Parents Puberty

[Avasmom]

My daughter is 12 (3 months away from turning 13). She is definitely going through puberty. That mouth! OMG! I love her but I could definitely do without the sassy mouth. Our pediatrician does not think she will start her cycle for another 1-2 years. I know this has been discussed in the past and I looked through old forums to see if I could find it. Does being really athletic delay periods and affect puberty?

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Not for my daughter! She is 12 1/2 now and started during the first month of quarantine. She was almost exactly the same age as I was when I started. I knew it was coming because of her growth, all the other typical signs of puberty and her age. I don't think her training had any affect at all on her growth and development. I have read where some say that it could be related to low body fat which could be tied to high hours and training... I will say that my dd is not one of the teeny tiny gymnasts. She has always been around 50% on the charts and she is muscular and solid. She is around 5'1 and 110 pounds (she had definitely had some growth spurts lately!)

 

[xxStumpyxx]

My 16 year old dd has started puberty and up top has increased during lockdown, she was a late puberty starter and only started showing signs of puberty late last year, she has growth issues so is short (height of an average 9 year old) has not started her periods yet. She is a dream compared to her younger sister as she isn’t sassy at all. Different body type compared to her youngest sister.

My 13 year old dd is taller than her older sister but shorter than her friends, very lean with barely any body fat, she has had a growth spurt during lockdown and is nearly as tall as me (I am 4ft 11), she has started showing signs of puberty, very sassy and a quick temper, has an answer for everything.

 

[profmom]

There is only likely to be an effect if a child is working out hard many, many hours a week and is so lean that there's not enough body fat to trigger puberty. Not likely for most gymnasts. I would be curious to see a large N study of remainers and those who left gymnastics. My hunch is that the correlation between somewhat later puberty and continuing gym into the late teenage years might have more to do with the difficulties that puberty generates for a few years for female gymnasts. Later puberty, I suspect, means that when the girl starts to encounter these challenges, she is both more likely to have a good base for higher level skills and is likely to be more emotionally mature, making it easier to muster the patience to cope with the ups and downs. Based on my N of two, I think late puberty is a positive thing for female gymnasts and a negative thing for male gymnasts. (Parent of three late bloomers, my two boys exceptionally so.)

 

[Cheryl]

I always wondered about this for my son...just turned 15, just started to grow in the last few months to be taller than me. But, I think it’s just his genetics. He has always been small for his age, dad was a late grower. There are boys on his team that are 13 and are further along in puberty, so I don’t think it’s gymnastics related. Also asked his pediatrician and orthopedist, both say there’s no relation between gymnastics and puberty.

 

[Amanda]

My daughter wasn’t delayed. She did happen to start her period during a time when she was on limited hours in the gym because of a medical issue. That may have just been a coincidence. She was 12.

 

[LJL07]

My daughter is 12 (3 months away from turning 13). She is definitely going through puberty. That mouth! OMG! I love her but I could definitely do without the sassy mouth. Our pediatrician does not think she will start her cycle for another 1-2 years. I know this has been discussed in the past and I looked through old forums to see if I could find it. Does being really athletic delay periods and affect puberty?

Not really. My athletic daughter was 12. It seemed to happen pretty quickly, and she is very petite so I was a bit surprised. It seems in general to be more genetically based. I do think the kids training elite at very high hours with very low body weight might be more delayed.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Agreed Profmom. There is inconclusive evidence for most kids, as to which came first the cart or the horse. Participants are often attracted to sports, they naturally feel like they excel in. They are more likely to stick to sports, where they are experiencing success. Of course, there is a massive generalisation, and in recent years we have seen that gymnast can succeed without having to fit into the stereotype.

After years and years and years of coaching. There has always been a very clear pattern, that kids who go through puberty later and slower tend to be more likely to stick to the sport through their teen years.

 

[RTT2]

After years and years and years of coaching. There has always been a very clear pattern, that kids who go through puberty later and slower tend to be more likely to stick to the sport through their teen years.

This is such an interesting observation.

 

[gymgal]

When I researched it several years ago, there were a few studies on elite gymnasts that showed delayed growth and menarche by several months compared to non gymnasts. Also mentioned a weight of 110 lbs as being the turning point, though from conversations here in the past, I know this is not absolute.

 

[beachgirl]

Mine was showing signs of puberty for a couple/few years. I kept thinking she was going to start her period at anytime. For about 6 months she had cramps every 28 to 30 days. We started the stay at home orders in mid-March and she also turned 15. One month after staying home she started, she went from training 26 hours at the gym to 16 hours of zoom workouts. I feel like the decrease in activity definitely made it start. The only thing I'm worried about is that although she gained weight, she never grew any taller and is still just under 5'.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I can only speak to my kid. She was off 2 months for an injury. That’s when she got her first period.

 

[xxStumpyxx]

Update on my oldest dd, she got her first period a few days ago at the age of 16 1/2, she has growth issues and a bone age delay of 4 years so has always been behind her peers. I hope she gets a little growth spurt soon , she has only just gone into 30” leaotards and wears age 9/10 year clothes and size 1 feet (U.K. size), height around 145cm.

 

[xxStumpyxx]

Edit... just measured my dd and she is 136cm tall not 145cm that I wrote earlier.

 

[mls529]

Mine only started her period at 14, a full 2 years later than me. I personally think it is related to her athleticism. While purely anecdotal, my own DD only became regular with her period once quarantine started, and I've heard from others that their girls started their period/grew/put on weight when their hours in the gym (or running or whatever other sport they did) became much less frequent.

 

[thefellowsmom]

My dd is 16 and just started her period about six months ago. She had a chronic knee thing that limited her numbers for about six months running up to that. She grew and her body developed but she is very lean. She comes from a long line of early bloomers. I have to think that her training and then reduced training had something to do with it. Her doctor wasn’t worried at all because she was developing otherwise, she just didn’t have enough fat to sustain a period but was at a totally healthy weight.

 

[MILgymFAM]

My daughter was clinically underweight (her BMI around that time was just around 17 ) and a team gymnast, but she still started her period at 11- about six months younger than her non-gymnast, technically overweight sister did.