16 year old daughter did not start to menstruate

chaylizi

Sun, Jun 15 2008, 10:32 pm

amother wrote:

MY DAUGHTER DOES NOT HAVE AN EATING DISORDER . She is a top kid in school and is a happy kid. She loves to cook and eats very well.. Last year dr. told her she must gain 10 lbs. which she did... But she also grew 3 inches. So BMI is still below 15 percentile.

onset of puberty has everything to do with body weight. a girl does not menstruate until she reaches a certain critical body mass. 1 didn't get my period until I was almost 15 & the dr said it was b/c I was very thin (but not anorexic). in the same vein, I did not stop growing until 17 & I grew for far longer than the rest of the girls in my class. regardless of this, the rule of thumb is that you talk to a dr if there are no normal changes of puberty at all by age 14 or no period by 15. delayed puberty also tends to run in families. this is not totally worrisome, but please find a dr that you & your daughter feel comfortable with & consult with them. both of you will feel much better & if there are any issues you will be able to take care of them.

BeershevaBubby

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 1:01 am

My daughter was 6 months shy of her 16th birthday before she started menstruating.

However, up until that point she was being seen every 6 months by a GYN at the 'teenage girl's clinic' at the doctor's office.

A few months before her 15th birthday they did a full workup on her - blood, u/s, a 'light' pelvic exam and a bone density scan on her wrist (basically a wrist x-ray). Apparently there is a correlation between wrist bone density and gynocological maturity.

Everything was normal but the x-ray showed she has the wrist of a 13 year old. So the dr said to come back in 6 months. So we did and once again, all was fine. When the next 6 months were almost over, she started getting her period.

Look, there are late bloomers and it's not uncommon. But get her to a doctor please. Don't depend on Dr Imamother for reassurance.

(and my daughter is NOT underweight. She's actually a bit overweight and I think she may have PCOS)

Last edited by BeershevaBubby on Mon, Jun 16 2008, 1:03 am; edited 1 time in total

HindaRochel

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 7:59 am

I did reply to this before but who knows.
I didn't get my period till 16.
My daughters got their cycles at 15 and 14, the third is only 9 and I don't expect anything for some time.

I wouldn't normally advise doing anything until 17 except her twin got her cycle at 13. If she is an identical twin, then I would think she would have had her cycle by now. If a fraternal twin, then even though born at the same time she is not genetically similar.

If she is having regular stomach pains it could be she has a blockage (as someone said, a flap of skin) and this is stopping the flow from flowing. The doctor can check that out with a sonogram or a cat scan or an MRI, I'm not sure which. The procedure is pretty simple.

HindaRochel

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 8:06 am

amother wrote:

1. Being in the top of the class and enjoying cooking are not proofs against an eating disorder. Many children with eating disorders do enjoy cooking for others and also are tops of their class. Perfectionism is part of the syndrome. This does not mean that your child has an eating disorder but you should not rule it out on the basis of the above.
2. If she is eating normally, and you are certain she isn't purging, and she is not gaining weight as well as height: it could be she'll gain a huge amount of weight quickly, so her height/weight even out. Keep an eye out for that and see. OR She has some sort of difficulty metabolising food. She eats, but the food isn't digested properly and it being "wasted".

It does seem though from this piece of info that she should see the doctor quickly and get a full work up.

Kmommy18

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 1:24 pm

HindaRochel wrote:

amother wrote:

I was just about to post the same thing myself. I had a friend in high school who was anorexic. She was one of the best students in the school, not a "problem" kid at all. Last year I taught at a girls' high school and one of my top students was struggling with an eating disorder as well. I am not trying to be judgy or anything, but the fact that you so adamantly deny the possiblity that your daughter might have an eating disorder leads me to believe that she may very well have one. Girls who are perfectionists or are out to please everyone are the ones who fall prey to these awful disorders. And I am further concerned by the fact that your 16 year old daughter weighs 80 pounds and instead of rushing her to the doctor, you are posting about it here (and you wouldn't have even mentioned it had it not come up).

Please do not make this about yourself or your expectations of your daughter. I have seen first hand how terrible eating disorders are. Please take your daughter to a doctor or nutritionist and get her properly evaluated.

amother

Mon, Jun 16 2008, 2:05 pm

Thanks everybody for the posts. I did take her to the dr. a year ago. Dr. also feels she DOES NOT HAVE AN EATING DISORDER I.e. She looks pink, happy, and confident. She had a blood work done everything is fine. She had a sono and everything is fine. I do have to take her back in August for a recheck, and dr. wants to see a major weight gain, which did not happen.

Thanks again for your posts.......And if anyone had similar experiences please let me know.