What Are the Signs of the First Period?

Every young girl wonders when she will get her first period, or menarche. A few signs, such as changes in her body, will alert her to when her first period may happen.

Significance

• A girl's first period is one of the official signs that she has become a woman. It marks the beginning of a 30-year journey in which her body menstruates and is capable of becoming pregnant.

Time Frame

• The average girl begins menstruation between the ages of 12 and 14, with some girls starting their first period as young as 9 and as old as 15.

Function

• A girl's period is the result of an unfertilized egg leaving her womb.Additionally, her body stored up lining in her utuerus to protect the fertilized egg. If the egg was not fertilized, this lining is shed as well--and is the majority of the blood shed during her period.

Considerations

• When a girl begins to enter puberty, her body changes by growing breasts, widening of the hips, growing hair under her arms and in the pubic area and starting her period. Usually, the period is preceded by the other body changes.

Insight

• If a girl is worried about starting her period unexpectedly, she can wear panty liners to prevent blood staining her panties. Her first period will normally begin with dark red, almost brown, spotting. This indicator will tell her that she needs to change to wearing a normal pad, or sanitary napkin.