Puberty is starting earlier

[EdinburghFeminist]

I thought this was very interesting (and quite scary, particularly as someone with a 4yo girl). Puberty is starting significantly earlier and no-one knows exactly why but there is also an increase in mental health issues associated in girls who start puberty early.

www.facebook.com/316489315054055/posts/5091329927569946/?d=n

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10834835/amp/Young-girls-starting-undergo-puberty-young-six-years-old.html

Its an odd phenomenon. It seems to be changing fast too. I’m sure I remember reading something relating this to hormones in cows milk but I can’t find this at all now.

We also have in theory better nutrition now. So that could also be a factor. Although obviously parents are busier now with work etc meaning that despite access to all the food we could possibly want there's not the time or money to buy it or cook it.

Differences in parenting style too. I grew up in the " don't eat your veg dont get your pudding " and " eat it or go without " era.

Now parents are far more likely to cook what they know kids will eat rather than whats good for them. It would probably be considered abuse now to send a kid to bed hungry .

What's the explanation behind the depressions etc?.that's something extremely common in kids and adults now. A result of entirely broken medical end educational systems perhaps?

I dont think it was intended that way but this idea that they will be more prone to sexual harassment is kinda written so it absolves the men of responsibility and its entirely the fault of a defective body developed too soon 🙄

I don’t think it helps that a lot of the food we eat has been pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones , sprayed with insecticides or has swallowed micro plastics in the water. I remember children in Japan with puzzling illnesses, turned out the fish they ate were contaminated by run off from factories containing heavy metals, and children in South America developing breasts because of the hormones fed to the chickens they ate. Our children breathe in contaminants in the air caused by car fumes, we wash them with detergents containing parabens. In less than a hundred and fifty years we have have poisoned and contaminated our oceans, our rivers and our soil and it must eventually have an effect on childrens bodies, maybe physical development is one of them.

And lack of movement. I am curious to know how 2 years of lock down has affected puberty.

before the first lock down my DD did all the activities. 10 weeks into lying on her bed not doing anything and she had grown about a foot in height and had started her period. She was 10.

Somebody must be studying this. There must be a correlation

Is there a UK perspective on this.

Without wishing to ignore or question these findings as they do make sense the US also has the whole big pharma thing going on and of course they sell/make/can prescribe drugs that delay puberty.

I fear some of this and the way it's written will compound parents fears of puberty. Will this then lead to medicating of a normal process leading to further issues

I've been teaching at the upper end of primary school for a long time and we are definitely seeing more girls starting their periods whilst still in primary. My Y5 class (9-10yo) has 3 girls who have started having periods.

Isn’t it related to weight? I mean statistically, before someone says ‘my daughter is 10 stone at age 10 but hasn’t started her periods’. Childhood rates of obesity have also gone up.

I also tried think the increase in obese children is a factor, girls starting periods younger is more prevalent in overweight children.

I think weight is key, for girls anyway.
Is family history a factor?
I reached puberty at primary school 50 years ago. DS did the same. He had huge growth spurt and voice broke at 11.

I thought periods were linked to body weight. Heavier or taller girls at school usually started their periods earlier. I was a very skinny child and was one of the last start my period. Underweight girls or those with anorexia often don't have periods at all or very light irregular periods. Sex hormones need a certain amount of fat in our diet and bodies to function properly.
So it would kind of make sense that as nutrition improved children grow faster so start puberty earlier, but also children are more likely to be overweight now, exercise less and carry more body fat.

I was about to say the same thing Claudius. There is a well recognised link between childhood obesity and early puberty, documented in multiple studies in different countries. Since we have a problem with the former, it's hardly surprising that the latter is becoming an issue too. It might not be the only cause it's true, but it is likely to be a major contributory factor.

Before the first lockdown, DD was one of the tallest in her class. By the September, going into year 5, a lot of the girls were bigger and moore grown up looking, more like young teenagers. End of year 6 now, and there's a few girls in her year that look like kids, but most don't.

Just by casual observation... I think they are.

My daughter entered puberty at age 6. Its scary stuff and I am not even puzzling why it happened because I know I will drive myself mad doing so and end up blaming myself for something that was probably beyond my control.

oh and DD is 25th centile for weight 91st for height. In fact most of the other girls on the private FB group I am in dont look overweight.

