8 year old starting puberty?

[43plusafewforluck]

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

My daughter was the same age and also started her periods at 8. I think it’s fairly common now.

This is a really irresponsible post. Puberty blockers should never be taken lightly, but they have their place. And remember that NOT taking puberty blockers also has big implications (it's not just about avoiding early periods - for me that was the least important reason).

I thought long and hard about whether to start my child on puberty blockers, and talked to a number of paediatricians and endocrinologists. Other parents will choose differently. But "don't even consider" is terrible advice.

Can I just say again, because I think it's important, that starting your periods at 9 can be normal but can also be problematic (eg a pituitary tumour). There are a number of different causes and some need treatment. We all know people who started their periods early and it was fine, but that doesn't mean it's always fine.

Please don't tell people they shouldn't see the doctor, because your granny was OK.

Please don't tell people to never even consider treatment.