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MORE PUBERTY INFORMATION FOR GIRLS
Breasts
Menstruation
Ovulation
Discharge
Douching
Pelvic Examinations
Breasts
Before puberty, boys’ and girls’ chests look alike. They are smooth with small raised nipples. But when puberty starts, one of the first changes you’ll notice is the growth of breasts. The inside of the breast is made up of fatty tissue and many milk-producing glands called mammary glands. If a woman has a baby, breasts produce milk for feeding the baby.
Breasts are very sensitive to touch. The areola and nipples of all breasts, even those of boys, have a network of nerves that make them very sensitive. That’s why, when it is cold, or when the nipple is touched, or when a person is thinking about something romantic or exciting, the nipples become harder and erect.
How Do Breasts Develop?
As with everything else in puberty, your body has its own timetable for developing breasts. It takes three to five years from the time your breasts begin tot develop for them to grow to their full size. Since it happens slowly, you will have time to get used to their new size.
The size of your breasts and nipples are preplanned by heredity, so expect a breast the size of your mum’s or that of a close female relative. Many girls notice their chests changing when they are about eleven years old. Of course many start to notice changes earlier and many later. The final size of your breasts has nothing to do with the age you are when they started to develop.
What Do Breast Look Like?
Breasts come in different sizes and shapes and could be lumpy or smooth. There is no perfect shape or size of breast. Some girls worry if hair grows around their nipples. This hair is coming and plucking it can cause infection. In addition, many girls have one breast that is bigger than the other or two nipples that look different. It probably won’t always be that way. Within two years, most breasts will balance out and look more or less the same. Some girls also worry about how their breasts feel, probably because of the fear of breast cancer. That your breasts are lumpy don’t mean you have cancer. Cancer of the breast is uncommon in adolescent girls. Many breasts feel lumpy all over, but if a lump stays in one place for a couple of weeks or if you squeeze your nipple and a discharge comes out, you need to see a doctor.
About Bras
Puberty is the time when many girls, if they choose, that to wear bras. Bra is short for brassiere. A girl often goes with her mother, grandmother, older sister, aunt, or a friend to buy her first bra.
It is not necessary to wear a bra to keep your breasts healthy. Girls and women who wear bras do so because they feel more comfortable wearing them. Some wear a bra only when they are exercising or playing a sport, while others wear one all the time, except when sleeping. Still others never wear a bra at all.
Whatever the size your breasts, you can find a bra that fits you. Bras are made with different size cups to support various breast sizes.
Feelings About Breasts
When you develop breasts, you may feel you are on display. Breasts are an obvious sign that you are growing into a woman. Sometimes, your male friends don’t know how to react to this change. They might make remarks about the size of your breasts or might even try to snap the back of your bra. Some boys, and even grown men, might try to rub against you or touch your breasts when they walk by. They have no right to do this. They aren’t thinking about your feelings and do not care about or understand your embarrassment. You can say “I don’t like it when you do that” or even a forceful “Stop it.” Talk to an adult you trust if this behaviour continues.
Menstruation
There are many names for menstruation— monthly cycle, period, flow, menses, etc. Once you start to get your period, you can get pregnant if you have sex. Girls usually get their periods after their breasts have started to develop and they have pubic and underarm hair. A girl’s first period is called menarche. You may notice a whitish discharge from your vagina about a year or so before your period begins. This is a sign that your body is working. The discharge dries to a yellowy stain on your underwear. It gets thicker just before your period. Most girls start their periods when they’re around twelve, but it can happen at anytime between ages ten and fifteen.
What Does a Period Look Like?
One day you will see a reddish discharge on your underpants, or notice a small amount of blood in the toilet water or on the toilet paper, or you might even get a damp feeling in your underwear. In the first few hours of your period, it is rare to have a gush of menstrual flow that stains your outer clothes.
A girl who is unprepared for menstruation might be frightened and think she has injured herself. When you menstruate, you are not bleeding in the way you bleed from a cut or injury. Your body is shedding a thin layer of tissue from the uterus over a number of days. The discharge you see when you get your period is made up of small amounts of blood and some extra lining in your uterus. It usually starts as a reddish fluid. As your flow increases, it is brighter red. After a day or so, it becomes a slight brownish discharge. It may seem you are losing a lot of blood, but the total amount of menstrual flow is only a couple of tablespoons.
Pregnant women do not get their periods. Menstruation continues until a woman is forty to fifty-five years old. The end of menstruation is called menopause.
How Do You Absorb the Flow?
To absorb your menstrual flow, you can wear a tampon, which is a plug of cotton that fits tightly inside your vagina, or a sanitary pad, which is a piece of absorbent material that attaches to your underpants.
