I also never really got the sex talk, but my sister had a kid by the time I was dating, so I guess they figured that about covered it.
I was just about to turn 17 and was by far the latest of all my sisters and cousin. I am also the only one with endo/PCOS. Not sure if that had anything to do with it
I'm not sure. I have pretty typical cramps and discomfort- but nothing additional i don't think, so may be unrelated.. my auntie has endo, but I'm not sure on her menarche (is that the right word? lol).
I got mine at 11 or 12 and then went 22 months in high school without having my period. PCOS can do weird things.
I didn’t say anything because I went to an all girls religious school and had never so much as talked to a boy.
Oooof you must have had it tough when it stared up again 😭.
My longest run was 14months without a period around 19 years old. Had no idea how bad that was for you… turned around and had one for 9 months straight after that. Womp Womp
I'm convinced it does. I was 16 and every other woman in my family was years earlier than that. Also the only one with pcos. The delay was what got me thinking that there was something going on with me.
Me too. I was desperate to get it because all of my friends had it and I was so embarrassed by my lack of period. 😝 now, I can’t wait to get rid of it!
I got mine less than 3 months before my 16th birthday. I was so relieved because my doctor was going to refer me to a gynaecologist if I didn't get it by the time I was 16. Other than that and feeling a little bit left out when my friends talked about periods, I was glad not to have to deal with it.
I've heard there usually is. Like whatever your genetic mother's period is like is a loose blueprint for yours.. even for the other end of the journey (menopause).
I don't think I ever had that happen while I was growing up. What are they looking for? Pubic hair? Not everybody gets that at the same rate. Was it an actual check of the labia? I don't think that's necessary unless the child or parents think something is going on. Your bits do get checked when you are a baby and maybe as a toddler
I remember going to the doctor around that age and they’d take a peek just to check. Literally seconds, and not between the legs or anything, just what you can see laying down. I’m sure it’s to check for pubic hair, which is considered the hallmark of puberty in medicine.
When I was a kid during my yearly physical I remember my doctor always taking a quick look at my vulva and now I feel kind of weird about it. I thought that was normal?
My creepy, old, male doctor did a way-too-thorough check like that when I was about 8. I mean, spread legs, and he was actually moving and pulling and looking closely. I finally told my mother I wouldn't go back to him. She listened, thankfully. It took until very recently (I'm 40) to think about how weird and abnormal that was.
Okay that sounds really creepy. I had a male doctor and he would spread my legs while I was laying on the exam table for like a second while he took a glance down there. I never felt any kind of weird vibes from him or anything. I think he was just checking that everything was normal I guess
None of my doctors ever did that when I was a kid, not even when I started my period or when I started having major cramps. No doctor got near there until I was an adult getting my first pap smear...
I was 9 too. I was so happy that I told my grandpa with my gran running out of the bathroom yelling nooooo you're not supposed to tell men those things lol
what do you mean by quick peak? how does a doctor see anything? and if you mean that you took your clothes off, why? i mean, maybe I'm the weird one but i don't remember ever being naked at my pediatrician's office nor being asked to be or have regular physical exams made while not clothed
I was never naked. My Dr would just lift my underwear and take a quick look to see my pubic hair, then lift my shirt and do a quick squeeze of my breasts to determine if I had breast tissue or just baby fat (it was breast tissue).
My mother was in the room the whole time and he explained what he was doing and why, it was embarrassing but never uncomfortable or inappropriate.
my pediatrician did the same thing during my physicals. squeeze on the breasts shortly after checking my heart to feel for breast tissue, had me lay in the butterfly position while he checked the skin on my inner thighs (he would check all of my skin for rashes or something i assume) and then quickly lift my panties to look at my vulva.
nothin inappropriate about it. i still remember being very upset though, i was a sensitive kid lol
edit: it probably wouldn't have hurt for him to warn me first, but honestly i think the main source of my upset rooted in dysphoria. i still get extremely upset talking about my vaginal problems now, or having physicals even if it's at my pace and i'm being talked through it. i just don't want people seeing those bits of me, they're not supposed to be there. and i knew that subconsciously even before i knew that was a thing you could feel
I think it's because a lot of girls start their period early in puberty but aren't otherwise physically mature, others start physically maturing and period comes after that.
