HELP! Tampons for my young daughter??

Hello All,

My daughter started her period in December 2005 at age nine & turned 10 in February 2006. She is not on any type of regular schedule yet, and in fact is only having it for the fourth time right now.

This is the first period where it is 'real'...not to be gross but it is a full fledged stream this time. She is a competitive gymnast....she spends a lot of time at practice & I spend a lot of $$ I let her miss practice this week b/c she had to use the thick pads & she felt uncomfortable going to practice with them. They are only allowed to wear gymnastic shorts over top their leo's for safty reasons & these types of shorts in all honesty do little to hide a pad made for a woman on a little girls body. Missing practice all the time is not going to work, because they are expected to be there & they take it pretty serious.

Well, anyways.....she asked me last night if she could start using tampons. I had bought some of the super small ones last year just in case her cycle came on & she had a gym meet. Thank God, that didn't happen. BUT, what do you ladies think? Is she too young?? Do you think it would be bad for her health??

I didn't start my period until I was almost 17, so I'm unfamiliar with young ones having to deal with this. Any advise would be soooooo greatly appreciated!!