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Mine last a full week and there are times I cant even leave the house its so bad.
Mine used to be heavier, but I've noticed in the last few years it has gotten a lot lighter. Probably because I'm getting closer to the second "change." I still get PMS cramps but good, enough where I scrambling for the Motrin bottle.
I went and bought a box of the smallest tampons I could find. The down side is her flow is quite heavy so if she chooses to use them, she will have to change them a lot. Or she could just use them if she wants to swim.
The instructions are a joke. Far above her reading level (she has dyslexia) and almost no pictures. But I think the book "The care and keeping of you" she has will have better instructions.
She can use the small ones to learn, she will figure out her flow in time and get used to wearing larger sized tampons. I was very athletic, used tampons from the beginning and was wearing supers for day 2 (very heavy for me) right away without issue. I hated pads and only wore them at night and as a back up on heavy days until I discovered Tampax pearl, which is the only brand I found that never leaks. They also come in multi paks with different sizes all in one box.
My freinds never talked about using tampons. I just followed the instructions, I do remember there were decent pictures. Fortunately, I was never squeamish about touching my own body, so I was comfortable with figuring out tampons. Being comfortable with my body has served me very well over the years. I hope all mother's of daughters try to encourage their girls to become comfortable with their bodies.
If she is going to use tampons, make sure that you are aware of when she changes them and that she removes the last one at the end of the period. Though not common, you hear the horror stories of TSS when they are not used as directed. At age 10, this will probably require more oversight on your part to make sure she uses correctly.
I am so far from an expert in using anything. I don't have freakish anatomy, but a variation that makes using tampons, diaphragms, cups, etc impossible.
I don't understand how the cup works...I mean, don't you have to clean it? So what if you are in public? How do you know if its full? Does it slip?
The cup I use holds the same as four super plus tampons. Most people won't fill it up in a day. There's one day each month when I have to use a backup pad if I leave the house. When the cup fills up, you might feel a few bubbles or a little bit of sliding, and that's a warning to head to the bathroom right away. I'm used to it enough that I can even feel it in my sleep and wake up if I have to empty it.
I've had to empty it in a public restroom a couple of times. I took some wet paper towels into the stall, emptied the cup, wiped it with the paper towels and reinserted it. Then I washed it out when I got home.
I was hesitant to try it but I bled for so long that I became allergic to tampons, and you can't really ride a bicycle with a pad, so I wanted an alternative. There's a website with a chart for all the brands of cups and what will fit different shapes and variations in anatomy, but I'll have to look for the link.
I would definitely advise her to stick with the tampons if she can figure them out. I started at 11, wore pads for the first two years and they were awful. Any brand I tried would give me a rash. And I changed them as needed, so it wasn't that. They were itchy, gave me bloody rashes, and were so sticky. Drove me nuts!
At 13, I finally got up the courage to shove a tampon in. I haven't looked back since. So much easier and more comfortable.
I've never been an athletic girl, so that wasn't why I tried them. But obviously you can't swim with a pad.
How do your girls handle summer and menstruation? My daughter is 10 and this is her first year menstruating during the summer. Last summer she was in her bathing suit and in water every single day. In fact, for the last couple weeks she has been.He best friend and the other kids she plays with haven't started yet.
When I was a kid, we didn't play with water that much. I can't use tampons so I just opted out of water play when it was my time (still do).
With her age, I cant imagine her using tampons...and since I have never used them, I don't even know if I could teach her.
So I was wondering what other young girls do in the summer?
I was also 10 when I started, which back then was a little ahead of everybody else. I LOVED the water and spent as much time as I could in the pool. I couldn't figure out how to use tampons. Why? Because I had no clue about the human body. Spent many a summer in pads, suffering leaks and discomfort. I also had a heavy flow that always lasted a full week. I didn't understand until I was in college how to use them.
Give her an anatomy lesson with pictures. Also make sure the tampon is easy to use. Back in the day there was only Tampax with an ugly cardboard thing. Later I found a brand with a plastic inserter that was much easier. That, and an anatomy lesson freed me from the dreaded period monster!
When I had my kids, I had to have a hysterectomy, so I haven't had a period in 35 years.I don't know what's on the market now.
Good luck!
Last edited by Southlander; 06-13-2017 at 06:08 PM..
The cup is made of a biofriendly silicon (some older models are latex) that is incredibly flexible and forms a seal inside the vagina. It is inserted by folding it in half, inserting it higher up than a tampon (for most models, where it "pops" open on its own. It is removed by bearing down and pulling on the short stem at the base of the cup. Everyone thinks they have this super heavy flow and will need to empty a cup constantly, but that is not the case.
Most women only have to empty it once in a 24 hrs, so even a heavy flow you can just empty it when you get home. And yes, when you are home you should clean it with soap and water.
But I think your daughter is likely to be too young for a cup. They take a certain level of being comfortable with your own anatomy.
Finally as a side note, many women who suffer endometriosis or other reasons for heavy periods with lots of cramping, prefer the menstrual cup because for many it eases cramping, doesn't leak, and can go much longer than changing a pad or tampon.
I agree. I thought that I had a heavy flow but was always shocked by the tiny amount of fluid in the cup when I emptied it once a day at home.
My daughter and niece both started using tampons almost immediately, young, as soon as they first got their periods. One was ten, the other extremely socioemotionally immature. They both did it, and did just fine with it. It's all in how you put it to them.
If you're uncomfortable with the idea of her putting a tampon in her vagina, she will be too. If you're matter of fact and comfortable about it, and tell her the truth, that it's easier, cleaner, and she can swim, and has absolutely nothing to do with virginity, she'll be fine with it.
Get her the tampax pearls, the ones with the plastic applicator, smallest size you can get, and some KY jelly, and teach her how to do it. Later on, when she's older, and more comfortable with it, she can switch to the more environmentally correct cardboard applicators.
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