Why more girls are experiencing earlier puberty

[ArabellaScott]

An interesting (and long) article in the New Yorker. Seems the pandemic may have had an effect on puberty onset.

www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/why-more-and-more-girls-are-hitting-puberty-early

Thank you!

@Yolande7 @MaryGubbins

Thank you yes she has been seen by endocrinologist and started treatment.

In one way I was lucky I spotted signs of early puberty and raised it with GP but everyone kept telling me she was fine and just tall.
I know she's fine, but I and neither was the GP expecting her to start periods so early.

Key lesson is mums should def trust gut instinct

@rainydaysandcake
glad you’ve got the help. Sometimes other peoples advice can be rubbish. I didn’t want to say before I knew you’d had her checked out but precocious puberty can also be a symptom of things like a brain tumour so always needs medical attention.

precocious puberty in girls is any sign under age 8 (so breast buds).

Hmm I actually find that article a little disturbing.

The photos . I mean who agreed to that 😱

I feel its almost scare mongering about what many of us were told is normal age range (8/9-16) then casually dropping in the fact that it can all be stopped with Lupron.

Part of the problems the kids faced appear to be a lack of thought . The school uniform not having pockets fir example. And parents being completely unprepared and not preparing the kids.

Seems to me that as usual the problems are everyone else but somehow its still the girls bodies that are wrong.

I dont think its a coincidence that when there's a way to make money out of panicking parents that puberty is suddenly so problematic and pathologized.

There were some interesting points but I dont feel it told us much we didn't already know. Access to better nutrition, food thats been tampered with, obesity etc

Can i just add that although obviously the mum in the article , we can all hugly sympathise with regards to her daughter with special needs who was felt to need extra time to prepare, that maybe the drs should know that as Lupron also stunts mental development how was the child meant to prepare when her brain would be in the same state after as it would be before.

This cannot be an unusual issue so are there any kind of support groups/clinics set up to discuss and manage this issue so parents and child can be prepared. Or so they just make money off medication that kicks the can down the road?

My grandmother is 74 and started her period age 8. My mum was 9. And I was 10.

Now, I've noticed in countries with more melanin in their skin start earlier - just a casual observation, don't shoot me down please

My black friends at school all started early. I am Hispanic and started earlier. Those who are British started later, including my cousins etc

I think you were taller because you were earlier starting puberty.

My 11 year old is tall but I suspect she will stop growing as quick soon and other girls will begin to catch up.

That's interesting. I wonder what other factors affect it as my mother started at 10 (in the late 1950s) and my sister at 11 (in the mid 90s) and both were soooo petite... Short and also very skinny. I have a bigger build than my sister and I didn't start until 14.

It's not actual weight but body fat % that is a factor in puberty starting.

I’m tall and didn’t get my period until I was 14 (34 years ago). I was easily one of, if not the, last among my friends / class.

DD, also tall, is 12 and no signs yet.

A friend’s DD got hers at 10 - which seems early to me, but my friend got her first period early too.

12 seemed to be the (unscientific) average to me then, as it is now.

Obviously there are always outliers.

It is interesting isn't it. I was 13 and a half, tall, skinny and had been a vegetarian for a couple of years. I remember reading in the Usborne "Facts of Life" book that my mum got me that periods usually started about a year after breasts started developing.

My middle school (9-13) didn't allow girls to wear trousers at the time. Luckily the upper school did, and they were dark and had good sized pockets. I also remember at middle school that not all of the cubicles had a sanitary bin, so others would "know" if you waited for the period one. I do hope they've sorted shit like that out now.

My DDs breasts have started budding she's 9 I've had to purchase crop top bras with cups as you could see them under her shirt. I'm gutted for her I didn't start puberty until 12-13. I didn't get a period until I was 14 I was short and skinny. DD is 145 cm and 40kg so I think she will start earlier than I did.