Not to medically treat my DD

[StayingHere]

My DD is 8.5. We are overseas in an Asian country that relies on medical insurance, I think this might be relevant later. This time last year she started showing signs of puberty (a little under arm hair and adult body odor). For reassurance I took her to an endocrinologist who insisted that she had precocious puberty and as soon as she developed signs of Estrogen (ie breast buds) that she should be treated with puberty blockers for a couple of years. Her bone age scan showed 1 yr and 11 months ahead which he said would have an impact on her adult height. I consulted another doctor in the UK via zoom who said her results showed early adrenarche (adrenal hormones setting off a bit early), not precocious puberty and that she is really more likely to be 'just' an early developer - her development is not rapid and shows no signs of the hormone you need to trigger breast development followed by periods a couple of years later. She doubted that her full adult height would be wildly effected even with the advanced bone age. Based on her family history she is unlikely to be a 91st centile adult anyway so we wouldn't expect her to follow that line forever.
A year later and she has no breast buds, she has pretty much the same amount of under arm hair and she has stayed on her growth line. She is happy and healthy and aside from a little spray of deodorant on PE days her life is the same as any other 8 year old girl. The underarm hair is light and no one seems to have ever noticed.
I do not particularly want to treat her even if she does develop breast buds whilst she is still 8 or early end of 9. I am not convinced that puberty blockers are a good thing unless puberty is very precocious (ie 5 or 6) and I understand that there is usually 2 years or so between breast buds and periods which means even if that all started now she would be 10.5 (I was 11 and in primary school and I survived). I also don't think her predicted height of 5'3-5'4 would make her life particularly bad! I was a very tall child and early to my period and topped out at 5'6 which I find totally fine.

I guess I am worried that I am doing her a disservice and I should treat her. Will she resent me if she ends up short or has her period early? Or would she be more likely to resent me if I put her through puberty blocker injections every 2-3 months - I would have hated that. DH falls firmly on the side of not treating her - I very much lean that way too but want to do the right thing by her and not make her childhood difficult.

[jamimmi]

I'd just watch and leave. My dd had similar at 8. Started her periods on her 11birthay (.not the best present) and is now about 5 ft 3. at nearly 14. I think she has just about stopped growing. I'm only 4ft 11 and her dad's average height so she was never going to be tall. Her brother also matured early as did I and he's an average size 18 yr.old. One positive was hormones were very stable by the time he hit exam years leading to a more balance approach then many of.his friends

[huuuuunnnndderrricks]

8 isn't that early though is it ? A lot of girls start at 10 ish . I'd be inclined to leave her too.

[ancientgran]

My periods started at primary school, can't remember if I was 10 or 11. I'm 5'4" which I've never found a problem. I think you are being very wise.

My periods started nearly 60 years ago and I think periods started later back then so I was very early for the 1960s.

[BigHuff]

@MackenCheese

My understanding is that girls need to reach around 42kg for periods to start. After that they will grow 2-3 inches more, maximum. My DD just started hers at age 12, so I'm hoping she can put on a couple more inches. Having said that, height really doesn't matter as some pps have said!

Interesting. I was the smallest, skinniest girl in my year and yet also one of the first to get my period, aged 11 and weighing around 25kg. My much heavier friend didn't start hers until a couple of years later. I don't think I reached my adult height until I was 15 or so - I'm 5'7.

Wild that we still don't really know what triggers menstruation.

[StayingHere]

@spotcheck nothing, if it's your genetic height but if it's because of a hormonal issue (very early growth or very late growth) then it could have other associated problems, as we see from a recent poster.

[spotcheck]

*being?

[spotcheck]

What's wrong with bring short?

[StayingHere]

@Justilou1 I am so sorry to read that, it sounds like you needed some long term medical treatment when you were young that you didnt get. I don't think my DD is in your position but I will continue to monitor her as per advice.

[serin]

I think watchful waiting may be the way to go.
Based on my own experience (boobs at 9, but no periods until 15, height 5'9"), i'd be reluctant to start drug therapy just yet.
I think I'd go with the GOSH advice and just keep closely monitoring.

[partyatthepalace]

Justilou1

That is dreadful - am so sorry that happened to you, but I think the OPs point is that as her UK doc says her daughter isn’t showing signs of precocious puberty, just some limited early development.

[partyatthepalace]

It doesn’t sound like anything needs treating to me. But if you are worried you could get a 3rd specialist opinion.

