Precocious puberty (6 year old girl)

[speadyourwingsandflyaway]

Hi there,

I would very much like to hear people's experiences of precocious puberty, as I am very worried about my daughter.

She is 6.5 years old. About a year and a half ago, we noticed (when helping her wipe her bottom after a poo) a dark hair around her bum (back bottom). I thought nothing of it because there just seemed to be the one.

A few months ago, around April I think, I noticed that there were several of these hairs when my daughter got out of the bath. So I took her to the GP. The GP said it was nothing to worry about because the hairs were at the back, not the front.

But a few weeks ago, some hairs began to appear on her vulva as well. Definitely pubic hairs. I contacted the same doctor (at our surgery, you have to email them first). She emailed back to say it was probably nothing to worry about it if it was just one hair. I replied again to say it was more than one hair (there is one very noticeable one, and two or three finer, less dark ones, but definitely also pubic hairs). This GP then replied to say she would refer my daughter to a different GP for a second opinion.

I am glad I pushed, because the second GP decided that she needed to be referred to the paediatric endocrinologist at the hospital. I had mixed feelings about this...glad they were checking it out further (as I felt the first GP, although nice enough, had dismissed my concerns) but also really worried about what might be happening and why.

The doctor thought she could possibly feel one breast bud. This is not something I have noticed, but I don't really like pressing hard on that area like she was - it feels wrong! My daughter doesn't have any underarm hair or body odour, but I have noticed recently that I have to wash her hair more often (at least twice a week, when once a week was okay before). It gets greasy otherwise. Also, she has quite a few very small pimples/bumps on her forehead and t-zone and she is very moody sometimes, with mood swings, but I am not sure if this is just normal behaviour or not.

We got the appointment letter through today and it is when we are on holiday, right at the start of a 3 week holiday in fact. I called the hospital to reschedule and they were not able to, but then the person on the other end of the phone said "Oh, I see this is an urgent referral - I will speak to my colleague and see what we can do, and we will call you back today."

I'm of course now really worried that it was an urgent referral, as I had no idea until now. Does anyone have any experiences to share or words of advice/reassurance? Were you referred urgently? Is this just standard when they suspect precocious puberty? I am really quite scared, especially if we cannot get an appointment before we go away. This means it will be nearly September by the time she is seen, and if there is anything sinister going on (I have read about brain and ovarian tumours), that feels like too long to wait.

I forgot to add that my daughter is tall, but she always has been and was a 'long' baby too. She is the tallest girl in her class, but there are 2 other girls who are quite close to her in height, almost the same height in fact, and a boy who is taller.

We have had this with our 8 year old for a while. Only went to docs recently as she was starting her periods and thought it was too soon. My daughter is also much taller than her peers (by about a head above the others) and the endocrinologist did mention a link between early puberty and height. My dd defo has body odour, breast buds and pubic hair but it was only the bleeding that concerned us. I don't think the other things are anything to worry about tbh. We noticed all these things over the past 2 years or so but obv only now seen a doc (and the endocrinologists don't want to see her). I don't think you have anything to worry about too much

This is slightly tmi but I had pubic hair at age 4. The drs weren't particularly interested - although this was years ago of course. I had breast buds at 8 and started my period at 11. I hope it goes well just wanted to add reassurance x

Several parents in the child growth foundation parent group have children treated for pp. Sorry i can't link but you'll find it by googling! Lots of useful info on their site.

A couple girls in my daughter’s got their periods at 9. I guess puberty would have started a couple years earlier.

Hi
DD saw a consultant earlier in the year due to being v tall, 99th percentile, lots of growing pains (making her cry) and public hair. She was just gone 7 (6 when we saw gp)

The paediatrician didn't seem too concerned but arranged blood tests and bone scan to check bone age ( a very simple X-ray) so i would imagine they will do something similar for your daughter. She now has b o too.

