11year old started period

I posted this in the parent section but wanted to post here also in case there was advice from anyone in this section!

My daughter started her period- she will be in the 6th grade and I am very worried about her having to deal with this. Her periods have been moderately heavy and lasting 7 to 8 days. The hematologist isn't concerned but I am!

I don't know if I should Perdue methods to stop her period and I am worried about the toll that could take on her.
Thanks.

I wouldn't do anything to stop it. It's a natural thing and it's just her time! I'm sure there will be other girls at her school that have started too. She may just need to be a little more careful. A couple of ideas, I'm not sure how you'll feel about them but they are options. First is birth control. I know that the pill regulates and lessens the bleeding and length of it. In my opinion that's a drastic measure though at her young age. Next idea is tampons. In my opinion they do a much better job of keeping up with the flow.

Take her to a gynecologist to understand and explore your options. Most young ones don't like tampons. Some doctors will recommend stopping it for a time to see how her counts do. She can stop it at awkward times like sports seasons, and then have one during a school break or a sports break. Finding a female gynecologist should make it less awkward for her, too. Good luck.
Norma

Having had ITP and knowing how the heavy periods can be disruptive, this would be a very hard decision. I did use Provera once to stop periods until my counts went up some. I had been changing pads every half hour and it was impossible to work like that. It would be more difficult being at school with that problem.

On the other hand, I had to take my daughter to the GYN as a young teen because of heavy periods (not ITP) and other GYN problems, and she was put on a very low dose BP pill. Within the next few months, she was one miserable mess. She was angry all the time and crying all the time and it took me a few months (duh) to figure out that the pill was the cause. She stopped taking it. She remembers it as one of the worst times of her life.

I would do as Norma suggested, but also base the decision on exactly how heavy it is. Counts above 50 shouldn't really cause periods to be all that bad, and if it's only a few pads a day it might be manageable. It's a shame that kids are getting periods so darn young these days.

When I was younger I had terrible periods. As an athlete it was very problematic. I was put on a low dose birth control pill and it helped dramatically. I went from changing tampons every hour to a few times a day. Even now when my platelets are low I can skip my period with my pill to make sure it's not going to be horrible. I know she's young, but being put on the pill shortly after starting my period helped me so much that I would recommend it. There is so much more to worry about with being in 6th grade than changing pads hourly!