Is the onset of puberty (esp. in girls) coming earlier and earlier these days?

[yorkshirepudding]

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Puberty can start from 9.

When they 7 stone in weight!

Sorry- when they reach 7 stone, I mean.

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ds1 (11) now has hairy armpits! eek!

Im starting to worry about Dsd (7.5) she's very big (tall and wide) for her age, her weight must be in the region of 6 stone, im sure she will be starting puberty early

I remember starting to get breasts aged 9, but I didn't start my periods til 14.

I'm not convinced by the 7-stone thing, myself. Dd1 is 12 and must have passed the 7-stone mark a while ago, as she's tall with a muscly build. But she is nowhere near starting her periods -- she's got the merest beginnings of boobs and no underarm or pubic hair.

Conversely, a couple of her friends who are tiny skinny little mites are much more developed than she is.

So I think there must be more to it than that -- I believe age of first period is highly heritable, so depends what time your mother started.

I agree frogs, the 7-stone thing seems irrelevant from what I've seen. There is a definite link to the age the mother started.

In our experience, the whole process is a long one anyway. So while a girl might start developing breasts at age 9, then getting hairier and moodier, it still might not be till age 12-13 that she actually starts her periods.

I was recently told by a specialist nurse that the onset of puberty is earlier now -(from 9 in girls) and is reltaed to better nutrition and living conditions in general.

I've got a stroppy hormonal 9 yrdd old and 12 yrdd old plus a obnoxious stroppy 6yr old dd 9 (although none of them are being particularly Dear today), there's no hope for me is there?

I used to think 7 stone thing was a good guidline, until my 11yo, 4ft6in, 5.5 stone wet started her periods!

I saw somewhere, that puberty in girls is starting earlier and finishing later. Something to do with better diets. Not much fun for girlies at all

This is the latest research I think; seems that menarche is related to fat distribution.

1: Am J Phys Anthropol. 2007 Jun 6; [Epub ahead of print] Links
Menarche is related to fat distribution.Lassek WD, Gaulin SJ.
Department of Anthropology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106‐3210.

The energy demands of pregnancy and lactation together with the accumulation of stored fat in human females during development suggest that a critical level of fat may be required for menarche; but multivariate analyses have supported the alternative view that skeletal growth is the main factor. However, significant differences between upper- and lower-body (gluteofemoral) fat suggest that fat distribution may be more relevant than total fat. Using cross-sectional data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) for females aged 10-14, we show that menarche is more closely related to fat distribution than to skeletal maturity. Unit increases in hip circumference are associated with 24% higher odds of menarche while increases in waist circumference and triceps skinfold lower the odds by 7 and 9%, respectively. Those with menarche despite low levels of total body fat have relatively more fat stored in gluteofemoral depots than those without menarche or those with menarche and greater total amounts of fat. In young women with completed growth, age at menarche is negatively related to hip and thigh circumference and positively related to waist circumference, stature, and biiliac breadth; and blood leptin levels are much more strongly related to gluteofemoral than upper-body fat, suggesting that leptin may convey information about fat distribution to the hypothalamus during puberty. Fat distribution may be relevant because gluteofemoral fat may provide neurodevelopmentally important fatty acid reserves. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2007. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.