Isabelle, Autism and Puberty

I think one of the hardest parts about understanding your autistic child is knowing when certain things happen because of their autism, things happen because of their personality and things happen due to their age such as puberty.

Sometimes I feel I am dealing with three different people but they all merge together to make one beautiful, loving girl, Isabelle. I know this was the same for my eldest daughter too. Puberty is something that I have found harder to deal with than any sleepless nights or terrible twos! Give me a tantrum any day!

I thought I had a couple more years to prepare Isabelle for her period but no, it came out of the blue a couple of weeks ago. She is eleven years old but has the maturity of an eight-year-old.

Considering how hard she finds change, especially when it comes to her body, she has done amazingly well. She was aware of periods because of me and her sister having them and is quite inquisitive so is always asking questions about things she sees or hears us talking about.

There were signs that her period might be soon such as she had a few spots, her shape was changing, and she had been quite teary for a couple of days. I just never put it all together ad I thought she might be 14-15 when she got hers.

The main things I found helpful were to constantly reassure Isabelle when I took her to the toilet that what she was seeing and feeling was perfectly normal and just another sign she was growing up, just like getting hair on her legs etc. I also made a little poster type thing that talked about periods and showed Isabelle what to do, even though now she still needs my support, I know as she gets older, she will take care of her personal hygiene more independently.

I also found some relatable content of you tube via Family Fizz as Isabelle loves watching them and there is a post made by Mia fizz about when she got her period which again just helped to reassure Isabelle.

I remember seeing a good tip online that said about putting a stitched line in the front of knickers to help guide where the front of the sanitary towel should go.

Another topic I was not aware of related to periods was the link between that and UTI’s. Isabelle unfortunately got one when her period must have been starting as she kept saying her tummy area felt ‘tickly’ and she kept going to the toilet constantly. After a trip to the Dr, they confirmed a UTI. The sudden change in hormones and stress can heighten the chances of the bacteria being imbalanced making an environment where they can multiply and cause a UTI. More info can be found on the link and other websites. This was just our experience.

https://www.blume.com/blogs/blu me-university/utis-and-your-period

As with anything, each person is different and something that suits one person will not suit or help another.