Precocious Puberty. Please can I have a handhold?

[LindorBunny]

So, dd aged 7 and a half. Has breast buds. Panicking.

Always been tall for age, not overweight.

So far only other signs I've noticed are some beigeish discharge sometimes and rather argumentative, although being arsey doesn't seem unusual amongst her friends. So far no pubic or underarm hair, no BO, no acne etc. No significant height or weight gain.

I'm going to try and get a GP appointment for this week. What should I be asking them to do? I presume, from what I've read, hormone tests and bone scan are necessary, with possibly also an MRI? Do we need a referral to an endocrinologist or can the GP deal with this? Or can the GP do initial tests whilst we await a referral?

My poor baby, she's far too young for this. She seemed remarkably unconcerned as we had our discussion about growing up whilst surrounded by my little ponies. (With plenty of sniggering at the word scrotum in the body book.)

I suppose best case it's bog standard early puberty and we consider medication to delay it? I don't want to think about the rest right now.

How significant is a long wait for an appointment going to be? We can probably stretch to an initial private appointment, but not ongoing treatment, should that be necessary.

Ok, appointment made. We shall see what the dr has to say. I've also identified a suitable consultant we could see privately, if necessary. (I like to have a back up plan.)

Please come back and tell us how it goes. When is the appointment?

Not until Friday. It's going to be a long week.

We are going through this with dd1 who has just turned 8 (she was 7 when we initially saw the GP) We had a referral to an endocrinologist and dd has had an xray of her hand, pelvic ultrasound and a blood/hormone test.

We are waiting to see the consultant again once she has the blood test results through, and then if it is confirmed puberty (very likely due to breasts growing, pubic hair and growth spurt) she will have an injection every 2/3 months to stop further development.

Poor dd is finding it quite difficult to deal with...all of the other girls in her y3 class still look like little girls, whereas she has hips, small breasts and is noticeably taller.

Hopefully she can start treatment soon so she will feel,less different as the other girls start to catch her up. I think the emotional side must be especially difficult for them.

It sounds as though the medical side of things has been quite slow? Did she manage ok with the tests?

Yes it has been quite slow. Each year has been performed at different appointments and the wait for the initial appointment with the consultant was over 3 months (we do live in a big city though) The whole process had taken almost 6 months so far which feels far too long.

She coped fine with the tests, yes. The blood tests involved having a cannula in her hand for a couple of hours, which I was worried about, but they used numbing cream first and she coped with it really well.

Not each year, each test!! I hate autocorrect!!

That does sound like a lot of faffing about. It's shame they can't run a one stop clinic and do everything in one day.

They did everything in a day for my DD. Must vary by area.

I started my periods early - but I think this runs in the family. I was regular at 9.

I wish I'd been given a reprieve for a few years. :(

Yes there is a genetic element to it. My periods started when I was 10 and dh also went through puberty early.

None of dds friends even know what periods/puberty are which has caused a few awkward conversations ( I could probably start a whole other thread about that!!)

Yes, I've read mother's age is a major predictive factor. I was very average and I think both grandmothers were late, both were skinny and tiny. So this is definitely unusual.

Four arms, would you have preferred treatment to delay, had that been possible?

I'm sure weight has a lot to do with it doesn't it? I've always been heavy for my clothes size so assume I was at a young age too.

What does the treatment involve?

I went straight into week long super heavy painful periods. With PMT and spots. Greasy hair and skin.

Yes I wish I could have avoided that.

But not everyone is so unlucky with their periods. Hindsight is a fabulous thing!

It doesn't always. Dd is very thin.

Dd was like a splinter when she was a kid so its not always the case I dont think

Oh ffs, she now has a couple of spots by her beautiful little nose. Someone drag me away from Google. I just hope it's not caused by anything awful.

Fourarms, the treatment is an injection every 4 to 12 weeks.

www.cwhn.ca/en/node/39365

Says that although age of breast buds has declined, onset of menstruation hasn't declined at the same rate so maybe she's got a while left before that.

My dd is 9.5 and started having body odour at the age of 8. I was quite concerned that she was going into puberty early but there have been no other signs since then. I was a late bloomer, as were my sisters and my mum (we were all around 15 when we got our first periods) so I was a bit surprised. Dd would be taller for her age than we would have been (which is normal now) but probably just as skinny. I am really hoping her periods don't start soon as it just seems so young to have to deal with all that hassle.

LindorBunny how did the appointment go?

Sorry, back to school manicness is upon us.

Saw the GP yesterday. He's going to refer us to the paediatric department at the hospital for them to run some tests and see where we are. He wasn't overly concerned, but thought it definitely warranted further investigation.