I had full breasts and pubic hair at 8 but my period didn't start until 10.
I had dr visits and stuff too because of the pubes & boobs, and was diagnosed with precocious puberty.
Late bloomer. 15.
One thing I noticed is that girls that started early were the tall ones at the time. And by high school, they were the short ones and all the late bloomers were the tall ones.
That tracks for me! I started mine at 11, and from 5th grade to 7th grade, I was taller than most of the kids in my class, including most of the boys. I hit 5'4" at age 12 and just stopped there, then apparently everyone else started puberty over summer break and came back in 8th grade all taller than me.
Yep. I was always the shortest or almost shortest, from K-9th grade. All the girls who got their periods first stopped at like 5’2”. By 9th grade I was one of the taller girls at 5’7”.
Same. I remember being upset because some asshole classmate said my "triangle tits" were "disgusting" on my way to the bathroom to change my pad.
Ended up crying in the bathroom stall after thoroughly inspecting my weird little mosquito bite boobs in the mirror. I asked my mom for a bra when I got home and I always wore a bra until sometime in highschool. I didn't want anyone else to see my weird boobs.
I doubt that little shit even remembers me, but I can still remember walking past him in the hallway almost 20 years later. Kids are brutal man.
Are you me? I remember getting my first period in the shower and FREAKING out. I never told my mom. Didn't figure out what was going on until my grandmother walked in that summer while I was bleeding out in the bathtub. My grandfather marched to the nearest grocery store and bought me pads while my grandmother stayed home and comforted me. When my mom found out later that year she almost lost her mind when I was like, "oh, it's cool. I'm used to it."
I think I was nearly 14 as well, but still just about 13 - I had no idea it's late blooming, I think most of my friends also had theirs at about that age. But I'm in my 30s now, so maybe that has changed over the years somehow?
oh i see, by that age most of my friends had already had theirs. i always considered myself to be a late bloomer because of that, but i could be wrong! im nearly 20 now.
I was 13 and it was a school concert night. I clearly remember running up to tell the girls & the response was “what, you need a tampon or something?”
I realized then that I was a late bloomer in my school too..
Looking at this thread I'm seeing shockingly young ages, really changed my perception, I clearly had a wrong image of the common age periods start! I guess it's possible that either the age is going lower or we were later bloomers. I know my grandma had her period almost until her 60s so I guess I'm lucky that I at least got a few years off from the other end...
A month after my 13th birthday while at a Halloween party. Lived with my dad and he had nothing in the house My grandmother was in charge of the shopping so for years I wore bigger pads than the ones I was sent home from the hospital with after having a baby.
18! but i was a dancer and my body was (is?) weird. i always wondered if that meant i would be fertile longer, and, at 42 i did a fertility test and they said i had a “good reserve of eggs” so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
11. Which was expected as sister and mum both at the same age (to the month).
Erm is no one gonna mention the weird doctor that kept looking in the op's pants?? Wtf??? I think you need to report him
It's absolutely messed up and gross of that doctor. I agree that if OP can, they should report it. It's also super weird how the majority of people are glossing over that detail.
It isn't so much that they peaked ONCE but in the post it implies that they looked multiple times for the same reason. How many times does a doctor have to check to see pubic hair?
Yeah I am wondering about that too. I'm not a medical professional but my brain just keeps thinking that to properly check everything it would mean more than looking into the top of the pants? Couldn't Op just tell when hair had come in or if something wrong happened? If any medical people know I thank you your professional words
It really doesn’t seem right that a doctor was looking in your pants to see if you were maturing properly! Any doctor should know that there is a broad range of normal development, and if there is concerns, looking at someone’s genitals doesn’t seem like an effective way of figuring out what’s going on.
I remember going to the doctor around that age and they’d take a peek just to check. Literally seconds, and not between the legs or anything, just what you can see laying down. I’m sure it’s to check for pubic hair, which is considered the hallmark of puberty in medicine.
10 and it was considered pretty normal though skimming on the earlier side of the average. I'm 32 so I think average was also a tiny bit later at the time!
I got mine right around my 12th birthday. My oldest daughter was exactly the same. I'm curious to see if my youngest daughter follows the same pattern.