I read that girls can go into puberty earlier with unrelated men in the house:

news.berkeley.edu/2010/09/17/puberty/

Also, it’s amazing that we know so little about puberty, even why it starts, but doctors are perfectly confident prescribing blockers and saying there’s no effects…

Funnily enough I watched a documentary about a family with twin girls who were early teens and they said that 7.5 stone is roughly the weight that periods will kick in.

I researched this a little for a project at work. Around 150 years ago the average age for a girl to start her period was 16. 50 years ago it was 13. Now the average age is 11 years.

Weight, nutrition and lack of movement has an impact. Hormones? Possibly as well as genetic component.

Our girls are physically ready for menstruation but not emotionally. . Is it any wonder that many are identifying out of being female in increasing numbers? If as a teen you told me I could not be a girl, take a pill and stop my period, I would!

we're all so disassociated from our bodies now. More time on phones and gaming's but also contraception that means lots of women don't have periods anymore. I kind of miss mine now that they have stopped.

Our girls are physically ready for menstruation but not emotionally. . Is it any wonder that many are identifying out of being female in increasing numbers? If as a teen you told me I could not be a girl, take a pill and stop my period, I would!

What's the reason for this though. I mean alot of us on MN will tell u that we basically missed the whole carrie white scenario thanks to play ground talk and Judy Blume. Now, the world and his wife has written a book, books aimed for all ages, created a period box, set up a scheme to provide free San pro in schools. There is no reason or excuse to not be fully set up/equipped for it all.

So who is it that's really not ready. The kids? Or the parent who immediately come out with prases such as " your a woman now"?

There was an interesting thread on MN about this a year or so ago, which said it isn't so much that girls are starting periods earlier now, it is just a reversion to the norm ie pre-industrialisation. I've had a quick look but can't find it, but I found this article which explains it:
theconversation.com/children-arent-starting-puberty-younger-medieval-skeletons-reveal-91095

If as a teen you told me I could not be a girl, take a pill and stop my period, I would!

What's the reason for this though

Because it is disgusting, unpredictable, painful and limiting. I would also have taken a pill to stop it, I would now but age and experience has told me the side effects are not worth it.
Periods are a serious design floor.

I started my periods at 9 (37 now) was tall but pretty skinny

The issue isn’t being equipped with access to products - it’s keeping track of your period which tends to be irregular when you’re young and more irregular when it comes early. Its dealing with heavy periods while at school and the embarrassment when you’re young and people are immature about bodies. It’s discomfort with having to deal with “down there” - I remember the first time I used a tampon to go swimming I had never put my fingers in my vagina before. I also had trouble swallowing pills as a child so couldn’t take aspirin and had to get chewable Tylenol. It’s dealing with a changing, frightening body. It’s worrying about dancing or gymnastics or swimming or field hockey while on your period. It’s not knowing as well how to manage your hygiene. If we’re talking about 8 year olds, at that age you’re probably not even bathing every day or have to be reminded to bathe in many cases, and suddenly you have a period. Like you’re not that many years into even managing wiping yourself properly at that age.

Leaking on your clothes.... the anxiety and constantly checking if you have blood showing. Has that never happened to you? Having a flood and having to go buy new pants and trousers at your lunch break.

I've already had 2 phone calls from my DD asking to pick her up as she's leaked on her clothes and she's hiding in the toilets, too embarrassed to let anyone see her.

Then there's the cramps and the diarrhea and sometimes your pads smell. Hoping that no one hears you unwrap a pad or that a class mate finds your wee bag with period stuff in it and ask you in front of the boys not knowing what it is.

They may have read about their periods but dealing with all that is a lot.

Because it is disgusting, unpredictable, painful and limiting. I would also have taken a pill to stop it, I would now but age and experience has told me the side effects are not worth it

Yes they aren't fun but they were probably far worse fir people decades ago before the invention of half the products we have now. There's an entire aisle dedicated to pads and tampons. You can get ones custom made for you now. We also have medication/means to deal with them more than we did when we were growing up. There is technically no reason for many ( not evergone obviously cos of endo etc ) to not be aware of tbe options and having a large variety to chose from to attenpt to make it as easy as possible I'm.not saying that this doesn't have an effect. I'm questioning whether it's purely coincidental that the inability to deal with puberty also comes at a time where certain groups of people openly discuss how traumatic puberty is and promote/advocate medication to stop it. Is it becoming a self fulfilling prophecy? And also how much cones from.us as parents who were never really able to discuss it with our parents and were perhaps under prepared and we are almost accidentally passing on sone of the shame etc without meaning too.