Why haven’t my periods started?

Last updated on October 29, 2020

Question:

I have breast buds. Yesterday I found 3 or 4 dark hairs. It’s all really confusing. No underarm hair. I shave my legs. My mom got her first period a month before her twelfth birthday. I had my thirteenth birthday and still no period. I so confused! Why haven’t I had mine yet? I’m not sure about when my dad did, but I’m not going to ask.

Answer:

Everyone develops at their own individual pace. While children tend to develop in a similar pattern and on a similar timescale to their parents, it is not absolute because you have a different mixture of genes from your parents.

Girls will start their period between stage 2 and stage 4 of development. It runs about 50-50 between starting before or after your growth spurt in stage 3. It sounds like you are in stage 2, so it may happen soon or it might not happen for another year or more.