Parents can’t control when their daughters start getting their periods…can they?

This story originally appeared in Kids Today, Vox’s newsletter about kids, for everyone. Sign up here for future editions. Getting your first period can be one of the most fraught experiences of adolescence. It can be exciting, scary, painful, messy, embarrassing, or all of the above. And though the adults in your life can help you prepare for and understand what’s happening, they can’t do much to predict or control it when it does. Except that now, some parents are trying to take a more active role. “Delaying my daughter’s first period is a goal I have in motherhood,” Nicky Skinner, a nurse and health coach, wrote on Instagram last month. Skinner has been concerned for years about the effects of certain chemicals on girls’ puberty, she told me in an email. Now that she’s a mom to a 4- and 7-year-old, she’s working to eliminate those chemicals from their lives. Her post, which got more than 70,000 likes, is one of a few offering tips on pushing back the onset of menstruation (also called menarche), often involving changes to diet, personal care products, and even screen time. The parents involved are responding to a nationwide trend: The average age of menarche in the US has shifted earlier, from 12.5 between 1950 and 1969 to 11.9 between 2000 and 2005, according to a 2024 study. The percentage of kids who get their first period before age 9 is also on the rise, more than doubling between the 1950s and the 2000s. Researchers are concerned about these trends because getting a first period earlier is associated with an increased risk of some health conditions, including breast cancer. Even Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has weighed in on the matter, claiming in an April appearance on Fox News that “girls are hitting puberty six years early.” He appeared to link the issue to children’s diets, arguing that “the food our kids are eating today is not really food.” But experts say the shift toward earlier periods likely stems from a variety of factors, including increased nutrition, higher body weight, stress, and environmental influences. Researchers are particularly concerned about the impact of chemicals called endocrine disruptors, which can mimic the activity of hormones in the body, said Shruthi Mahalingaiah, a professor of environmental, reproductive, and women’s health at Harvard University. These chemicals include phthalates, which can be present in shampoos, lotions, and other common products. Some experts say it makes sense for parents to try to limit kids’ exposure to endocrine disruptors, but it’s impossible to avoid these compounds completely. And some say that expecting families to reverse a large-scale health trend — especially one involving something as intimate as menstruation — forces parents to become hypervigilant and could even put their kids at risk of eating disorders. “I definitely don’t think that it should be on individual parents to save their daughters from this possibly overblown idea of early menarche being a problem,” Christy Harrison, a registered dietitian and host of the podcast Rethinking Wellness, told me. Why earlier periods could be a problem Experts are worried about the shift toward earlier menstruation because an earlier age at first period is linked with a variety of health risks, including cardiovascular disease and several reproductive cancers. Some research also suggests an increased risk of anxiety and depression, Roopa Kanakatti Shankar, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC, told me. Getting a period at a younger age than their peers can also be stressful for kids. “Physically, they are reaching an adult-like state, but the cognitive development is still ongoing,” Shankar said. Managing the mechanics of pads, tampons, and tracking your cycle can be more difficult for younger kids, Mahalingaiah said (honestly, it remains a challenge for some adults). Younger children may have a harder time handling the mood shifts that can come with the menstrual cycle, Shankar said. Girls who go through puberty earlier are also more likely to experience sexual harassment, according to some research. For these reasons (and others), creators like Skinner, who lives in New Zealand, are taking matters into their own hands. “The idea of delaying my daughter’s first period (menarche) as long as naturally possible isn’t about artificially controlling or fearing puberty — it’s about supporting long-term health and well-being in the face of modern environmental stressors,” she writes in her Instagram post, inviting readers to comment “DAUGHTER hormone support checklist” to learn more. Skinner also offers a variety of health coaching and “low tox” education services. Skinner clarified to me that “it’s not about ‘delaying’ their period,” but rather “creating an environment for them that doesn’t bring it on prematurely.” For her, that includes “eliminating personal care products with synthetic fragrance chemicals as well as swapping to glass and stainless steel in the kitchen in place of plastic.” She also focuses on feeding her kids “whole, real, and homemade food” about 80 percent of the time. Bec Kinderman, a mom of four and homebirth advocate living in Australia, posted a similar message in April: “Let’s normalize pre teen girls being young, enjoying playgrounds and slowing down the onset of puberty.” Kinderman, who did not respond to Vox’s request for comment, goes on to advise that parents choose whole foods over “convenience foods” that are “loaded up on seed oils and artificial ingredients.” “While as parents we can’t control everything in our child’s environment & their life experiences & circumstances, there are things we can do to try to minimize these concerns,” Kinderman writes, in