Average or Late

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Okay, I've been really confused about this. I started my period last year, when I was 13.5. A lot of my friends said they started when they were 11 or 12. Heck, I even have a friend...actually, ex-friend...that got hers in 5th grade! Is my starting age abnormal?

It varies from girl to girl. Some start really young and some don't start until well into their teens. From what I hear, a lot of it is hereditary. I didn't start until I was 13 and I was the last of the girls in my class to start. I'll be 50 in April and I'm going through perimenopause (the end of the menstrual cycles and ovulation right before the actual menopause which is when periods stop altogether). Some women go through longer or shorter perimenopause phases and some have actual menopause earlier or later. It really just depends on your body. There is no good or bad, wrong or right. It happens when it happens, so there is no need for you to worry.

Thanks! I've always been a little embarrassed about it, but this helped. :)

I didn't get mine until I was in 8th grade (age 14). It's less common to be a late bloomer but it's nothing to be worried about or ashamed of.

I got my period when I was almost 12 years and 6 months old.
My mother got it when she was 14 and a few months old which is very late.

I started my period, when I was about 13.5 years old, too.

All my stuff happened freakishly early. I had to wear a bra when I was 8, had acne at 9, and started periods at 10.5. I was very large for my age until I was about 12, when I stopped growing and everybody else kept on for a couple of years.

I started mine when I was almost 14, which is well within the normal range.

I started mine two weeks before I turned 12.

I had my first period when I was 12 1/2 years old, which pretty much makes it within normal range.

13.5 here too. Also the last of my peer group to start.

my first one was 13.

I had mine when I was 11 1/2--there was a contest among my peers to see how UNDEVELOPED we were in terms of puberty (if you can believe)--well, I think I lost that one...

I know someone who got hers at 15, and that was most likely due to her small stature. If you're thin, it's not unusual at all.

I would have loved to have started late. At age 11, I was the second girl in the entire grade to get it, and I felt like I'd been robbed of my childhood and still do. I've had problems with my weight since I was a kid... I've always preferred to eat foods high in protein and carbs, and found exercise hard, so it wasn't any surprise that I started at that age.

I got mine at 14. It was a bit late compared to my class, but every woman in my family got it at 14 so that's totally expected. It's only unusual if it's after 16.