Early Puberty - see GP or not?

[MsMontyWomble]

Hi all,

My daughter is 7 (will be 8 mid March) and has recently developed breast buds under her nipples. Was only the right at first but now as one on the left hand side too. This morning while getting ready for school she said "Urgh, mummy my armpits stink!".... so I had a wee sniff and there was a BO smell. She has a bath every night and so its not a case of poor hygiene. So I said not to worry and just gave her a wipe under her arms with a wet wipe and a spray of my deodorant.

Putting these two together I am now thinking that she is starting puberty - not noticed any pubic hair as yet.

Looking online most say to get them checked by a GP if they start developing before age 8 but as she is nearly 8, I don't want to waste their time if this is nothing to worry about????

Any advice would be appreciated!

I would go and have a chat with the gp and see what they say. My dd began treatment for early puberty when she was 7.

Definitely go to the GP. If you feel your GP is too dismissive, ask for a paediatric referral. That way she'll be properly assessed. They'll check her growing potential as part of the assessment which obviously finishes earlier if she goes through purbberty early.

go to gp.
this is very early and puperty inhibits growth in girls and could cause other problems.

She is 8 weeks off 8 I would not bother but if you are concerned then take her. 1of mine had pernicious puberty she had body hair at 5 the tests are quite invasive and she had a hand bone scan and back and forward to hospital till she was 9

DS needed deodorant at 7.5 ,lots of kids do,it doesn't necessarily mean full on puberty.

8 is considered normal and she's not far off that so wouldn't be overly concerned.

I think I will try to get her an appointment soon then. Thanks for the advice.

Dd did reach her adult height at 10 she is 5ft2 she grew really quickly thankfully there was no periods until she was 11 which is normal she didn't have any puberty blockers consultant just kept a check on her her bone density was also 3 years ahead

I cant get an appt until mid Feb!!! unless I call at 8am every morning in a queue of 15 people to try to get one sooner so have opted for a telephone appt at the end of this month.
I know it is probably nothing to be concerned about but I would feel bad if Ieft it when in fact something could be done.

That's not good. I am very lucky here and can still get an appt, even for totally non urgent things, for the children within 2 days.

My doctors is terrible - I could start a whole new thread on the amount of cock ups they have made in the last 6 months and unfortunately the only other one nearby is just as bad by the sounds of the school mum reviews

If you can afford it, you could book a private appointment with an endocrinologist as that's who you'd need to see for proper assessment anyway. A referral from the GP could take months otherwise. As another poster said, it's important to check your daughters height relative to family. If she's short, early puberty needs prompt assessment.

Hi OP,

I've just been through this with my DD (just turned 6). If you do an advanced search you'll see my threads. She's been diagnosed with premature adrenarche, so we're not worrying yet, but have been told to ring if we see breast bud development and she's being checked 6 monthly with the hospital too. They were very clear though that they wouldn't do anything if she was around the age of 8, as this is now considered within normal limits what???? . I'd definitely push for an appt, when I rang I got in that morning.

Apparently it's common to have a bit of a hormone surge around that age, and things often settle down rather than developing into early puberty, so not panic stations just yet. However, I would speak to the gp to be on the safe side as if it is early puberty you may want to consider her options.