Most pads are self-adhesive. To wear a pad, remove the wrapper and throw it in the garbage and not down the toilet, since it could clog the pipes. Peel off the paper to expose the sticky strip. Put the pad sticky-side down (i.e. on the inside of your underpants). Unless you are wearing a swimsuit or very tight clothes, it is impossible for anyone to see that you are wearing a pad. There is no way to tell if a girl is having her period just by looking at her.
When you change your pad, remove it from your underpants, fold it in half and wrap it in tissues or toilet paper and dispose of it in a garbage can. Never flush a sanitary pad down the toilet.
There are different thicknesses of pads. Try the different thicknesses till you find one that suitably absorbs your flow.
How Often Do I get My Period and For How Long?
For most girls, the length of time between the first day of one period and the first day of the next is twenty-eight days (i.e. four weeks), but many girls have periods that start twenty to thirty-five days apart.
The length of a period is different for different girls. Most periods last four days, but it is not unusual for girls to have periods as short as two days or as long as eight days. In the first year or two of menstruating, your periods may not be regular because your hormones are not into a set rhythm yet. If you are very excited or worried about something, or if you are exercising heavily or eating very little, you are likely to miss a period.
How Do I feel During this Period?
Getting your period is a normal, healthy thing. Some girls don’t notice any physical or emotional changes when they menstruate. However, many other girls find their menstrual cycles take them through a period of mood swings. You might have a surge of energy just before your period. On the other hand, you might feel tired, bloated, irritable, or unhappy, and your breasts may be sore and swollen. During your period, you may feel no different than you do on other days. You might have a tightening of the uterine muscles deep inside your abdomen. This is called cramps. Cramps can be just a slight pain but can also be very painful. Women who have severe menstrual cramps can see a doctor to prescribe drugs to ease the pain.
Ovulation
You were born with all the eggs you will ever have inside your two ovaries. There are hundreds of thousands of them. One egg is called an ovum and two or more is called ova. Until puberty, the eggs are immature, but at puberty, hormones in your body make your eggs ripen. Once a month, one of your ovaries starts to make estrogen and an egg starts to mature. Usually, only one egg matures at a time, but sometimes two or more eggs ripen.
When the egg is ripe, it bursts out of the ovary. This is called ovulation. Some girls feel some sensation when this happens, but most girls don’t notice it. After the egg is released, it travels from the ovary through the fallopian tube to the uterus.
After ovulation, the ovary stops making estrogen and starts making progesterone. This hormone tells the lining of the uterus to thicken in readiness for something that may or may not happen— conception. If the egg is fertilized by a sperm on its way to the uterus, a new life has started. The embryo will start to grow in the uterus and it will need the thick, nourishing lining of the uterus. If the egg is not fertilized, there is no need for the nourishing lining, so the uterus gets rid of it through menstruation. This cycle is repeated monthly.
Most girls get into the habit of circling on their calendars the day their period starts and when it ends. It is helpful to know when you are expecting your period. If you miss a period, you’ll know how long it has been since you menstruated. This is particularly helpful for women who wonder if they are pregnant.
Discharge
When a girl is sexually excited or thinking about something romantic, her vagina will become wet and slippery with fluid that comes from glands inside her vagina. There’s no need to worry about that discharge, or the whitish discharge you get before and after your period. If you have a discharge that is yellowish or greenish, foul-smelling, or very itchy, then you have an infection.
Don’t be embarrassed to see a doctor about the vaginal infection; it could be from sexual intercourse, but it could also be from soap that you use, or by wearing nylon underwear, and by wiping from back to front after a bowel movement. The doctor will take a sample of the infected discharge to tell what it is and give you medicine to clear up the problem.
Douching
A douche is a cleanser sprayed into the vagina. Nobody needs a douche or a deodorant for his or her genitals. Douches, sprays and deodorants can irritate the tissue in the vagina. If you shower and bathe often, you’ll be clean. Remember that your vagina cleans itself with discharge.
Pelvic Examinations
Unless a girl is having sex or having problems with menstruation such as very heavy bleeding or painful cramps, there is no need for a doctor to examine the inside of her vagina and her cervix. This examination when needed is called a pelvic examination. You should however have a pelvic examination once every year after you have started having sexual intercourse and whenever you think you have an infection.
Many girls think a pelvic examination is painful. It doesn’t hurt, although it is a little uncomfortable. If you do not have a female doctor to do the examination, you should ask to have another woman in the room with you during the exam. Doctors need to examine you, but they are not allowed to talk to you in a sexy way or touch you in sexual ways.
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