[Justilou1]

@StayingHere - I had precocious puberty. First period at 9. There is a bit more to it than being taller than average for your age. I stopped growing when I was eleven. I am only 157cm. At two, my estimated height was 170cm. I have skeletal deformities associated with precocious puberty that became apparent at that time, including painful, deformed scapulae. They have been agony all my life. I have other autoimmune issues that are normally associated with older women, that started early. I believe that perimenopause began for me aged 28, and menopause began at 46. I have osteopenia, and don't ask me to open any jars because I have ganglions in my wrists and fingers and can barely grasp a cup of tea. I haven't begun to delve into the psychological effects of going through puberty years before everyone else - especially when you had no idea about it. I was convinced that I had cancer. Then I felt ashamed. I hated periods. Every... Single....One. Because my hips were misaligned (yes, same thing) my uterus had to work harder to clear itself out. My period was heavy, painful and LOOOOONG!!! Sooooo messy!!!! Don't expect that because she's young it will be light. That's a fallacy! Mine was a bloody tsunami of hell every month. Sometimes it lasted for a month - or more. My uterus was binned when I was 34. I wasn't sad to see it go!

[EmeraldShamrock]

How odd of you to be watching out for “breast buds” and monitoring the poor girl’s underarm hair! I give my sons privacy and couldn’t tell you if they have started to develop body hair.

I suggest you leave her alone and give her some privacy rather than dragging her to the doctor every time you spot a sign she may be growing up!
What a load of tosh.

[Embracingthechaos]

@HTH1

How odd of you to be watching out for “breast buds” and monitoring the poor girl’s underarm hair! I give my sons privacy and couldn’t tell you if they have started to develop body hair.

I suggest you leave her alone and give her some privacy rather than dragging her to the doctor every time you spot a sign she may be growing up!

Christ, this is absolutely dreadful advice.

[StayingHere]

@GeidiPrimes

Fucking hell OP, not enough mention of "breast buds" there hmm

You felt the need to count?

I'm often a bit suspicious when a new poster starts posting about children's developing bodies in the middle of the night.

It's also not the middle of my night. As it says in the first post I'm in Asia where it was broad daylight.

[nolongersurprised]

*sorry - major growth spurt before their period, not before puberty

[StayingHere]

@GeidiPrimes

Fucking hell OP, not enough mention of "breast buds" there hmm

You felt the need to count?

I'm often a bit suspicious when a new poster starts posting about children's developing bodies in the middle of the night.

fair enough. I'm not a new poster though, just a regular name changer (as many people are). And in the context of this situation it is appropriate (and medical) terminology.

[GeidiPrimes]

Fucking hell OP, not enough mention of "breast buds" there hmm

You felt the need to count?

I'm often a bit suspicious when a new poster starts posting about children's developing bodies in the middle of the night.

[nolongersurprised]

My understanding is once breasts start to bud it is entering full puberty and once periods come adult height has been reached.

It’s quite interesting the variation in growth after the first period. It’s true that oestrogen promotes fusion of the growth plates and most girls have their major growth spurt before puberty and most seem to only grow about 5cm in the few years after before they stop. However, in “real life” there’s massive variability in that. My own oldest daughter was 154cm at 11 when her first period came and is now 172cm at 14 1/2 years. She grew 10cm in the year after her (very regular) periods started.

[nolongersurprised]

Sounds like premature adrenarche (early androgenisation - hair, odour etc) rather than true precocious puberty. Usually nothing at all to worry about, not “proper” puberty as no oestrogen production. At worst there may be an increased risk of acne later on

[Shelby2010]

OP, I recently saw a UK paediatrician for a similar situation with my 7 year old DD. She said they now only consider treatment if the child starts going into proper puberty before 8y. She advised keeping an eye on her development & monitoring her height for growth spurts. She didn’t think it was anything to worry about though.

[ElaborateSalad]

I should add that I started my periods aged eleven, and stopped growing around that age too. I'm just under 5'8"

[ElaborateSalad]

I was wearing a bra aged nine. Can't say it's had a a negative impact at all

[StayingHere]

@HTH1

How odd of you to be watching out for “breast buds” and monitoring the poor girl’s underarm hair! I give my sons privacy and couldn’t tell you if they have started to develop body hair.

I suggest you leave her alone and give her some privacy rather than dragging her to the doctor every time you spot a sign she may be growing up!

I literally laughed out loud at this.
Look, I live in a hot country - my 7 year old had knock out adult BO. She always has sleeveless tops because it is fucking roasting here, so yeah I noticed her dark under arm hair and I believed as she was only 7 that this warranted a check up. Due to her advanced bone age, the doctor (both of them in fact) recommended that I monitored her breast development to check for 'rapid development' as this can indicate a hormone issue. This 'checking' is nothing more than a cursory glance - she wouldn't even notice.
I'm not going to apologise for subtly monitoring the health of my DC - if I hadn't given DS a quick glance when I helped him out the shower (he's 5 before you get in a twist) I wouldn't have noticed a very sore patch of skin on the back of his legs which turned out to be fungal infection. It really isn't weird at their age.

[shouldistop]

My understanding is that girls need to reach around 42kg for periods to start

There is no minimum weight required. Maybe there's an average weight but I started my periods at 12 and I was under 40kg