To ask about puberty

[Onefourseventwofivenine]

DD was taken seriously ill at 16 months old (intensive care, months in hospital) but is now an otherwise healthy and active nine-year-old. She does have to take a cocktail of meds every day to manage her resultant chronic kidney disease, but, apart from that, she is fine. Her consultant has always maintained that puberty will be the time when her kidney function might deteriorate, but I thought we might be looking at 12 or 13, not nine! She is definitely showing signs of puberty now, and I am dreading her blood test results at her out-patients appointment next month. Is nine now a normal age to hit puberty? It seems so wrong, when she is still such a baby in so many other ways.

[IMissGrannyW]

I work in primary schools. It's absolutely normal for girls to start to get their breasts in years 5 and 6, and a few (but not many) will start to menstruate before they leave. Schools tend to put sanitary bins in upper KS2 toilets, so it's not especially rare.

Some girls and boys have spots/greasy hair etc.

Some boys (mostly the darker ones) have obvious hair growth.

It's true lots of kids leave primary school with the body of a 6 - 8 yr old, but lots don't.

I'm sorry about your DDs illness.

[Ameliablue]

I believe 9 is within the normal for staying periods but it can also be quite a drawn out experience such pubic hair growth, breast development etc. starting a while before more definite signs of puberty such as menstruation.

[LotsOfShoes]

Yep, I got my period soon after my 9th birthday.

[GreatFuckability]

I got my first period at age 10 back in the early 90s. My dd1 got hers at age 9.

[Onefourseventwofivenine]

Thank you IMissGrannyW. GreatFuckability, how did you manage it? We have had all the talks, so she's not going to be worrying that she's dying because she's bleeding (like I did), but I still feel very, very sad that she has to deal with this so young, particularly because of the health implications. She hasn't started her periods yet, but I don't think it will be long before she does.

[DianaMitford]

Yep, dealing with the same here. My DD 2 is 9 and things are definitely headed that way. She was in hospital for most of her first year due to a genetic abnormality and she's a young 9. I do feel sad for her but it's just a fact of life. My DD 1 didn't start her periods until she was 14, same as me.