Periods are both a blessing and a curse.

While they can cause a lot of pain, bloating and mood swings, they are also a way for our body to let us know that everything is working okay down there. But the first time girls get their period can be quite a stressful time, from bleeding once a month, figuring out your cycle and coping with all the nasty side effects can take some getting use to. So we can't imagine getting our periods as young as 7. While there is no correct age at which to get your period, growing up we were always told that 'around' 12 was the expected age. And going back to the 19th century, the average age was 15. So it is significantly decreasing in age as time goes on. The number of girls who begin their periods under the age of 10 is increasing rapidly. For many years now females have been hitting puberty and developing earlier than males. But the age at which girls begin to develop is getting younger and younger. A study found in the Journal of Paediatrics revealed that by age 7, 10 percent of white girls, 23 percent of black girls, 15 percent of Hispanic girls and 2 percent of Asian girls had started developing breasts. While it is not necessarily a bad thing to hit puberty at such a young age, there has to be contributing factors for such a big change. Speaking about this pattern, Shirley McQuade, Medical Director of Dublin Well Woman Centre told Her:

"It has been noted over the last twenty - thirty years that the age of onset of puberty has been getting earlier. This is thought to be related to better nutrition and also that children are now heavier than they were at the same age a generation ago. There have been some studies showing that children from poorer countries have a later onset of puberty but if the family moves and sets up home in a more affluent western country that the children adopt the average puberty age of their new home – so it is not due to the genetics of the parents."

She also explained that it was once seen as unusual for girls to get their period as young as 8 and that they would have been advised to refer to a paediatrician.

"The recommendation now is that girls starting periods at age 8 is within the normal range so paediatric referral is not needed."

Perhaps in the next few decades girls hitting puberty under the age of 10 will become the norm.

"Interestingly, at the other end of the menstrual history the age of the menopause has not changed in the last fifty years." Dr McQuade concluded.