8 yr old DD - is this the early stages of puberty?

[pilates]

Hiya, My 8 yr old DD has started to get greasy hair, small spots and her bottom and backs of legs look like they have a bit of cellulite? She hasn't got breasts but on the otherhand she isn't completely flat either. I am worried that she is going to start puberty early. What do you think?

How much does she weigh? There's some research linking weight to onset of puberty in girls, I think.

I think she is about 4ft and 4 stone

it might be.. I started my periods at 9 almost ten IIRC. certainly by 9 I had pimples and started to get the greasy hair.

might be worth having a natter with your GP if your worried..

but just to let you know I turned out to be a healthly woman even if I did do it all a bit early. So don't panic too much

She's not unusually tall or heavy, then.

I think medically "early onset" of puberty is generally defined as development of distinct secondary sexual characteristics (breasts and/or public hair) before age 8, so (as she's already 8 and doesn't have those yet) in any event it sounds as though she's within normal range (if at the younger end of normal range) for the sorts of changes you're describing. But it must be strange for you.

I feel abit gutted to be honest - is there a test the doctor can do to confirm? I use simple cleanser on her face in the morning/evening, is there a better product I can be using?

I get ds1 to oil cleanse which seems to be working.. everything else seemed to make him produce more oil.. but this has now subsided.

one thing I will say is in a gentle non embarrassing way make sure your dd knows about periods and how to deal with them etc

I remember it all being a bit of a shock when I started.. but the only saving grace was that my mum had always been really frank and open.. so at least I knew what it was and what was happening.

Does anyone know of a good age appropriate book I could get for her? What make is the cleanser your son uses BCNS?

oil cleansing

I do it too lol.. helps with wrinkles

not sure of a book as dd is only 6.. so I'll watch this thread as i suppose it would be good to get one ready in the background for her.

They can do an x-ray of the bones in the wrist to estimate physical age as opposed to actual age, IYSWIM, but apparently the interpretation of the x-ray isn't an exact science. To be honest I wish we'd never gone near our GP. She was referred for query precocious puberty and the doctor we saw at the hospital didn't examine our DD according to the GMC guidelines for intimate examinations. He felt under her clothes while looking for secondary sexual characteristics.....6 months later she told us that he'd put his fingers 'in her front bottom'. 5 years later we're still dealing with the fallout....but in a foreign language just to make life more interesting.