8 year old starting puberty?

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Posting here for traffic, sorry.

My 8 year old daughter seems to have begun puberty, am I out of touch or this really young??

She has underarm hair, a few pimples on her face and has body odour if she doesn’t shower every day. Her hair seems to be getting greasy quickly too!
This evening she has just told me she has some pubic hair.

She is slim, always been petite for her age, and very physically active (gymnastics, dance and swimming)

She does have a book all about growing up, so she knows what to expect, but even the book says age 10 is a normal time to see the first signs!

Should I take her to to the doctors? I don’t want to embarrass her of make her feel there is something wrong. Our doctors are also notably shit so I think they would brush it off anyhow.

Anyone had experience of this so young? And what did you do, if anything? TIA

I am afraid they start younger and younger now. Does she have breast buds?

A friend's DD is in a similar situation. She's taken her to the GP to see if she is going through precocious puberty and potentially needing puberty blockers. I'd suggest you do the same tbh

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/early-or-delayed-puberty/#:~:text=But%20it's%20perfectly%20normal%20for,not%20started%20by%20around%2014
Nothing to worry about according to NHS. I wouldn’t take to doctor unless you have specific concerns.

Its increasingly common. Its usually linked with weight though, and if she's very petite its less common.

The things you describe are more signs of adrenarche than puberty however. Adrenarche comes a good couple of years earlier than proper puberty.

My 8.5 year old has very tiny breast buds. No other signs. She is very tall for her age though albeit slim. I hope she doesn’t start periods young too, poor child!

One of my friends started getting her periods at the age of ten and then she stopped growing. She is only a little more than five feet tall. Apparently it is normal to stop getting sny higher after you start having periods.

I think this is normal, my friends child is the same age, said she gets bad bo and has hair under arms. My dd was a bit older but breaatbuds came about 9 then periods when she just turned 11 but her friend actually started her period at 8! ,quite rare but it can happen at 8. As pp said periods usually start about 2 years after breast buds. I wouldn't take her to the Dr you might make her feel she's not 'normal' just make sure she's showering and don't make her paranoid about it.

Is it!??? I had no idea. But thinking about it; I’ve been 5ft 2 since I was 11

It's young but not unheard of I started puberty at around 8 and I'm 51 ,although no periods untill I was 13.
My son was about 9 when he started showing early signs

I was 8 too, period came fully at 10. I was a D cup by year 11, I hated the whole thing.

I think the vague rule of thumb is that girls stop growing about a year after their periods start. There will definitely be exceptions to that rule. It was right with me though.

That’s really interesting, dd started at 10 and is just under 5ft tall (now an adult). People say that being overweight is a cause, but my dd has always been very slim.

10 is quite old for girls to start in my experience. Bear in mind periods normally start about 2 years after starting puberty. Both my DDs started showing signs of puberty around 8.5 and started their periods at 11 and 10.5
I was the same back in the 90s, my mum and grandma got their first period at 11 too, so not just a modern thing.

No sign of breast changes or breast buds yet.
Do I need to worry or do anything about Adrenarche?
I really don’t want her to worry about being different or ‘not normal’ but the thought of periods at 8/9 seems so cruel.

No, that’s not right- girls normally stop growing 1-2 years after the first period. They normally have a growth spurt just before then growth slows down.

I've been 5 ft 2 since I was 11 aswell and everyone thought I'd be tall like my dad but nope just taller than my mum who was 4 ft 11 lol

All my brother and sisters are taller than me and I hate it.

I started my periods age 10.
I'm 5ft 7.
That's a ridiculous statement.
My daughter was also 10 and she's 5ft 9.

I actually think you sound quite naive like all this has taken you by surprise. My sisters and I all started our periods between 8 and 10 and the one who was 8 was one of the youngest but I think body changes at that age are not unusual. You don’t need to ‘do’ anything except make sure you keep talking to your child and maybe avoid using the word ‘normal’ so she doesn’t feel abnormal.

Normal. My dd got underarm hair at 8, and then pubic hair after, and needed to start wearing deodorant. I was a bit worried this was too young, and she’d start her periods soon, but dd is nearly 11 and still hasn’t started. She hasn’t changed shape body wise yet really either, just got lots taller.

I looked into this last week, as it's something that is repeated a lot online, but apparently it's only true for approximately half of all girls. The rest of the cohort either grow anywhere from a fraction to many many inches taller and supposedly, the earlier a girl starts her period, the more she is likely to grow quite a bit taller. 😀

Thank you all so much.
You have really helped ease my anxiety around this.
Hopefully this is just a big hormone surge and things will slow down.
Will just keep reassuring her it’s all normal.
thanks again 🌹

My dd10 started having a few symptoms of puberty at 8. Small breast buds, got greasy hair a few spots. But I've found that she has had peaks and troughs. So she will have spots and then they'll disappear for 6 months. She can be a bit smelly for a few weeks and need deodorant and then go through months of nothing. I was a bit worried at 8 but now she's 10 she seems in line with peers.

I think it's very much a stop start thing for years. My recently turned 9 year-old DS suddenly had 4-5 spots this week and has been a bit more feisty than normal 😬

It does feel young to me, my 11 year old has breast buds and needs deodorant but they’re the only signs of puberty so far. My just turned 10 year old has no real signs. But from reading this thread it appears it is normal!

My mum ( in her 80s now!) started her periods at 8.