I started with tampons pretty quickly after starting my period. I had to do it all myself as my mom was anti-tampon. Leave her a variety of options and she can decide what she prefers.

If she has a heavy flow, she can use paper towels to wrap the tampon before throwing away too. I used to leave a roll in the bathroom for just this. Line the trashcan with shopping bags and have her change it daily.

My cycle was a horror show that often looked like a murder scene. So I've got allll the tricks. Period underwear would have laughed at me and my pants would have been soaked. The girls/women who can use those can also use a panty liner and be fine. So, just keep that in mind. Heavy bleeding requires multiple layers to avoid leaks and ruined pants.

Anonymous wrote:
I gave our daughter the option to choose what works best for her.

Did you include tampons, the Diva cup, and period underwear?

Give her the option of tampons, but please don’t push it on her. I wasn’t able to comfortably use tampons until after I began having sex.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid started her period at 10. We talked about it because she swims. She was a hard no.
13 now and she’s still a hard no. I think it’s fine whenever but don’t need to push it if there is resistance. She’s ok wearing pads and seems to manage. She knows in any bathroom except her own to wrap in TP and put in the trash.

NP. How does she handle swimming during her period? Asking for my own swimmer who will likely start soon.

I have one kid who started using tampons almost immediately and a 17 year old who has no interest and only wears period underwear and pads. This is very much a personal decision and beyond offering supplies, I don't weight in.

I did swim so I got on tampons right away. My Dad was a doctor and made me watch a scary video on Toxic Shock Syndrome so I was good about it.

Tampons are just so, so much better. I never found a pad that didn't leak in some way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you wear tampons all day from a young age, how can you tell how heavy/light the period is?

You take them out and see if there's any white left or they're fully saturated with blood. If the panyliner has blood, you're not changing the tampon often enough/using a high enough absorbency.

This, but also keep in mind that some girls/women deal with periods that are so heavy that you can change them hourly and use the highest absorbency and still have leaks. Sometimes a sign of a real problem like endometriosis, sometimes (as in my case) just an extreme annoyance that lasts about 12 hours but also results in a much shorter period.

I gave our daughter the option to choose what works best for her.

I got my daughter a bunch of things: pads, tampons, underwear. She started with the underwear, which worked because she happened to have a break from both swim and dance (her two sports). She had just turned 13.

After the first month she started using tampons, and uses those for the most part. Although I think she uses the period underwear for at home and sleeping.

The whole thing was a non-issue, which shocked me because she is an anxious kid who hates change. It helped at first that her periods were light and not very frequent.

My daughter started at 12. I gave her the option of tampons right away.

Girls are active, athletic and wear leggings. Tampons should be an option from the start.

Tampax Pearl is great for teens. Get the smallest light day ones to start. The light purple, maybe the yellow ones too. She went to a girls middle school and this is the brand the school kept in the bathroom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid started her period at 10. We talked about it because she swims. She was a hard no.
13 now and she’s still a hard no. I think it’s fine whenever but don’t need to push it if there is resistance. She’s ok wearing pads and seems to manage. She knows in any bathroom except her own to wrap in TP and put in the trash.

NP. How does she handle swimming during her period? Asking for my own swimmer who will likely start soon.

I bought the Ruby love brand period swimwear. She wears the bikini bottom style under her one piece. We’ve avoided meets so far when she’s on her period.

I wanted my daughter to have all the options from the get go. She was using tampons with in a couple months of starting her period. She eventually helped friends learn how to use them, too.

My swim team girl started using them at 12. This is a very anxious kid and she figured it out.

DD requested tampons after her first cycle. Now (22) she uses a disc. Personally once I tried a cup...I never considered tampons again.

I started with tampons, and talked about pads and tampons with DD before she got her period and had both in the house for her. She used both. Before she went to college, I asked her about menstrual cups and period panties, but she wasn't interested in either.