girl developing breasts at not even eight years of age - cause for concern?

[emkana]

This is a friend's dd. She will be eight in January.

it would be worth checking it out at drs as it is a bit early.

Do you think so? What could it be?

It does sound young. How big is she? (height/weight I mean!)

Could be 'precocious puberty' or is she overweight?
Breast buds usually develop at around 10 yrs of age.
It is worth checking out as there are various reasons why it can happen.

def wrth getting checked. if it is asign of early puberty arriving then periods at a v young age would be v v hard for her to cope with eg at school etc

I don't think it's a concern personally. I started getting boobs when I was 8 but I didn't start my periods til I was 14.

She's not overweight but she is tall for her age.

bizarre question I know ... but is she by any chance adopted?

I got my first bra at 9...it was an underwire. AF started one month after 10th birthday. Life is hell when puberty kicks in at that age. Have pads etc in the cupboard now. Buy a pretty bag to put them in. Put spare undies in the bag. Tell the school and always always Ask you GP for advice. Better to know then worry.

What age was her mother developing?

Don't know about her mother.
She is not adopted.

Dd started at 8yo with developing breasts. At almost 13, she's not much farther forward! I took her to the Dr who was v good. She said if there's just one sign of puberty it isn't usually a problem but if there are others then there may be an issue. Precocious puberty can reduce ultimate height as it causes girls to stop growing earlier than usual.

Oh god, hope DD doesn't show any other signs - she can do without precocious puberty stunting her height

i googled precocious puberty for a friend in a similar situation, and common consensus seemed to be that it was only considered abnormal if puberty began before 7.

That's interesting, as PP was definitely a concern if a girl was younger than about 9 when dd started showing signs. I wondered why the definition had changed and it seems that my suspicion that it's to do with the general age of puberty is correct. From Wiki - "Studies indicate that breast development in girls and pubic hair in girls and boys are starting earlier than in previous generations.[citation needed] As a result, "early puberty" in children as young as 9 and 10 is no longer considered abnormal, although it may be upsetting to parents"

Istr that in Victorian times the usual age was about 17 for periods to start so they'd probaby have considered a 14yo to be precocious!

Suedonim - can that really be true about the Victorians? Am thinking of Romeo and Juliet when Juliet's mum says "at your age [13, nearly 14], I was a wife and mother". Although Shakespeare put it more elegantly, obviously...

I'm trying to think where I read that - maybe AN Wilson's Victorians? Istr later puberty was a feature of Victorian times because of the Industrial Revolution. The population became urbanised so children generally had less and poorer quality food to eat than when they'd lived in farming communities. Also health declined with the overcrowding, pollution and of course the intensive child-labour that accompanied industrialisation.