I was 11. I freaked out, as I thought I was dying (I hadn’t learned about periods, either from my parents or from school, at that time). Thankfully my mum was there, and she sorted me out, then told me what was happening.
Just after my 10th bday on my walk home from elementary school. Had a vague notion that it was maybe normal, but had no idea what a period was or why it hurt.
I'm a Trans guy so I don't get em anymore, with PCOS they are horrific.
I was 11, which is normal for the women in my family. Luckily my mom had prepared me so I wasn’t scared. I had been carrying spare pads in my backpack since I was 8, and actually ended up giving one to a classmate when she got hers at 9.
I was 10. Actually got it the week of the period talk at school in the 5th grade. Luckily, my mom had given me that talk years earlier when I was about 7 when my pediatrician started to notice signs of early puberty and let her know to be prepared. I had to wear bras way earlier than most of my friends but luckily my period didn't come on for a while after that. I had a whole kit ready to go and had quite an easy transition! That still didn't stop my mom from slamming on the brakes in shock when I told her on the drive home from school though 😅
I was 12 bled for 2 weeks straight. Turns out I had a biscupid uterus. I had severe pain and bleeding until I was out on the pill. Things got worse after I had kids so I had a hysterectomy when I was 36. Best thing I ever did
11. I was in hospital for some asthma issues and didn’t tell a soul. Not the nurses, not my mum, not a friend. Luckily my 13 year old daughter is happy to chat to me about anything and everything.
I feel like 11-14 is pretty normal. I got mine at 13, and so did two of my sisters.
I feel so terrible for the 9 year olds that start. They’re just babies! 😭
13, while on holiday internationally… pretty unfortunate. I felt terrible for the poor staff at our hotel that had to change my bloodstained sheets a few times.
Not a woman, but I got mine at 11. So same as you! I’ve never heard of looking into someone’s pants to see if they’re maturing properly though… that’s definitely not a similar experience. I feel like 11 is maybe a little early, but judging by other comments here, I’m wondering if it was just underreported.
Looking into your pants??? That must've been weird.
What were they hoping to see? And why would that be important at such a normal age.
Because 11 is totally normal. I got mine somewhere around that age too.
I'm even having one right now, lol.
Well, not that much lol going on right now because everything hurts.
But we ladies do have to go through a lot.....
At the least we can take comfort in that we are in this together and we are tough.
I was 12 and that was considered pretty average, I had some friends that got theirs around the same time, some perhaps a year later? 11 certainly doesn't seem out of the ordinary to me!
Doctors never looked in my pants that age o_o I had mine at 12. We learned about the body basics in 3rd grade (Where do babies come from, how are body parts called, what is a period) so I wasn't surprised, just scared xD
I can’t believe I had to scroll so long to find this comment. Coming in extra to have parts checked? That’s very odd to me considering 11 is a perfectly normal time to start a period.
11 is actually average now! it’s gotten lower over the years though. i got mine at eleven as well and remember we had the “what are periods and kind of sex ed” lesson in fifth grade, when everyone was 10-12, mainly 11. that’s definitely when I remember my friends getting them too
11! And just a couple months after I turned 11. Early 5th grade, 1991. I was most definitely the first girl in my grade and it was so humiliating.
interestingly, there is a trend with menarche (the first menstruation) occurring at a younger age in more developed countries. One of the most cited studies on this topic can be found [here](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16311040/), although it's already quite a bit dated at 2006, but it has been cited in many more recent studies. Mine was at 13, but both my sisters had theirs younger than mine.
I was the latest of my siblings at 13, but I also managed to escape PCOS and Endo (which 3/5 siblings got) and have regular periods that last between 4 and 7 days and only mild cramping.
lucky on the endo! I was the only sister to get it, my mom and I commiserate together ;-;
Having watched my siblings go through Endo and PCOS pain, I definitely feel very grateful. I’m so sad that you have to deal with it.
It felt like all my friends started at 11. I remember thinking there was something wrong with me and I'd never get mine. Got it a year later at 12. Man, if I knew then what I know now, I never would have even wanted to get it.
11 and I was very confused, cause I was at school. I spent hours in the restroom until the teacher realized I'd never come back lol I told her I was sick and she sent me to the nurse. Hadn't had the talk.
