Is my 7 year old going through puberty?

[devotion]

My dd turned 7 only recently, she is normally a very well behaved child - unlike her sisters (they're not that bad really ;) ) she never plays up. People always comment on her lovely nature etc.

Recently she gets these mood swings and when she does not get what she wants she gets in a real strop and wont speak to us for ages. Then when we punish her she tells us she does not care anyway. It is not like her at all.

We all noticed this evening that she had sweaty armpits and they smelled of B.O.

I do not remember getting body odour under my armpits until my early teen.

I'm worried she is going through early puberty.

My dh pointed out to me that she has always had sweaty clammy hands or cold hands so maybe its a different hormonal problem. What do you think?

My 9yo is moody
My 9yo has sweaty pits in this weather

I am not concerned that she is going through puberty. She has no breast buds and I think that is one of the earlier things to develop.

Normal indications of puberty is breast budding, where they start to develop. It's normal for children this age to have mood swings, they do through regular growth spurts that are hormone related. BO is caused by bacteria digesting underarm sweat so keeping her clean is the key (not meaning to indicate that you don't), it's not normally related to puberty. Hope this helps.

sorry, x-post.

My almost 8 yo has had a bit of BO under his arms for the past couple of months when he gets sweaty. I've been going on and on about it, but when my mum (a retired nurse) was here she couldn't smell a thing!

Maybe mothers are more attuned to it? Or maybe you just lose your sense of smell when you get older?

she had a shower last night.

the girls have bath/shower every other day and quick wash days between.

i'll make her have a shower every day now then.

i dont really want her to start using deoderant yet, do your children?

when i was her age i had a bath on a sunday [ stinky me

so mood swings this early are normal then? i dont know how to handle them. i'm still using my tactics for toddler tantrums... needs some ideas.

excuse bad spelling, due tolarge glass of vino

Vino

There are bars of deoderant you can try, lush sell them.

As for the mood swings, they will pass. Just stick with the boundaries and take no crap. I found that a "it's not OK for you to speak to me that way" is quite good.

i think this is another thread i need to start now.

discipline tips for 7 year olds. maybe she wants me to treat her like she is older than her sisters.

but then sometimes she acts all babyish... i guess maybe she just needs more of my attention... and baths

Mood swings not too bad for me, although he's definitely more feisty than he was as a toddler (now 7.11). I use toddler-type behaviour techniques, although not naughty step/time out - but sticker charts still work, as does rewarding the positive while ignoring the negative.

And no, I don't use deodorant on him, just bath pretty much every day and regular changes of clothes.

TBH, I never even noticed any BO until he told me, and he's a very cuddly boy - my nose has to be actually touching his skin to smell it, so I'm not concerned that others will notice it.

Dd has bad BO... except when I replace regular milk with organic. She still needs baths obv, but not smelly within 12 hours anymore. HTH

my dd is a mess at the moment - she is budding breasts and has started getting a bit of discharge down below - and mood swings omg - she can be a nightmare - its like walking on eggshells one minute she is moody then angry then tearful all made worse my her older brother winding her up

my dd is 6.5 and has mood swings occasionally - usually when she's very tired, or has gone back to school after half-term/holiday and is feeling a bit insecure and needing extra Mummy time.

As for BO, she had it for the first time when she was only 4.5 and I was really worried - posted here, talked to GP etc. She had baths every single day, so nothing more I could do there - but I got her a natural deodorant bar, and thats done the trick. Its actually got better, she's only needed to use it in very hot weather and not at all last year - no breast buds or any other signs of puberty!

she is 9 btw