Early puberty or just a little weight gain? (6 yr old)

[Blossom4538]

Hi all,

Dd seems to have developed swollen, prominent nipples and a little breast tissue.
She is 6! I'm not sure whether it's weight gain (I haven't noticed gain) or precocious puberty! I hope not. She has anxiety and various struggles, including being under assessment for high functioning autism.

They are quite puffy and it seemed to happen overnight! One day, we just noticed it. She says they are tender and sore and she's very aware of them.

Also, where is a weight chart online for this age? She is 126cm tall and I need to weigh her but I never make her paranoid about weight and just emphasise her growing tall and healthy eating.

I think this is one for the GP. I don't think they would be tender if it was just weight gain unless they are being rubbed by tight clothing or something?

They also sometimes look slightly inverted.

Checked and she is 3stone 11 and 126cm tall. Is there a chart to check if this is classed as healthy weight?

When she lay down, I felt little lumps underneath her nipples so looks like a "development". Calling Dr tomorrow I think...

www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Healthyweightcalculator.aspx

looks fine.

Oh dear, poor girl if it is early puberty. That's very early.

Thank you so much for checking that. I've bookmarked the page for future use!

I know it’s not massively helpful but does she eat a lot of chicken or meat that might have growth hormones in them?

I remember being I primary school and my nipples got slightly swollen and a little tender there was no tissue just swollen so my mum panicked and took me to gp she said it was "breast buds"? Maybe go to the gp and see what they say?

Or tuna? It has loads of oestrogen in.

Def looks like breast buds!

She is a super fussy eater and rarely touches meat, never eats tuna. However, she had taken equazen eye q fish oil capsules for years, for omega 3 as we don't eat fish and also as they are supposed to help calm hyperactive children.....

I'd read the leaflet and see if there's anything about oestrogen levels.

I've just messaged the company.

Watching with interest. If it is early onset puberty, you can talk to the school nurse the same way you used to be able to talk to the HV before she was 5. Maybe they can give you some advice.

Thank you,
just waiting for GP to phone me back and then I expect I'll have to pop in with DD....

The child growth foundation have a helpline and precocious puberty is one of the conditions they cover. Please phone them as well as the GP. They are very helpful.

www.childgrowthfoundation.org phone 020 8995 0257

Thank you.

I've spoken to GP and she is seeing GP tomorrow who specialises in Paediatrics.

I hope it's not the fish oil I've given her, trying to do the healthy thing - hope it hasn't raised her eostrogen levels :-(

Poor thing, she has enough to deal with. It may just be her shape..

Let's hope so. 😊

Okay! Apparently it may be Idiopathic Thelarche (early breast development) - but will slow down. They don't think early puberty but she does need to see a specialist at hospital for further investigation. She was so brave during the appointment, they did a thorough examination...including "down below!" 😬

for miniBlossom. That's great. I was talking to DD 10 last night about this thread, she's just getting breast buds now, we think, and she said "she'll start her periods when she's 8! I couldn't have coped with that!" Honestly, if her personality so far is anything to go by, I think she'll need constant reminding to change pads at 12, but that's another thread...

I know!! 😬