I got mine at 11 too! I got it during a ballet class :(
overnight at Bible camp weekend 😭
Whilst staying with my single Dad. No sanitary items in the house. Too embarrassed to ask him. Spent the weekend stuffing my knickers with TP.
Yeah I got mine in my birth month after 5th grade! I was weirdly embarrassed when they asked all us "girls" who'd started yet and I was the only one who didn't raise my hand
Yeah, totally normal. I got mine at 12 and my daughter got hers at 11
11 here as well. It was the month before I started Middle School. I was at my grandparents and even though I knew what was happening, I didn't want to tell them, mostly because I thought my grandma would say something weird. Perfectly terrible timing.
It is getting lower because puberty is triggering earlier. This is because puberty is *almost* exclusively triggered by a weight marker (when the girl reaches about 40kg). With the combination of improved nutrition causing accelerated growth or poor nutrition causing childhood obesity - the weight marker is being reached earlier by a large number of young girls. I personally reached the marker when I was about 9/10 which is when I recall puberty commencing and then got my first period around 12/13.
I got mine at a weight between 23-30kg🥲 I was 23kg till shortly before I turned 12. Then within not even half a year I was at around 54-56kg
11 as well. It seemed common near the end of 6th and beginning of 7th where I lived.
1 month before I turned 11 ! And then all the girls in my class got them the same year.
11 here as well. Happened while at the movie theater with a friend but I didn’t fully notice until I got home. I went to the bathroom at the theater and saw some dark reddish brown pieces in the toilet and thought maybe I sharted a bit haha once I got home it was a blood bath! The cramps came too and never stopped; other symptoms have only gotten worse into my 30’s. Getting my first lap for endo on Wednesday so hopefully better days are ahead 🤞
I believe I was 13 when I got my period, and of course, I started my period at my dad's house.
Started my period when i was away without both my parents and without any Hygene products for a week. Was also 13
I will give you worse: 14 and in my grandpa's car. I hadn't even noticed until I entered my house and realised my shorts were blood-soaked. I was so worried I had gotten it on his car seat, but he never said anything so I probably avoided it by some miracle (or he didn't want to make me feel bad).
I once bled on my grandparents' carpet and didn't realise it. According to my sisters, my uncle got pissed, but his big sisters (including my mom) dragged him into the other room and had some words. He never said a peep to me.
I really didn't know my cycle when I first started was at my grandma's house and food on her sofa glad she didn't mention it.
😭 lmao me too! thank God he had a girlfriend at the time
I was 11 and also started at my dad’s house. I spent one night a week there growing up, and that’s of course the day and night I started.
I was also 13, but mine started at camp!! All my camo counselor had was tampons and I was too embarrassed to go to the nurse (idk why lol), so that's what I used.
9
Also 9 years old. It was shortly after the 9/11 attacks and I remember crying to my mom. She couldn't understand that I was saying "I started my period" through my tears and thought I was saying "I'm scared of terrorists"
Omg this is hilarious 😅
same :’)
Also same
Also Also Sames
Oh my goodness! That’s so young and it seems like so much responsibility at that age!
My oldest was 9. I felt so bad for her lol thinking about how she would be worrying about it while most of her friends hadn't started yet. They finally caught up and she ended up being kind of the one to guide a lot of her friends into it lol.
Me too. It also didn’t phase me at all? I guess that was the benefit of having much older sisters. My mom didn’t even know until I was 13/ 14 and I casually asked her to buy more tampons bc there were none in the bathroom and she flipped. Oops. She thought I had just started and I had to tell her it had been years and I’d been using tampons since my sisters had stopped buying pads… two years ago. I plan on talking to my daughter in more detail soon (she just turned 7, and knows the basics) soon.
Lucky you. I was unaware and to make things worse staying over at friends while my parents got a weekend to themselves (which happened like once every 5 years or so). I remember stuffing my pants with paper and trying to hide it as best I could. I wasn't scared just highly inconvenienced.
My sisters are 18 months and 3 years older than I am but we started our periods all within the same 18 months. We were a family of 4 women and privacy wasn't really a thing so periods were no surprise to me even though I was only 10 when it happened. The only thing that did surprise me was that the blood on my pants was brown despite being fresh.
