pERIOD care

(Appropriate for ages 10+)

Track your cycle: 

When it is your time of the month, it is important to keep track of your period. Mark down when it starts and typically ends, this will allow you to track the patterns of your period and to tell when your period is becoming more regular. 

Personal hygiene: 

Taking care of your personal hygiene is always important, but especially during your time of month. Make sure to wash up and clean well. 

• It is important to clean your genital area, as dried period blood that has been on skin for even a day now contains bacteria and bodily fluids, such as sweat. It is recommended that you run warm water over genital area without using soap, however, there are some soaps thats gynecologists have approved as vaginally safe. The most recommended is Dove Sensitive Skin Unscented Beauty Bar, but still only use soap in small amounts to avoid irritation. Be gentle. Do not wash thoroughly or too harshly.

Typically you are going to want to change your pad around every 3-4 hours but this can possibly be sooner or later depending on how heavy your flow is on a particular day. When it comes to tampons, you are going to have to change your tampon every 4-6 hours. 

Devices to alleviate pain:

• A heating pad can feel nice placed on your lower abdomen over your ovaries. The heating pad helps to relax the muscles of your uterus and make period cramps better. 
• Taking a hot or warm bath has the same effect. 
• It is possible that a cold pack might work just as well or better for you. Everyone is different so you can try both to see which works best for you. 
• Drinking chamomile tea can also help relax your muscles and can lessen period cramps. 

Diet: 

Overall, your diet can also affect your period cramps. It may be helpful to eat more vegetables or foods high in calcium and antioxidants to lessen your period cramps. (antioxidants help protect your body from many diseases. They can be found in foods such as blueberries, cherries, bell pepper, squash, tomato…)