Thinx!!!! They really do work, and take the whole mess issue off the table. It took me many years to deal responsibly with my period, and I didn’t start till 14.

Anonymous wrote:School nurse here.
10 is an outlier for caucasian girls. Less so for African Americans.

DD (Asian) had it when she was 16. She changes frequently but there is always some stains when the periods first start and she has not put a pad on. OP, maybe buy her all black underwear?

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone start their daughters on birth control and skip the inactive week so there is no withdrawal bleeding? I did that in my 20's and 30's until I had kids. I have boys but swore if I had girls I would do the same particularly if they started having periods in elementary school.

Hormonal birth control has all kinds of side effects, some of them quite nasty. Please don’t mess with your daughters natural biological development just because you think periods are yucky. They are yucky, but yuckiness is the only side effect. Side effects of birth control are often dangerous and sometimes fatal.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone start their daughters on birth control and skip the inactive week so there is no withdrawal bleeding? I did that in my 20's and 30's until I had kids. I have boys but swore if I had girls I would do the same particularly if they started having periods in elementary school.

I would not put a 10yo on birth control.

Does anyone start their daughters on birth control and skip the inactive week so there is no withdrawal bleeding? I did that in my 20's and 30's until I had kids. I have boys but swore if I had girls I would do the same particularly if they started having periods in elementary school.

I just bought dark colors for my girls. They were already doing their own laundry by that age, but they didn't have to worry about stains. Also, I thought both of my girls started early because I was past 13, but my oldest was 10 and my youngest was 11 when they started.

Bucket with OxyClean. Panties for the week go in there to soak.

The average age for periods in the U.S. is 12.16 for black girls and 12.88 for whites. By age 11, 28% of black girls and 13.5% of whites menstruate. By age 12, 62% of blacks, and 35% of whites.

http://www.obgyn.net/young-women/first-menstruation-average-age-and-physical-signs

School nurse here.
10 is an outlier for caucasian girls. Less so for African Americans.

To get blood out just pour some peroxide on it. It turns pink, then disappears. You could wait until she's done then dump them all in a small bucket. They'll come out bright white.

I learned this from a nurse.

I am a middle school teacher. 10 does seem to be on the young end of most girls. Respectfully, I think you need to cut your girl some slack. She is dealing with a lot already with the changes in her body. It is a lot to ask her also to cope with stains on her undies, especially when the whole concept of a period is embarrassing and annoying and upsetting to most tweens anyway. As she matures and adjusts, she will begin to show more interest and will begin to prefer to wear undies that are not stained. Until then, set aside some undies that she can wear when she has her period and teach her how to keep those separate in her underwear drawer.

Anonymous wrote:I had trouble with period stains, because schools are absolutely awful about bathrooms breaks. When you need a hygiene break, you need it even if it's not convenient, even if the teacher said wait 15 minutes, even if you went yesterday during math class. My mom had my back with the school, but it's tough when you're still young enough to want to hide it from your peers.

Ugh you are so right. In middle school I had lunch at 7th period, so my 8th period teacher didn't want to let anyone use the bathroom. Except the lunch ladies wouldn't let us go to the bathroom either. My mother wrote a note saying I had a history of UTI's and was to always be allowed to use the bathroom whenever I asked.

Anonymous wrote:What percentage of girls start at 10 or younger?

I think I remember reading the 90% of girls will start within 2 years of average (and average is 12 and 1/2). But even if you're in that 10%, it's not like that's incredibly rare.

I had trouble with period stains, because schools are absolutely awful about bathrooms breaks. When you need a hygiene break, you need it even if it's not convenient, even if the teacher said wait 15 minutes, even if you went yesterday during math class. My mom had my back with the school, but it's tough when you're still young enough to want to hide it from your peers.

It took my daughter until 12 to be pretty good about it. It's a lot to remember and deal with, and I think it just takes some kids longer. Trying to teach her to deal with her own stuff, or at the very least coming to me and giving me her stained clothes, was also a trial.

I was patient, and repetitive. Teach her how to get bloodstains out, and look into some good laundry supplies. My daughter wouldn't hand wash her underwear initially, but she'd douse them in a stain cleaner so we went with that.

She's old enough to care about some of her underwear and is better about hand washing stains.