a post that received over 60,000 likes. “I will be daring and say that household toxins and diet are NUMBER ONE.” Can parents control kids’ periods? Several experts told me it’s reasonable for parents to try to limit endocrine-disrupting chemicals in their homes, such as by avoiding unnecessary fragrances or choosing safer cleaning products. “If you have the knowledge that you have a product that has these endocrine disruptors, and there is an alternative, to me it is reasonable to choose the one that doesn’t,” Aviva Sopher, a pediatric endocrinologist at Columbia University, told me. However, Sopher said, it’s impossible to completely avoid these chemicals because they also occur outside the home, such as in products used on lawns and gardens. Products made without phthalates and other endocrine disruptors can also be more costly, making it harder for lower-income families to avoid them, Sopher added. Meanwhile, trying to influence the timing of a child’s period through diet could have unintended consequences, some say. “One of the biggest problems that can cause delayed menarche is disordered eating,” Harrison said. Indeed, a very late first period, like a very early one, is associated with health risks, possibly because of links with eating disorders, Shankar said. “I worry that the goal of delaying girls’ periods unintentionally encourages restricting their eating, and also potentially masks the signs of disordered eating,” Harrison said. Banning all processed foods from the home could also backfire. Kids who never have access to such foods often binge when they do encounter them, Harrison said: “I see that so often in kids who are restricted and deprived of sugar or snack foods, where they end up going to friends’ houses and just like staying around the snack drawer the whole time.” It’s worth noting, also, that real concerns around endocrine disruptors can sometimes exist alongside health misinformation. Kennedy, for example, has discussed early puberty while also making misleading claims about the dangers of Covid-19 vaccines and his ability to find the “cause” of autism within a year. And seed oils, mentioned by Kinderman, are not associated with early puberty and are actually beneficial for health, according to nutrition scientists. (Kinderman’s website also includes a link to a list of anti-vaccine resources.) Skinner agrees there’s a risk of children developing eating disorders “if parents are too fanatical about ONLY eating ‘good’ foods,” but says her 80–20 approach does not carry such a risk. “In our home we don’t demonize ANY food groups. We talk about how food makes them feel.” She doesn’t want concern about eating disorders to become an “excuse” for parents “not to take ownership for their role” — which, she says, “is to set their child up for the best chance of a healthful life.” Others, however, say that placing the onus on families to prevent early menarche puts an “unfair blame and shame on parents, and especially moms,” who are still disproportionately in charge of what kids eat, Harrison said. Scientists still aren’t sure what role endocrine disruptors play in early puberty, and they are difficult to study, even for professionals because they can occur in extremely low amounts that may or may not add up over time, Shankar said. Parents who are concerned that their daughters are going through early puberty — defined as breast development beginning before age 8 — should consult a doctor, Shankar said. On a societal level, we need more research into environmental influences on puberty, including endocrine disruptors, she added. Changes to public policy could also encourage companies “to be more aware and more sensitive about what they’re putting into the products that we’re all using,” Sopher said. Stricter laws around air and water quality could be another way to address environmental factors along with “environmental justice regulations that keep certain groups from being disproportionately impacted by pollution,” Harrison said. (Despite Kennedy’s stated concern about earlier puberty, the Trump administration has actually rolled back dozens of laws around clean air and water.) “To the extent that things in our environment are affecting this trend, it’s on politicians and society,” Harrison said. “At the collective level, we need to make these changes, not put it on the individual.” What I’m reading Gun deaths of children rose in states that loosened gun laws after a 2010 Supreme Court decision, according to a new study. In states that kept restrictions in place, deaths remained flat or even decreased. An 11th-grade New York City student was detained by immigration authorities at an asylum hearing last week, school officials said. Just 45 percent of 7th- to 12th-graders saw college as their most likely next step after high school in 2024, down from 73 percent in 2018, according to a new survey. My older kid and I have discovered the Area 51 Files series, about a middle-schooler forced to relocate to a top-secret base full of aliens. I especially enjoy the character of Elvis, an alien who looks like a human kid — but only because our human brains cannot comprehend his true appearance. From my inbox A few weeks ago, I wrote about kids’ hopes and dreams for the future. We got some responses we weren’t able to include in the final story, and one of my favorites came from a 15-year-old, who hopes to become a mechanic and create a new car “that can save the world (somehow).” As a millennial, I am constantly disappointed by the lack of flying cars, and I look forward to the lifesaving variety. As always, you can reach me with questions or story ideas at anna.north@vox.com.

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Parents can’t control when their daughters start getting their periods…can they?