Do 5 year old boys have a testosterone surge at this age?

[Themasterandmargaritas]

Ds1 is 5 and is suddenly quite clumsy, shouty and super active. He is also slightly cheeky and needs reigning in a bit at the moment. He also went through the same sort of thing when he was three. Last time he experienced severe growing pains and this week it's the same for the poor wee fellow, agony in his legs. So is a testosterone surge to be expected at this age?

I have absolutely no back up for this one only a comment from my friend who is a senior nurse and mum to boys, but she said that boys go through a hormone surge at around 7 and then again at 14. I have never researched this at all but did notice last year when DS was 7 he started to get moody and got blackheads on his nose! Not sure about 5 though. I'm off to research, you've just prompted me. Your'e DS doesn't really sound any different to mine though. Has this coincided with any change in his routine or school? Will let you know if I find anything.

Agh, medical paper after medical paper!! No luck really. Might have been a load of rubbish really I assumed she was speaking professionally? Be really interested to see if anyone else knows though. If thre have been no upsetting changes for your DS though, its possible he's just going through aphase of discovery, new emotions, pushing the boundaries etc. No expert though, wish you luck.

Boys tend to have testosterone surges at 4 and 14 . Then as a man at 40 they start to lose it -hence many mid life crisis

oh yes

Not exactly medical research but I found both these pages helpful when I was looking at how to deal with my DS' behaviour.

preschool irectory

boys versus girls

Yes, and at age 6,7,8,9 ............... aarrrgghhhhh !!!!

Thanks for the links. Nappy, I love the bit in the pre-school dev where it says during a growth spurt boys may have problems with their hearing. What an excuse

He's a very good boy, I have nothing to complain about really, I just noticed a pattern in his behaviour coinciding with his sore legs, so I guess it is just when he is having a growth spurt. Damn - now I will have to go and buy him more clothes.

I wait to see if ds2 follows the same pattern!

DS3 will be 5 soon and the last few weeks I have been "Kept behind" by the teacher every other day because he is behaving very badly, fighting with everyone his age and older. He is also starting to answer back to me (not the teachers though) which he never used to do. I just hope it is just a surge of testosterone because I really would like my beautiful little boy back. I do not remember going through the same with DS2 but might just have forgotten.

I found your link very interessting Nappy, Ds also seems to find it harder to let go of me in the morning, I get a lot of kisses and hugs, but that, I can definitely cope with![grin}

Yes the whole thing about boys experiencing more separation anxiety than girls is certainly true in our case. Ds2 has just turned 2 and hates it when I leave him. DS1 has always been a bit of a mummy's boy

I think boys have a suge of hormones at 4. This certainly was the case with ds who turned from a sweet mummys boy to a full out ben 10 carbon copy who slams doors and answers back. He is now 6 and the problems with aggression have continued so not sure it is a phase but something that happens to them. Actually i have just read this again in "raising boys".