I don't think they consider precocious puberty too urgent but if she does have it she will need treatment before her bones grow too much as it stops growth and then tallest girl in the class in primary could become the shortest in class in secondary.
I hope you get some answers soon. We just talked to our daughter very matter of factly about her growing up and needing a check up to make sure she wasn't growing up too quickly and she was absolutely fine with it all.

Fingers crossed that it's only the much more common issue of premature adrenarche. patient.info/childrens-health/adrenarche

Op I completely understand your worries if this was my daughter I'd be concerned too. Your Dr can prescribe puberty blocking medication which would allow your DD time to finish growing before her periods put paid to that. Good luck and stick to your gut feeling that it's just too early.

Hi. My dd has precocious puberty so maybe I can help to reassure you. Your daughter is young to be entering puberty (if that is what it is). If a girl is under the age of 8 and PP is diagnosed then they will block puberty with a drug called decapeptyl administered by injection.
At the hospital they are likely to do a hormonal blood test. They take some blood, inject a hormone reactor and then test again at (I think) 30 and 60 mins. If there is PP then the body will react to the chemical by producing sex hormones. Your dd May also have a pelvic ultrasound to assess the size and maturity of her uterus and ovaries. Hospitals also often do an X-ray of the wrist to assess bone development.
The vast majority of children with PP have it with no known cause. My dd has a benign brain tumour which presses on her pituitary gland causing it to “switch on” early.
My dd has been having puberty blocking injections since she was 3 1/2. We are finishing them this year and she will then go through puberty with her peers.
I can honestly say that aside from physically having to go to the hospital every other month for her injections and that she needed deodorant a bit earlier than her peers her PP has not adversely affected her life in any way.
There are other conditions (premature adrenarche or premature thelarche) which mimic PP in some ways but do not need treatment. Your consultant will advise.
Please try not to worry (easier said than done I know). PM me if you want - am happy to help.

Thank you all so much for your helpful replies, and sorry it has taken me a while to reply to acknowledge the responses.

We are still waiting to get our appointment rescheduled, and the only hope now is a cancellation. We have an appointment for the beginning of September, which feels a very long way off!

In the meantime, to help speed things along, they have asked us to do a 24-hour urine steroid test, which I have to collect from the hospital at some point.

Thank you again for all the replies... @QueenMabby, glad to hear it has not adversely affected your daughter's life in any way. It was such a shock to see pubic hair, I have to say.

My dd was referred to a paediatric endocrinologist (the referral took less than 2 weeks). I presume this is who you've been referred to too op? She had an X-ray, blood tests and pelvic u/s. She started some signs at 8y4m and is now 9y1m so not precocious but the early end of "normal". The results from her tests were unremarkable, all "normal", so were just going to continue to be seen six monthly by the consultant. He predicts periods between 10-10.5.

I went through precocious puberty & by age 8 I was fully physically developed & having periods. I hated it & I hated my life. I was a "freak" among the other girls in my school/area. This was back in the early 60's & I'm sure much has changed since then - girls generally are going through slightly earlier puberty & there's more openness generally around our bodies. Be sure to give a great deal of thought to the emotional/psychological impact on your DD. My childhood was a living nightmare tbh.

we’re going through this right now my daughter who’s 8 and autistic, told me she had hair under her arms around May this year , I hadn’t noticed before because when I give her a bath I just wash her hair and she does the rest, I panicked oh god how do I explain periods etc to an 8 year old in age but is like a 6 year old she would be traumatised. I had also noticed that her little boobies were no longer looking chubby but we’re starting to look like breasts I bought her some of those little bra vests . Went to gp who referred us to Paediatrics , we had the appointment yesterday the Dr was brilliant at not scaring my daughter and talking to me in a round about way that She wouldn’t understand. She looked in her eyes, blood pressure etc then checked the breast tissue, under her arms felt her tummy , felt her pelvis and just looked at her pubic area . She also had an X-ray on her hand to check bone fusion and formation. We will be going back in a couple of weeks for blood tests just to rule out everything else thyroid etc but Dr is sure precocious puberty then my daughter will start hormone injections once a month to halt puberty until the time is right .