# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/41 "2010-11-01T09:18:51Z")
Not a lot of Pit material going on here. Moved to MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/42 "2010-11-01T11:15:17Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > 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. I didn’t hear the story but wouldn’t at all be surprised to learn that it had something to do with exposures to hormones in the food or water (or transferred through mother’s milk); China is not exactly known for its environmental controls. When my daughter was born I was informed that she might have a slight bit of bleeding due to the high estrogen hormone levels still sloshing around her system from her mother (and she did) - a “mini-period”, if you will. That was definitely weird but apparently quite normal. A friend’s daughter hit menarche at 9 years old. That just seems way too young to me. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2010, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/43 "2010-11-01T11:46:55Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Not a lot of Pit material going on here. Moved to MPSIMS. Where the M stands for Menstrual. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/44 "2010-11-01T13:07:29Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I didn’t hear the story but wouldn’t at all be surprised to learn that it had something to do with exposures to hormones in the food or water (or transferred through mother’s milk); China is not exactly known for its environmental controls. Supposedly it was from milk powder with hormones in it: [http://www.nationalpost.com/China+test+infant+formula+after+claims+early+puberty/3383272/story.html](http://www.nationalpost.com/China+test+infant+formula+after+claims+early+puberty/3383272/story.html) Thing is, though, that alot of these stories come from rumors on the Internet which are often picked up and passed off as true by AP journalists. FWIW, this one is said to have been proven false: > **[China Clears Infant Formula in Early Puberty Scare](https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/08/in-another-public-relations-crisis/)** > > In response to another public relations crisis surrounding Chinese dairy products, Chinese health officials released a report claiming that locally made Who knows if that’s true or not. BTW, if there was ever a thread that needed to be locked, it’s this one. BLECH. TMI like a motherfucker! ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/45 "2010-11-01T13:13:41Z")
I find it fascinating that there are posters who know such intimate details of their grandmothers’ lives. I don’t know when my grandmother’s birthday was, let alone when she started her period. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/46 "2010-11-01T13:40:50Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > At _any_ age. 🙂 Well, I still hate babies, I just don’t keep myself awake at night anymore wondering if someone ejaculated in the swimming pool I swam in the other day thus resulting in me being pregnant, or worrying that someone could climb in my window at night and impregnate me in my sleep. 🙂 ---
**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:** [November 1, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/47 "2010-11-01T13:42:40Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I find it fascinating that there are posters who know such intimate details of their grandmothers’ lives. I don’t know when my grandmother’s birthday was, let alone when she started her period. My grandmother started her period June 12, 1936. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/48 "2010-11-01T13:46:38Z")
Montel sonce interviewed a guy in prison for impregnanting a 10 year old. The guy tried to put the blame on the girl (She dressed and danced like Brittany Spears. She had a crush on me. She sat in my lap). Montel told him “Look, she did not make you pull down your zipper. If that were my daughter, I’d be the one behind those bars for killing you.” I know a woman whohad a girl when she was 15, who had a boy when she was 14. Yep, a 29 year old _grandmother_. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/49 "2010-11-01T15:47:24Z")
One thing to be aware of is that the age of first menarche and the age of fecundity is not always the same. Girls generally start menstruating before they could get pregnant - although sometimes a girl can get pregnant before her first period (if both happen at the same time and she conceives before her first period. Some historians believe that the age of first menarche has gone down slightly, but the age of fecundity is what has really gone down to the point where its now more or less contemporary with menarchy - i.e. in the middle ages it wasn’t unusual for a princess to get married off at ten or twelve (and start consummating the marriage immediately) but for the first child not to arrive until she was fifteen or so. But yeah, it isn’t that uncommon for eleven year olds to have babies. We had a girl in elementary school who had her first at nine…and had three before she graduated from high school. She was “precocious.” ---
**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:** [November 1, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/50 "2010-11-01T16:04:09Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > She was “precocious.” Ah. What folks in my town used to call ‘fast’. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/51 "2010-11-01T16:21:24Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Ah. What folks in my town used to call ‘fast’. And what we now call “at risk.” ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/52 "2010-11-01T16:30:13Z")
> [@Captain\_Midnight](#): > > If I may ask, is the first period something to be celebrated and acknowledged, or something that is usually whsipered between the girl and an older sister to the mother and then the mother to the father and that is that? Whispered about, I’m pretty sure. Wouldn’t want to meet the family that made a celebration out of it :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/53 "2010-11-01T16:30:55Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > And what we now call “at risk.” Oh, I think once you’re on your third pregnancy you’re past “at risk”. The risk has already happened. