natural ways to slow down female puberty

[Ringsender2]

my dd has just started showing evidence of hitting puberty, with small buds appearing at age 8 1/4. (she's probably been undergoing lots of hormonal stuff prior to this, of course, but not with obvious results til now)

does anyone know of any natural ways to slow down her movement through puberty, e.g. through diet, etc.?

I'm concerned on a couple of fronts - a) it seems very early to me - she still plays with dolls, lego, duplo, playmobil and b) I worry that she'll end up very short!

The things that seem to be popping up on the internet as part of the causes of earlier puberty are endocrine disrupting hormones from plastics, flame retardants, etc., stress, and sugar.

Anyone any better knowledge of this, and would cutting out/minimising (e.g. sugar) help to slow down the process, or is it too late once it's started?

thanks for any insights

anyone?

I would think you need to go to the GP OP. They should be able to help or refer for support. That seems early to me but I have boys so no real idea.

I think girls are starting puberty much much earlier nowadays. Speak to GP if concerned.

I've seen a few threads on here about girls starting puberty or even their periods at 8, and it seems that doctors now agree this is considered in the range of normal and don't treat it as precocious puberty.

Although this is often considered normal range, it's worth getting it checked as early puberty causes children to stop growing sooner. If she's not particularly tall the GP should refer her to a paediatrician to check her hormone levels and do a bone age x-ray. The bone age will give you an idea of how many growing years she has left. Some girls stop growing at 10 or 11 which isn't an issue if they are tall at that age.

The Child Growth Foundation is a helpful charity with lots of information and advice on monitoring early puberty.

Does she take any vitamin supplements?

A close friend had a similar experience and her daughter was taking calcium due to dairy allergy. Her consultant also suggested certain types of lavender could be implicated but I had never heard that before...

I would absolutely take her to the GP as a starting point.

thanks all. Youcan't, thanks for the link.
vitamins, a bit. We had the under the tongue vit D last winter, and also the chewable multivits. I don't think the doses are very high.

will book in with the GP

It could be soy in vitamins rather than the vitamins them selves but I can't remember what it was. In any case, when she stopped, tetanus symptoms disappeared.

We've got the same problem - daughter (9) with disability who is developing very young.

We talked to our paed who said there isn't much we can do about slowing things down, but what we can do is put her on the pill when her periods do start, so at least they are lightened and regulated for her, making things a lot easier.

He suggested that we choose a pill that she only gets a period once every 4 months, which sounds good for us. Later we might try her with a long term contraception, as some of these stop periods altogether, depending on the girl in question (for some they can increase bleeding and symptoms, so it's really a potluck situation with them, which is why he suggested going with the pill first).

I don't know what your background is or how you feel about this, but it is one option you might want to think about in advance.

Best wishes :)

Breast buds alone don't necessarily indicate menstruation is imminent. It can be the first sign of a long process. I believe breast buds are fairly normal from about 8.

If she also has pubic or armpit hair, acne, body odour and a massive growth spurt then see the GP, otherwise I wouldn't be too worried.

I'm not sure that your gp will do anything, puberty isn't precocious over 8 in girls I'm afraid. Doesn't mean she's suddenly going to go full blown breasts, periods and horrible little creature teenage moodswings all of a sudden though

Is it in your family somewhere op ? My GGM started at 9yrs old 1920s rake thin, my GM didnt start till she was 17 my DM was 12/13 I was 10 years old and my sister (who is younger than me ) started before me at 9 , sorry if thats rambling was wondering if its maybe skipped some generations...

Not sure they will or can do anything. My DD started periods at age 13, after having early signs of puberty from 10.5. Took about 3.5 years for periods and she's tall at nearly 5ft7 (I'm 5ft4). So your DD may start periods at 11, which is young, but normal. She's prob grown another inch since her periods started, so although the growth spurt happened beforehand, she did grow a bit more after.