# 11 y.o. can have baby? (RO, but not by OP) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000 "2010-10-31T20:06:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/1 "2010-10-31T20:06:10Z")
[Upstate Man Who Impregnated 11-Year-Old Pleads Guilty](http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/new_york_state/Upstate-Man-Who-Impregnated-11-Year-Old-Pleads-Guilty-20101031-apx) I’m putting this in the Pit, because I know there will be RO. Yes, what the man did was vile. Now that we are beyond that… An 11 year old had physically matured enough to become pregnant and deliver a baby? 😕 What is going into our food these days? Isn’t that too young still? I expect this is an outlier, same as women in their late 40s getting pregnant, though I suppose the latter’s chance can be improved with hormone therapy. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/2 "2010-10-31T20:15:03Z")
If a [five year old can have a baby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Medina) , an eleven year old certainly can. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/3 "2010-10-31T20:17:46Z")
I’m fucking outraged. What kind of a name is ‘Edtition’? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/4 "2010-10-31T20:19:25Z")
She’d been having periods since age 3 yrs.or was it8 months? I’m speechless. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/5 "2010-10-31T20:23:20Z")
I had my first period right before my 11th birthday so technically I could have gotten pregnant at that age. 11 years old for menstruation isn’t too uncommon. If I remember correctly most of my friends got their period between 10 and 12 with the one or two who didn’t get theirs until almost 14 as late bloomers. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/6 "2010-10-31T20:31:45Z")
So \*that \*how babby is formed! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/7 "2010-10-31T20:34:56Z")
I can haz pragnancy? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/8 "2010-10-31T20:37:05Z")
11 was perfectly normal when I was that age 20 years ago (in fact, it’s when I got my first period.) These days, though, they’re having to put tampon dispensers in elementary school bathrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/9 "2010-10-31T20:38:37Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > So \*that \*how babby is formed! This thread is altogether too instain. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/10 "2010-10-31T21:38:16Z")
A friend’s daughter just started getting her period at 9 years 4 months. Both her grandmothers had their first periods around the same age, and her female cousin was put on hormones to delay puberty when she showed signs that she may be early to menstruate too. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/11 "2010-10-31T21:44:50Z")
Point of order: The OP’s title really should be: _11yo can haz baby?_ Kindly use proper Net-speak next time, kthxbai. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/12 "2010-10-31T21:50:48Z")
Used to be, you couldn’t put your kid in day care if she wasn’t potty trained. Now they have to ask if she’s menstruating. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/13 "2010-10-31T21:54:02Z")
I got my period at 12. Why would 11 be such a stretch? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/14 "2010-10-31T21:57:33Z")
I got my period the day before my 11th birthday. I was a chubby kidlet, though, and have read that bodyfat might be a signal to mature earlier. Did anyone hear the story on NPR about the Chinese baby girl that menstruated as an _infant_? It was on Morning Edition last week. Horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/15 "2010-10-31T21:57:53Z")
My daughter is ~11 and one-half years old. She’s been menstrual (and highly ‘regular’) for over a year now, and has physique that is of most any ‘mature woman’ (breasts noticeable no matter what she wears, etc). Not even Dio would be able to pick her out of a line-up of of-age women, no doubt at all 😉 For what its worth, my wife also was an ‘early-bloomer’ so it is no surprise to us. Once, already, wife has had to tell a guy ~18yrs-old her age to rid her of flirtatious behavior. Guy wasn’t rude or doing anything really unusual and I wish I had a pic of how embarrassed he was - but daughter does not comprehend ‘the game’ as it is played just yet. She’s learning, though and has already been given the ol’ birds/bees conversation(s). Raising our two sons was _quite_ different at this age… ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/16 "2010-10-31T22:00:26Z")
I remember my friends and I typically getting our lady times in 7th grade (12 years old), so I got curious to see if my friends were some special subset of girls, and as it turns out, we are not. Average menstruation age is 12. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/17 "2010-10-31T22:06:47Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I got my period at 12. Why would 11 be such a stretch? My baby sister, who just turned 30, had her first period around that age, I think; I recall getting sent out for, ah, supplies she needed when she was in six or seventh grade. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/18 "2010-10-31T22:09:03Z")
Yes, the average age of menarche has gotten lower over the past century, but not by years and years - more like 6 months less on average. My grandmother got her period right after she turned 11. In 1930-something. She was always tall for her age and looked older. It’s not that crazy. Her daughters, and her daughter’s daughters, were all a bit later - 12-13 years old, I was the outlier at 14 years old. Medical conditions which lead to fantastically early puberty and menstruation (like, in infancy) are fairly common, too. It’s not ‘hormones in the water’ usually, it’s a genetic disorder or tumor affecting hormone production. My friend had this, started her period when she was 6 months old and she just had a full hysterectomy at age 31 because of various problems with her reproductive organs. Carrying to term at that age is difficult though, and the birth is much riskier for both mother and baby. Poor baby, she should not be having a baby. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/19 "2010-10-31T22:17:57Z")
That will show me. I’ve only dealt with one girl whom I knew exactly when she started (early 13), and never did any kind of survey. Obviously, I thought girls normally started a couple of years later. Ignorance fought Mea culpa for the bad grammar in the title. I guess this thread can die as I wasn’t posting for the RO bit, just expected it. Wrong twice in the same thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/20 "2010-10-31T22:39:12Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > I guess this thread can die as I wasn’t posting for the RO bit, just expected it. Wrong twice in the same thread. Oh, I’m ~outraged about the guy that did the shit in the article, and I would’ve happily pulled the plug on his life-support. I’d also send a bullet through his cranium with no second thoughts if offered the opportunity for what he pulled on that girl. Hopefully the family members that staged that fake funeral-memorial have some dues to pay for their complicity in things, too (if I am reading things correctly on that part). Sounds like that whole family is fucked-up in their heads. IMO, stuff like that voids their ‘right’ to life/existence. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000.md?page=2)