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/54 "2010-11-01T16:50:14Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Whispered about, I’m pretty sure. Wouldn’t want to meet the family that made a celebration out of it :eek: Celebrating is hardly uncommon. Moms who came of age in the 60s didn’t want their daughters to feel ashamed, and, even dare I say, even went too far in the other direction. We’ve had threads here where people wanted to celebrate, or at least mark the occasion as a milestone. I got my period when I was 9… it really wasn’t a big deal for me, as I was very well informed. I think my mom was super disappointed that I wasn’t more ?something? about it. Excited/upset/wanting advice I guess. It’s just one of many “mom/daughter” moments I failed to care about. I didn’t even tell her, until she asked. It did not strike me as her business. Yes, I was a highly independent child, why do you ask? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/55 "2010-11-01T18:48:05Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh, I think once you’re on your third pregnancy you’re past “at risk”. The risk has already happened. Yes, well…its politically incorrect to call a 16 year old girl with three children from three different boyfriends actually “damaged.” I have no idea what this girl’s homelife was - but from the little bits I can remember of her, we all considered her “fast” and “a slut” at the time, but with grown up eyes I wonder how bad life was for her. I do recall she wasn’t stupid - it always seemed so dissident to me - that a relatively bright girl would get pregnant a SECOND time, much less a third - granted a nine she might have been clueless. Either in the “no common sense” way or in the “mentally challenged” way. For some reason, having three kids before graduation (and I think she was pregnant with number four) made sense to her. She had the brains to figure out how to avoid it. These reflections occurred to me when I was around 14 and still knew her - however vaguely I knew her. I did live in a town where I remember the eighth grade home ec teacher in a unit on budgeting stating that AFDC and multiple children was a valid way to raise a family. And a lot of the girls in my graduating class were either pregnant at graduation or had babies - there was some, but not complete, overlap between those and the ones already married or engaged to get married right out of high school. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/56 "2010-11-01T18:59:38Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > The article on Lina Medina suggests much the same thing. > > There’s a syndrome called McCune Albright which manifests (among other things) with extreme precocious puberty (as in, toddler age). There’s a Doper whose wife has this. However, it carries extreme infertility with it so I doubt it’s what was going on with Lina Medina. That’d be me. heh. My wife once told me that she had her first period at age two. Her parents rushed her to the ER in a panic, thinking she’d injured herself somehow. The doctor explained that, no, she’d just had her first period, and how fun, now you get to explain all this stuff to her at this age. It was a while before it happened again, though. The syndrome also carried with it the other puberty baggage, such as having pubic hair and breasts before she reached kindergarten. Doesn’t sound like fun. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/57 "2010-11-01T20:37:12Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Montel told him “Look, she did not make you pull down your zipper. If that were my daughter, I’d be the one behind those bars for killing you.” > . Look at big bad Montel, having the courage to take on a child molestor . . . a inspiration for internet tough guys everywhere ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/58 "2010-11-01T20:48:25Z")
I’ll join in with the first period stories. Y’know how sometimes at the start of your period and the end of it you don’t have the bright red I’MA BLEEDIN’ ALL OVER Y’ALL blood, but it’s more of a darker red, even a little brownish like old dried blood? Yeah, that’s what I got, and I thought I was having weird diarrhea or something. Mom picked up on it through the laundry and got me sorted out. One thing that sticks with me is that by the time the laundry was done, I had ruined half my underwear and Mom was not impressed. Because a pack of underwear is so expensive compared to the years and years of pads. Hell, I’m 24 and she’ll still show up at my apartment with groceries and toiletries like pads. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/59 "2010-11-01T20:52:00Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > …we all considered her “fast” and “a slut”… Man, no slut worth her salt gets herself 3 freakin’ babies that young. A proper slut should know how to handle her biz. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000/60 "2010-11-01T20:59:46Z")
> [@Captain\_Midnight](#): > > If I may ask, is the first period something to be celebrated and acknowledged, or something that is usually whsipered between the girl and an older sister to the mother and then the mother to the father and that is that? This is really why I am happy to be born male, I would of hated to gone through that with my “silent generation” parents, the father who did not talk about sex and a mother who was annoyingly frank at all the wrong times. This is going to vary hugely between families. In my family, this was another of the things we didn’t talk about. I told my mom when I got my second period (my first was really light and only showed up when I went to the bathroom, and I didn’t really figure out what was going on until it recurred a month later), she started getting me pads, that was it. At some point, she got a book about puberty from the library for me. No discussion. Certainly no acknowledgment or celebration I don’t know if she told anybody else when I told her I was getting my period. I was around 11.5 when I got my first period, for what that’s worth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/11-y-o-can-have-baby-ro-but-not-by-op/559000.md?page=4)