The Female Atlas team: early stages desk

Most questions about growing up are common ones, and many families find that a calm, clear answer is a good place to start. The Female Atlas team's early stages desk covers childhood, puberty and the reproductive years. We turn current guidelines and research into clear, practical advice for girls, young women and the parents supporting them. If you're wondering about feeding and growth, or sleep and screens in the early years, our pages on infancy and childhood are the place to look.

For girls approaching or going through their teens, and the parents alongside them, our puberty pages cover first periods and what's normal, heavy or painful periods, body image, and teenage sport and strength. For young women in the years after that, the reproductive years take in cycles and training, endometriosis and PCOS, fertility and pregnancy.

Many of our readers are worried parents or teenage girls, so each page starts with what is common and what helps, then explains why in plain words. Where something is worth a doctor's visit, we say so clearly.

How we write

• Evidence you can trace. Health points are tied to a named guideline or study, with its year, in the sources list on each page.
• US and UK side by side. Spelling and units are US-first with metric alongside, and where UK guidance differs, we say so in the same sentence.
• Ranges, not exact ages. We describe life stages in ranges unless a guideline sets a specific age, because girls and women move through them at different paces.
• Health as strength and function. We talk about how your body works and how you feel, never weight or size as a goal.
• Genuine throughout. Our pages carry the team byline, with no made-up authors, quotes, photos or stories.