My five year old has just been referred to the peadiatrician as she has developed pubic hair and smells of body odour. I noticed the hair around two months a go, not much and on her inner area of her labia - had I not have been applying some cream (sore from not wiping properly) I would not have noticed. I did a quick google and decided to monitor it to see how we went. On Wednesday I noticed that she smelled very strongly when I was helping her in the bath and so I rang the doctors on Thursday morning. To my horror, they saw her immediately, the referral was made on the same day and today the hospital rang with an appointment for August. It has all happened very quickly and I'm feeling quite raw about it all. She is very tall, but once her feeding issues were sorted as a baby she has always been in the higher centiles, it is nothing new for her, but now I recognise that this can also be a sign of precocious puberty.
As she was born early, we had a lot of intervention when she was younger and she was rereferred back to the peadiatric team last year due to hypermobility and associated sensory processing difficulties. We've had physio and OT involvement, got the school behind us and we've been "free" from appointments and hospitals for around 9 months. And now this.
I am usually very pragmatic, but I'm struggling with this at the moment. I feel quite teary (most unlike me) but I suppose this is to be expected. I feel terribly guilty that I didn't report it back when I first found the pubic hair, but as it was in isolation and because she's had so much intervention I wanted to wait and see.
Has anyone else had experience of this? I'm trying not to jump ahead of myself, but I'm very concerned about the possible tests involved as she finds these types of things extremely difficult. I'm also panicking in case they don't offer treatment (aware it is not useful for me to speculate) as I can't bear the thought of her continuing to go through puberty.
Any hand holding/suport/info appreciated.
Thank you
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Children's health
Precocious Puberty - hand hold please
0AliasGrace0 · 08/07/2016 19:01
Hi OP, just wanted to say I have EDS3 and started puberty early too. I had all the tests, bone scans etc too and they couldn't find anything apart from early puberty onset. After I had my DD I was suffering with dizzy spells, blackouts etc and they then diagnosed Addison's disease which apparently can be common with EDS3. Which I have read can cause early puberty. Obviously mine is not very bad at all because it went unnoticed for nearly 30 years (and I was only dx with EDS3 in my mid 20s)
Hope you get some answers soon 
I had to Google pit rock 
Glad dd is taking it in her stride, that makes it easier for you too.
Also good to see there is someone on the thread now who can offer some direct experience
Nothing useful to add OP except a hand hold and a 
x
and thank you. It's needed.
Yes. Pit rock. Slightly odd name, but I figured I'd better look for something a little more kid friendly than my usual chemical ridden cheap stuff. She picked it because it was pink, typical 5 year old!
Hi beenthere, fellow EDSer! We're quite sure my DD has it too, but I'm not pushing for the formal diagnosis as her treatment plan wouldn't change, so I figured there's no point. Do you mind me asking how old you were when your puberty began and how you coped with it? Addision's is something I've vaguely heard of but don't know much about. My EDS wasn't picked up until I was 32 when they were trying to get my arthritis under control. They think my pregnancy provoked it to become symptomatic, so I'm a bit of a dislocating mess nowadays. I'm pretty good at living with it now though, so I hope DD is as fortunate. Unfortunately she's exceptionally 'bendy', her hands do things that look like magic tricks...boogles the mind. I'm hoping all her support will help to keep her as healthy as she can be though, we keep a really positive outlook.
I've decided to ring up to find out about the possibility of going private on Weds (day off). If it's going to be quicker, I think I'll go for it that way I can't continue to beat myself up about not acting quicker sooner
Thanks for all the responses. I can feel my resolve returning. I've stopped feeling teary and I'm getting into 'deal with it' mode.
Settled on Dove roll on - they had no Simple. I'll see how she gets on with it. It's pink and smells nice, so she'll be happy with that!
Spoke with the private paed's secretary. They have no appointments until August anyway, and we're away for nearly two weeks so we wouldn't gain much at all. She said we would go back on the NHS pathway if that's what we wanted (no insurance and the tests are ££££ - hasten to add, my parents are paying, I'm a single Mum so it's not something I could do). So ultimately even if we could be seen a couple of weeks earlier max, they wouldn't be able to do much other than offer an opinion and maybe reassure me. Her letter came through for her NHS appt and it's with the paed we saw previously. She was lovely and measured in her approach to DD's hypermobility, and I was impressed with her approach to DD. So, after weighing it up I think we'll stick with her current appointment. I'll ring the hospital and tell them that we'd accept any cancellations (unlikely, but at least I'll have done it) so I'll feel like I've covered all the bases that I could.
Now all I need to do is find her red book...any ideas where I've put that? Because I have no clue, and it's certainly not the first time I've lost it
Hi youcantgoback
She had her bone age xray last week so we're awaiting those results - others are back and are ok so far. We have a follow up in December, so I'll be asking for a copy of all results at that point. Until then I'm back to the dreaded waiting game 
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