Why one mom is trying to delay her daughter's first period — as experts warn of the risks of early puberty
According to Stat News, over the past 55 years, young girls in the US have been getting their periods earlier and earlier. Nowadays, the average age is 11 years and nine months.
As if that age was startling enough, 16% of girls are getting their cycle before they even celebrate their 11th birthday.
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Nowadays, the average age for a young girl to get her first period is 11 years and nine months.
zakalinka – stock.adobe.com
The concerning part is that, according to the National Library of Medicine, females who start their period at this young age have a 23% higher risk of developing different cancers — like breast, endometrial and ovarian — later on in life.
Aside from the increased risk of being diagnosed with serious illnesses down the road — another concern about early puberty is that young girls are forced to endure the emotional and physical toll periods can have before their brains and bodies are fully developed.
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'…modern teens have to deal with painful periods, the risk of getting pregnant and sometimes actually getting pregnant well before their brains and bodies are actually mature enough,' Elena Bridgers, a mom of two and a wellness and mental health writer, said in a recent Instagram reel.
Because of this alarming news, moms like Rebecca Kinderman are trying to delay their daughter's first period by following a holistic lifestyle.
'I believe that if we can delay this part of 'growing up,' especially when their brains are not developed enough to be able to handle everything that they could be exposed to online, we are allowing our girls to stay young for longer,' Kinderman told Newsweek.
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The 36-year-old posted a viral Instagram reel where she explained her thought process in helping her daughter live a long, healthy life.
Believing household toxins and poor diets are contributing factors to early periods, Kinderman stressed in her post that feeding your family whole foods without seed oils and artificial ingredients is major.
And in the era of parents raising 'iPad kids,' the mom also stressed the importance of removing kids from their tech devices and encouraging them to get outside and play.
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And it seems that Kinderman might have a point — especially regarding diets and lifestyle choices.
'I think that that is very reflective of the obesity epidemic that we are seeing,' Aviva Sopher, a professor of pediatrics at Columbia University, Irving Medical Center, told Stat News.
'To me, this is concerning as well, this kind of confluence of obesity and earlier puberty and more irregular cycles,' she said.
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