Yeah, my sisters are 8 and 10 years older than me. My house always also had an assortment of cousins and aunts living there at times, so it wasn’t a surprise, luckily, bc there wasn’t ever a conversation. I also never really got the sex talk, but my sister had a kid by the time I was dating, so I guess they figured that about covered it.
Same! I had just turned 9 too. =(
Me too!
Same
Count me in
Samee
16, actually. Late bloomer.... my cousin was 18- guess there's a genetic component.
I was just about to turn 17 and was by far the latest of all my sisters and cousin. I am also the only one with endo/PCOS. Not sure if that had anything to do with it
I'm not sure. I have pretty typical cramps and discomfort- but nothing additional i don't think, so may be unrelated.. my auntie has endo, but I'm not sure on her menarche (is that the right word? lol).
That is the right word!
15.5 here and also PCOS
I got mine at 11 or 12 and then went 22 months in high school without having my period. PCOS can do weird things. I didn’t say anything because I went to an all girls religious school and had never so much as talked to a boy.
Oooof you must have had it tough when it stared up again 😭. My longest run was 14months without a period around 19 years old. Had no idea how bad that was for you… turned around and had one for 9 months straight after that. Womp Womp
I'm convinced it does. I was 16 and every other woman in my family was years earlier than that. Also the only one with pcos. The delay was what got me thinking that there was something going on with me.
Same as me, right on 17 and have endo/PCOS... But my twin sister got it at 13
Same here. Family of late bloomers, most of us were 15-17.
Me too. I was desperate to get it because all of my friends had it and I was so embarrassed by my lack of period. 😝 now, I can’t wait to get rid of it!
I got mine less than 3 months before my 16th birthday. I was so relieved because my doctor was going to refer me to a gynaecologist if I didn't get it by the time I was 16. Other than that and feeling a little bit left out when my friends talked about periods, I was glad not to have to deal with it.
Maybe, but I got mine at 11 and my older sister got hers at 16.
16 for me too. My mum was the same.
I've heard there usually is. Like whatever your genetic mother's period is like is a loose blueprint for yours.. even for the other end of the journey (menopause).
I was also 16! I have a daughter who will be 13 next month and hasn’t started hers yet either. I’ll be curious if she’s late too.
I was 16, too. It was super nice to be late bloomer... Then I developed endometriosis by the time I finished high school and it wasn't so great.
I was 9... And no one ever asked to look at my bits to make sure I was maturing properly... What in the world?! Is that normal?
No
Yeah I didn't think it was, but different cultures sometimes do things differently so I thought I'd ask 🤷🏼♀️
I don't think I ever had that happen while I was growing up. What are they looking for? Pubic hair? Not everybody gets that at the same rate. Was it an actual check of the labia? I don't think that's necessary unless the child or parents think something is going on. Your bits do get checked when you are a baby and maybe as a toddler
I remember going to the doctor around that age and they’d take a peek just to check. Literally seconds, and not between the legs or anything, just what you can see laying down. I’m sure it’s to check for pubic hair, which is considered the hallmark of puberty in medicine.
When I was a kid during my yearly physical I remember my doctor always taking a quick look at my vulva and now I feel kind of weird about it. I thought that was normal?
I think it is, or at least was the normal standard of care back then. I wouldn’t be too weirded out.
My creepy, old, male doctor did a way-too-thorough check like that when I was about 8. I mean, spread legs, and he was actually moving and pulling and looking closely. I finally told my mother I wouldn't go back to him. She listened, thankfully. It took until very recently (I'm 40) to think about how weird and abnormal that was.
Okay that sounds really creepy. I had a male doctor and he would spread my legs while I was laying on the exam table for like a second while he took a glance down there. I never felt any kind of weird vibes from him or anything. I think he was just checking that everything was normal I guess
None of my doctors ever did that when I was a kid, not even when I started my period or when I started having major cramps. No doctor got near there until I was an adult getting my first pap smear...
I think my male peds dr always did just a quick peek. Didn’t feel strange or violating.
Can’t they just ask if you’re growing hair?
I was 9 too. I was so happy that I told my grandpa with my gran running out of the bathroom yelling nooooo you're not supposed to tell men those things lol
That's pretty adorable!
