Growing After Period

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD recently got her period. She is 13 and 4'10. I am 5'2 and DH is 5'7. Is she going to grow much taller or will she be about this height? She hates being so short. She had her growth spurt but and has always been on the short end. Did you guys or DDs grow much after your periods?

we are facing similar issues and the answer is you can't know unless you have a hand xray done and then can determine the bone growth age and if there is any room for growth. There might be and there might not be. Getting her period is more of general guidance thing.

Is it hand xray or foot, or either? My DC got a foot xray about 2 years ago due to some pain in the foot, and the Dr said the bone growth was about a year to year and half behind. DC is a bit below average and hasn't hit puberty yet. DC is 12.

PP here - it's likely the same as hand, hand X-rays are just quicker and easier. But it's best to have an actual pediatric endocrinologist review if you have concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s with all these 10 and 11 year old kids getting their period! Yikes.

I got it at 11 in 1986.

[Anonymous]

"Menstruation begins, almost always after the peak growth rate in height (average age is 12.5 years).
Once girls start to menstruate, they usually grow about 1 or 2 more inches, reaching their final adult height by about age 14 or 15 years (younger or older depending on when puberty began)."

http://kidshealth.org/en/parents/growth-13-to-18.html

[Anonymous]

I'm 5'9" and got my period at 11. I was awkwardly tall in middle school but I can't imagine I was 5'9" - probably more like 5'6".

I always wanted to be petite, and felt enormous next to all the short guys I liked. Now that I'm older I appreciate being able to gain 5 lbs without going up a pants size though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s with all these 10 and 11 year old kids getting their period! Yikes.

Do you realize that there are things that you cannot control? I have three girls, same parents, same diet: one started her periods at 14, one at 11, and one at 16.

[Anonymous]

There have always been girls who started at 10 or 11.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s with all these 10 and 11 year old kids getting their period! Yikes.

Do you realize that there are things that you cannot control? I have three girls, same parents, same diet: one started her periods at 14, one at 11, and one at 16.

Similar for us too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s with all these 10 and 11 year old kids getting their period! Yikes.

That's normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s with all these 10 and 11 year old kids getting their period! Yikes.

I got mine when I was 11 - I was 5’8” at the time. Do you have a problem understanding how people might be different than you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s with all these 10 and 11 year old kids getting their period! Yikes.

I thought that was normal. I thought it was odd to start in your teens (14+). I was 11 when I started in 1992. Not sure how tall I was, but I’m 5’3” as an adult. I was always average in height.

[Anonymous]

for all the PPs listing final height and age of first period, that doesn't give the information we are interested in regarding growth after period. I got my period at 11 and I'm now 5'8". But I think I was almost 5'8" when I got my period. My daughter was 5'2" already when she got her period at 10. She always wanted to be tall, but i don't think that's in the cards. (it has only been a few months, so i'm not sure how much she'll grow still.) I'd be curious to hear more people talk about how much their girls grew after they got their periods.

[Anonymous]

I’m 5”9 and I was 10 when I got my period. I think I was around 5”3. I remember for sure that I was 5”7 at age 12, so I definitely grew afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:for all the PPs listing final height and age of first period, that doesn't give the information we are interested in regarding growth after period. I got my period at 11 and I'm now 5'8". But I think I was almost 5'8" when I got my period. My daughter was 5'2" already when she got her period at 10. She always wanted to be tall, but i don't think that's in the cards. (it has only been a few months, so i'm not sure how much she'll grow still.) I'd be curious to hear more people talk about how much their girls grew after they got their periods.

Almost 5'8 is really crazy tall for an 11 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s with all these 10 and 11 year old kids getting their period! Yikes.

This is nothing new. There’s just message boards now to discuss periods versus previous generations where most females never discussed their periods openly.

It has trended earlier over the years though. Estrogen-like chemicals in our environment. Probably different nutrition as well - more body fat leads to earlier periods.

You are correct.
Another thing is that you will grow till you have space between your bones to grow. My DD had her periods at 16. She is 5'4
. She will not grow anymore. I am 5'3 and DH is 5'10.
We will not be producing super tall children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s with all these 10 and 11 year old kids getting their period! Yikes.

This is nothing new. There’s just message boards now to discuss periods versus previous generations where most females never discussed their periods openly.

It has trended earlier over the years though. Estrogen-like chemicals in our environment. Probably different nutrition as well - more body fat leads to earlier periods.

This is actually not true. I researched this last time there was a thread on DCUM and found: the age of first period has stayed roughly the same since the start of the industrial period -- average onset of 12 years, 7 months for Caucasian girls, a couple months earlier for African-American girls (sorry I can't remember where Asian and Latina girls fell but it wasn't much different). However, the age of first signs of puberty (e.g., breast buds and pubic hair) has been moving up over the last few decades, most likely due to the estrogen-imitator chemicals in the environment.
And, I think the stats were that 90% of girls get their first period within 2 years of the average. Which means that 10% of girls will get it either before 10 1/2, or after 14 1/2 - so a girl getting her period at 10 is earlier than most, but not a statistical freak by any means.
The strongest predictor for when a girl would get it, is actually the age at which her mother got it. Athletic activity and body fat are the other major indicators, but generally the genetics will prevail unless the daughter has a significantly different body type or activity level than her mother (e.g., a competitive athlete probably will not get it as soon as her mother did).

To the OP's question, I think I grew about 4 inches after getting my period. I think the PP that said that most girls will only grow a couple of inches after getting their period is probably right, but it seems that there's a of variation here. The best predictor for height is parent's height -- there's an online tool, but I think for girls it's something like you average the mom's height with the dad's height minus 6 inches, and 90% of girls will be within an inch or two of that height, assuming both the parents and the kid had normal nutrition growing up.