Your Daughter’s First Period: Be Prepared with 5 Simple Steps! #KotexMom

Summer is over and we are already 6 weeks into the new school year. This year, my daughter is in fifth grade and she has taken a serious interest in clothes, hair, music, texting, and all those other great tween past-times. This is a strange age for her…she is also known for playing with her baby doll, climbing trees and snuggling with mommy. At almost 11 years old she is not quite child but not quite teenager either. We have had many talks over the last few years about growing up and what it means for her physically but I know that when she eventually DOES get her period she will be totally freaked out about it! While I can’t really prepare her emotionally for the start of her period, I CAN make sure she prepared wherever and whenever it arrives.

 

If you want to ensure that your daughter is prepared for her period, even if it happens at school, here are a few suggestions that might come in handy!

 

1. Be honest with your daughter about what her period will be like. I suffer from an assortment of PMS symptoms myself and when they hit I come right out and say it…mommy is emotional because of PMS, I have a headache, my stomach is bothering me, I have cramps….whatever the current symptom is. Making sure she is able to read the PMS signs her own body sends out will go a long way towards making sure she is prepared. Have an open line of communication when it comes to ‘how are you feeling today’ and you may be able to spot her PMS symptoms before she does!

 

 My Daughter’s First Period Kit

 

2. Make sure she has the right supplies with her at all times.  Put together an emergency care kit that she can keep in her backpack or sleepover bag. You can put in an assortment of things like panti liners and pads, moist hand wipes, Advil (if allowed at school), and even a spare pair of underwear. Although my daughter refused that suggestion…guess she didn’t like the idea of carrying around underwear at school! You can find travel sized containers of personal care items and Kotex Tween pads and pantiliners are extremely thin yet very absorbent. They won’t take up much room at all in a little pouch!

 

 

3. Make sure she knows what to do!  You can’t just hand a girl a pad or tampon and expect her to know what to do with it! Have her open it, tear off the adhesive strip backing and actually try it out. Doing this at home while you are there for her to ask questions to will make the real thing so much easier to handle! Make sure she realizes she can go to the school nurse or call you if she needs to.

 

4. Make sure YOU know the signs, too!  Last year my daughter was having some on again off again sporadic stomach issues. For several months she would say for a day or two that her stomach hurt. I finally decided to take her in to the doctor and told him maybe it was menstrual cramps? He took one look at her and said, NOPE not that time yet. While it turned out to be nothing serious, I was surprised he could tell just with a quick glance that she wasn’t ready for her period yet. He said that the period is usually the very last stage of puberty in a girl. Before it hits you will  notice acne, body odor, underarm hair, and breast buds. So, if you notice those things in YOUR daughter you can probably assume that the period won’t be far behind!

5. Make sure she has a calender:  It seems like such a simple thing but personally I can not remember from one month to the next what day I should be getting my period. If I can’t remember those details, there is no way I can expect her to. She can barely remember to put a jacket on before running out the door! Kotex has some great period planners on their website to help your daughter keep track of her period so she won’t be embarrassed by being caught off guard at school! She can even use the calculator to figure out how many days her cycle is and jot down notes about how she is feeling and how long her period lasts. Understanding her cycle will go a long way towards making her confident about her body!

 

Making sure your daughter is ready for her period will save her alot of embarrassment when she finally starts her cycle. Keep an open line of communication with her, buy her age appropriate supplies to have on hand in case of emergency, and be honest about what she can expect from her body as she matures. The Kotex website has a lot of really great information for both moms and daughters as they enter into this exciting and slightly stressful time of their lives!

 

For period questions that could be helpful for tweens and teens please visit U by Kotex!

I wrote this review while participating in a Brand Ambassador Campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of U by Kotex Tween and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.