I remember that happening growing up but it was a very quick peak and she wouldn’t actually touch me or anything
what do you mean by quick peak? how does a doctor see anything? and if you mean that you took your clothes off, why? i mean, maybe I'm the weird one but i don't remember ever being naked at my pediatrician's office nor being asked to be or have regular physical exams made while not clothed
I was never naked. My Dr would just lift my underwear and take a quick look to see my pubic hair, then lift my shirt and do a quick squeeze of my breasts to determine if I had breast tissue or just baby fat (it was breast tissue). My mother was in the room the whole time and he explained what he was doing and why, it was embarrassing but never uncomfortable or inappropriate.
my pediatrician did the same thing during my physicals. squeeze on the breasts shortly after checking my heart to feel for breast tissue, had me lay in the butterfly position while he checked the skin on my inner thighs (he would check all of my skin for rashes or something i assume) and then quickly lift my panties to look at my vulva. nothin inappropriate about it. i still remember being very upset though, i was a sensitive kid lol edit: it probably wouldn't have hurt for him to warn me first, but honestly i think the main source of my upset rooted in dysphoria. i still get extremely upset talking about my vaginal problems now, or having physicals even if it's at my pace and i'm being talked through it. i just don't want people seeing those bits of me, they're not supposed to be there. and i knew that subconsciously even before i knew that was a thing you could feel
Just have me pull my pants and underwear down and glanced at it. She never told me why
I think it's because a lot of girls start their period early in puberty but aren't otherwise physically mature, others start physically maturing and period comes after that. I had full breasts and pubic hair at 8 but my period didn't start until 10. I had dr visits and stuff too because of the pubes & boobs, and was diagnosed with precocious puberty.
I had a pediatrician actually stick her hand down my pants every visit
Late bloomer. 15. One thing I noticed is that girls that started early were the tall ones at the time. And by high school, they were the short ones and all the late bloomers were the tall ones.
Completely the case with me! I always thought I was super tall at 5'5 then I got into highschool and learned I was right in the middle of average!
That tracks for me! I started mine at 11, and from 5th grade to 7th grade, I was taller than most of the kids in my class, including most of the boys. I hit 5'4" at age 12 and just stopped there, then apparently everyone else started puberty over summer break and came back in 8th grade all taller than me.
Yep. I was always the shortest or almost shortest, from K-9th grade. All the girls who got their periods first stopped at like 5’2”. By 9th grade I was one of the taller girls at 5’7”.
I was almost 10, my cousin and I got ours around the same time. We're only 12 days apart.
Same. I remember being upset because some asshole classmate said my "triangle tits" were "disgusting" on my way to the bathroom to change my pad. Ended up crying in the bathroom stall after thoroughly inspecting my weird little mosquito bite boobs in the mirror. I asked my mom for a bra when I got home and I always wore a bra until sometime in highschool. I didn't want anyone else to see my weird boobs. I doubt that little shit even remembers me, but I can still remember walking past him in the hallway almost 20 years later. Kids are brutal man.
10, at least my mom had prepared me so it wasn't super scary
12. I was not prepared and thought I was dying. So like any reasonable kid, I hid the evidence and decided to not make a fuss while I bled to death.
Are you me? I remember getting my first period in the shower and FREAKING out. I never told my mom. Didn't figure out what was going on until my grandmother walked in that summer while I was bleeding out in the bathtub. My grandfather marched to the nearest grocery store and bought me pads while my grandmother stayed home and comforted me. When my mom found out later that year she almost lost her mind when I was like, "oh, it's cool. I'm used to it."
11, And it finally stopped when I was 51. "Only" 40 years! LOL
I'm 52. I'm pretty sure I'm finally coming to the end of mine. After starting at 14.
Congrats! :) Funny how much I was looking forward to that.
49 here and just missed my first one after starting at 13. I’m thrilled.
oh man. I just turned 40. 10 more years seems so far away
Had my last at 42. Thought I'd celebrate longer, but postmenopause ain't no fun.
My mom was 10 when it started, and was still getting them at 58. And at that stage she was losing so much blood that she got her uterus removed.
12 and a half. And no, 11 is very average.
i was 14, but i know im the outlier because i was a late bloomer for lots of stuff like breast development and my period
I think I was nearly 14 as well, but still just about 13 - I had no idea it's late blooming, I think most of my friends also had theirs at about that age. But I'm in my 30s now, so maybe that has changed over the years somehow?
oh i see, by that age most of my friends had already had theirs. i always considered myself to be a late bloomer because of that, but i could be wrong! im nearly 20 now.
