The average age for a child’s body to begin menstruating is 13 years old. Of course anyone could receive their Menarche, their first bleed, earlier or later than that.
Peristeam Hydrotherapy can begin safely at 12 years old to prepare for a smooth, healthy and pain free cycle to come.
We can also utilize steaming in working to delay the menstrual cycle if it has come too early. Just as we can use this practice to encourage the young person’s Menarche to come if it has not yet arrived past the age of 14.
After their first bleed, steaming should become a monthly practice to encourage improved period health and regularity.
Peristeam Hydrotherapists can also help support this transition by providing information and guidance about what a healthy bleed and whole menstrual cycle should look and feel like. This is where we can nourish their own Body Wisdom, and sovereign self care practices. A generation of young people who understand their bodies, trust the signs they are getting because they know how to read them (speaking their body’s language), and have the tools to respond correctly.
In addition to the practical benefits of steaming and using it to support our children’s first bleed, I strongly believe in creating a meaningful ceremony and honoring the right of passage that the Menarche is. How wonderful would it be if we intentionally created a beautiful experience instead of the all-too-often traumatizing or hardly acknowledged thing that happens to us?
I daydream of a world where young people walk into their next stage of life as menstruators with confidence, the support of their community, with beauty, understanding and reverence. And I’m of the opinion that including and passing down the ritual of Peristeam Hydrotherapy as a standard practice of Self + Womb care, we can create just that.
*Guides for parents of young menstruators coming soon*
