Q: My daughter will be completing 13 years this June. She is tall and thin. Her period (mensus) started from 4th of December 2001. The problem is that her period is not regular. Sometime hardly after 12-15 days next period starts. Her last period date was 30th of March. Today is the 12th day, still her bleeding is there. Because of the excess bleeding she has become very weak. During the time of menstration she complains of stomach pain. Kindly advise.

A:What your daughter is going through is absolutely normal for most adolescents. It takes almost a year before periods in young girls get normalised. During this time, there may be gaps between two periods or they may occur frequently. Menstruation can be scanty or heavy. However, everything will resolve on its own very soon. Pain in the abdomen is also very common during menstruation. Your daughter can be given some painkillers like paracetamol for pain relief.
Since there is loss of blood from the body, some weakness is natural. It is a good idea to giver her a nutritious diet, especially at this age so that there are no deficiencies. She can be given iron tablets for 10 days a month to supplement the iron loss on account of menstruation. She should adequate rest during her periods. Some light exercise is recommended since it helps to ease the pain.