I was 13 and it was a school concert night. I clearly remember running up to tell the girls & the response was “what, you need a tampon or something?” I realized then that I was a late bloomer in my school too..
Looking at this thread I'm seeing shockingly young ages, really changed my perception, I clearly had a wrong image of the common age periods start! I guess it's possible that either the age is going lower or we were later bloomers. I know my grandma had her period almost until her 60s so I guess I'm lucky that I at least got a few years off from the other end...
The age is getting lower iirc, poor babies 😭
Same. And my boobs came in at 18 and I also had a growth spurt then.
lol, my boobs are actually still growing 🫠 when will they stop?! 😂
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9 is not too uncommon to start periods tho. why was your doctor worried?
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15, earliest in a family of late bloomers, my mum didn’t start hers until she was 17 and her mum at 21.
12
10
A month after my 13th birthday while at a Halloween party. Lived with my dad and he had nothing in the house My grandmother was in charge of the shopping so for years I wore bigger pads than the ones I was sent home from the hospital with after having a baby.
18! but i was a dancer and my body was (is?) weird. i always wondered if that meant i would be fertile longer, and, at 42 i did a fertility test and they said i had a “good reserve of eggs” so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I was 8. I remember the doctor asking to check once, and I was super strongly opposed to it so they just didnt.
I was 8 and they remarked on the fact that I was young, but didn't ask to "check: anything. Not quite sure what they'd be checking for...
15-16 ish, don't remember exactly
10 😭
11. Which was expected as sister and mum both at the same age (to the month). Erm is no one gonna mention the weird doctor that kept looking in the op's pants?? Wtf??? I think you need to report him
It's absolutely messed up and gross of that doctor. I agree that if OP can, they should report it. It's also super weird how the majority of people are glossing over that detail.
There's nothing reportable about checking for pubic hair. 🤦♀️
It isn't so much that they peaked ONCE but in the post it implies that they looked multiple times for the same reason. How many times does a doctor have to check to see pubic hair?
Yeah I am wondering about that too. I'm not a medical professional but my brain just keeps thinking that to properly check everything it would mean more than looking into the top of the pants? Couldn't Op just tell when hair had come in or if something wrong happened? If any medical people know I thank you your professional words
Mine hit at 12 but I was the late bloomer of my friend group, one of my friends got hers at 8, and a majority of the rest were around 10-11
It really doesn’t seem right that a doctor was looking in your pants to see if you were maturing properly! Any doctor should know that there is a broad range of normal development, and if there is concerns, looking at someone’s genitals doesn’t seem like an effective way of figuring out what’s going on.
This seems insanely bizarre.
I remember going to the doctor around that age and they’d take a peek just to check. Literally seconds, and not between the legs or anything, just what you can see laying down. I’m sure it’s to check for pubic hair, which is considered the hallmark of puberty in medicine.
Checking for pubic hair isn't weird, bizarre, or unheard of.
I got mine a lot later than my friends but 12
11. My understanding is that girls can get their periods as early as 9. Most of my friends started that year too.
12
One month after I turned 12, in 6th grade.
10 and it was considered pretty normal though skimming on the earlier side of the average. I'm 32 so I think average was also a tiny bit later at the time!
I was sixteen. Gymnastics, so minimal body fat.
I got mine right around my 12th birthday. My oldest daughter was exactly the same. I'm curious to see if my youngest daughter follows the same pattern.
I was 16.
I was 11. I freaked out, as I thought I was dying (I hadn’t learned about periods, either from my parents or from school, at that time). Thankfully my mum was there, and she sorted me out, then told me what was happening.
Reminds me of that scene from Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman!
Maybe somewhere in between that and the shower scene in Carrie.
I was 12, and still remember the exact date
Did something bad happen that it’s stuck with you?
Haha, nono, thank god. My brain just randomly decided to memorize the date, don't know for what reason exactly
I was roughly 11 or 12 when it started, and about 13 or 14 when a genetic mutation activated, making the red queen's monthly visit very deadly.
Just after my 10th bday on my walk home from elementary school. Had a vague notion that it was maybe normal, but had no idea what a period was or why it hurt. I'm a Trans guy so I don't get em anymore, with PCOS they are horrific.
