Girls might start to get periods

During puberty, girls will get their periods. Lots of girls can get very scared if they don't know what's happening so it's important to yarn to girls about this change. Here are some words that might help:

When a girl starts puberty, her ovaries start to let go one egg about once a month. The egg travels towards the uterus (or womb).

The uterus gets ready for the egg to arrive by making a thick, soft lining. If the egg joins with a man's sperm it will grow in the uterus and become a baby.

If a sperm doesn't join with the egg, the egg and the soft lining of the uterus will come out through the vagina. It will look like thick blood and is called a period.

To soak up the blood, girls can use a pad (which goes on the underwear) or a tampon (which is put in the vagina).

Periods will happen every month until the woman is about 50.
Jean Hailes (a woman's health organisation) has also made a great video called All you need to know about periods (external site) that you might like to show to help explain what to expect. Yarning about Periods (external site) is also a useful Fact Sheet to use.
Here are some other things that you can do to help girls when they get their periods:
- give her a special pencil case or wallet to keep a pad or tampon in just in case
- help her find which toilet at school has a bin for pads and tampons
- talk about who to go to at school if she needs clean underwear, or a pad or tampon
- show her how to make an 'emergency' pad out of toilet paper
- show her how and where to soak blood-stained undies (in cold water) at home before putting them in the wash
- tell her she needs to change her pad/tampon about every four hours.

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