The time of your daughter’s first period can be a time of excitement and anxiety. The average age of the first period is 12 ½ years. Before periods occur, there are other signs of puberty to indicate that a young girl’s body is changing. Usually breast development happens 2 years before the first period. Other signs include under arm hair, pubic hair and body odor presence.
Blog post co-written by Dr. Steven Abrams, Neonatologist.
I am a part of a generation of parents who have rarely, and in most cases never, encountered a vaccine-preventable disease. Polio, mumps, rubella and Hib meningitis are all relics of the past. And what is out of sight is often out of mind.
After all, how can a generation who has never experienced a national epidemic of polio or seen thousands of children born with congenital rubella syndrome understand how devastating such diseases are? And if we can’t understand how devastating they are then how can we appreciate the value of the vaccines that prevent them?
Growing up in a family of nurses, taking care of and helping others was something I learned from a young age. My mom was a labor and delivery nurse and my aunt was a neonatal nurse, so I have been around NICU nursing since I was a child. I started out 12 years ago working in healthcare and over the past 6 years I’ve transitioned into a nursing role in the NICU.
I recall wondering how I would ever remember all I need to know to work in this place.