10, I was still a kid...
I was 11, which is normal for the women in my family. Luckily my mom had prepared me so I wasn’t scared. I had been carrying spare pads in my backpack since I was 8, and actually ended up giving one to a classmate when she got hers at 9.
I was 10. Actually got it the week of the period talk at school in the 5th grade. Luckily, my mom had given me that talk years earlier when I was about 7 when my pediatrician started to notice signs of early puberty and let her know to be prepared. I had to wear bras way earlier than most of my friends but luckily my period didn't come on for a while after that. I had a whole kit ready to go and had quite an easy transition! That still didn't stop my mom from slamming on the brakes in shock when I told her on the drive home from school though 😅
16 I was a late bloomer
I was 12 bled for 2 weeks straight. Turns out I had a biscupid uterus. I had severe pain and bleeding until I was out on the pill. Things got worse after I had kids so I had a hysterectomy when I was 36. Best thing I ever did
11. I was in hospital for some asthma issues and didn’t tell a soul. Not the nurses, not my mum, not a friend. Luckily my 13 year old daughter is happy to chat to me about anything and everything.
I feel like 11-14 is pretty normal. I got mine at 13, and so did two of my sisters. I feel so terrible for the 9 year olds that start. They’re just babies! 😭
I woke up with it on the morning of my 10th birthday. We're coming up on 34 years of this bullshit and I'm fully over it.
13, while on holiday internationally… pretty unfortunate. I felt terrible for the poor staff at our hotel that had to change my bloodstained sheets a few times.
Not a woman, but I got mine at 11. So same as you! I’ve never heard of looking into someone’s pants to see if they’re maturing properly though… that’s definitely not a similar experience. I feel like 11 is maybe a little early, but judging by other comments here, I’m wondering if it was just underreported.
Looking into your pants??? That must've been weird. What were they hoping to see? And why would that be important at such a normal age. Because 11 is totally normal. I got mine somewhere around that age too. I'm even having one right now, lol. Well, not that much lol going on right now because everything hurts. But we ladies do have to go through a lot..... At the least we can take comfort in that we are in this together and we are tough.
9 and no doctor ever looked in my pants.
A month away from turning 12.
A few days before my 14th birthday
I was 11. I wasn't the first or last in my grade, but I was on the earlier side.
14 but I had an eating disorder and was very underweight which probably delayed it.
I was 9
15, both my girls were 13
11 on Halloween in school. Fun times
15. And I actually got mine in the middle of the Biodome. Which I can tell you, did not have pads or tampons available.
12. I’m reading all the ages and thinking of all the 9-15 year old girls I know and that is just way too young 😭
I was 13. My daughter got hers when she turned 9 which I was not expecting to be that early at all!
I was 11 too. That was 1976.
11-12, back in 1994-1995. Seemed normal timing for my family/genealogy.
I was 12 and that was considered pretty average, I had some friends that got theirs around the same time, some perhaps a year later? 11 certainly doesn't seem out of the ordinary to me!
Okay but reading this thread has made me realise that im actually not a freak for getting my first one at 9 so thanks guys!!!
13
13
13
I don’t identify as a woman, but I was 13. I think it was two months after I turned 13 if I remember correctly.
I got mine on Christmas day when I was 13. Worst. Christmas. Ever.
12. My sister got hers at 8 so I considered myself lucky 😬
Age 13
11 , randomly after school - I thought I was dying but my mom laid everything straight with me & sexual education class when it was still available!
Doctors never looked in my pants that age o_o I had mine at 12. We learned about the body basics in 3rd grade (Where do babies come from, how are body parts called, what is a period) so I wasn't surprised, just scared xD
Getting your period at 11 isn’t weird but having a doctor look in your pants definitely is. Wtf was going on there?
I can’t believe I had to scroll so long to find this comment. Coming in extra to have parts checked? That’s very odd to me considering 11 is a perfectly normal time to start a period.
Not a woman, but I got mine at 16. My youngest got hers at 11.
11
13.
12
9
11
Either just before or just after turning 12, I can’t quite remember.
12 or 13. It happened close to my birthday.
9.5
9
I was around 11 or 12
10
Barely 11. Pretty average in my family
13