Early puberty in kids

[karenann33]

My best friend called me this morning all freaked out because her just turned SEVEN year old is showings signs of early puberty in the form of body hair. I've read stories linking plastics, chemicals, soy and of course growth harmones from animals that people consume as culprits. They are omni's and eat A LOT of meat. I'm talking at every single meal. They also drink a lot of milk. The girl is super skinny so obesity is not to blame although they do eat a lot of junky foods too like McDonalds.

What are your thoughts on this? And what would you do if this were your child? She's ready to make drastic changes she just doen't know where to start.

[xrodolfox]

Holy Sh*t!
That stuff freaks me out.

If my kids displayed signs of early onset puberty, I too would go through just about any radical changes needed to stop that process.

My guess is that it has to do with stressors on the body along with ingesting synthetic and natural animal hormones in milk and meat products. When animals undergo environmental stressors, their overall breeding age drops, and animals start having earlier onset of puberty. I'm guessing a stressor in foods could be large volumes of nutritionally low density foods. That's beyond the intake of hormones.

But I'm just guessing. The whole thing freaks me out.

What might be worse is the quack solutions that might come out.

With diets and weight, the real solutions are simple, but it seems like the market for quacks is much much more prevalent. (like the friend who cut out all sugar in hopes of loosing weight, but hasn't lost a pound).

[Ruby Rose]

If she were mine, she'd be going to an endocrinologist to make sure my daughter didn't have a serious medical disorder.

[karenann33]

If she were mine, she'd be going to an endocrinologist to make sure my daughter didn't have a serious medical disorder.

Well sure that will be the first thing but the odds are against this being the problem.

[Enchantress]

It's possible that early puberty is nothing to do with this child's diet or environment. I started displaying signs of puberty at age eight despite being raised almost vegetarian (I ate fish occasionally) and not being overweight. I started menstruating at age ten, the same age as my grandmother did in the 1930s, before the age of plastics and parabens. I think some people will always develop early regardless of the environment they are raised in.

[Tigerlily]

I developed early like Enchantress. I find it very offensive how some of you are treating this poor girl like she's an alien or something. How would you like it if I made a thread saying "holy shit this 13 year old finally reach puberty, should he go to the doctor to figure out why it took so long? It's disgusting to be so early etc etc"?

[karenann33]

I developed early like Enchantress. I find it very offensive how some of you are treating this poor girl like she's an alien or something. How would you like it if I made a thread saying "holy shit this 13 year old finally reach puberty, should he go to the doctor to figure out why it took so long? It's disgusting to be so early etc etc"?

It's not my intention to offend anyone. She's a very sweet girl not an alien or anything digusting. Developing early doesn't run in her family so I can see why my friend would want to rule out possible enviromnmental toxins as a cause. She's a very caring mom.

[Enchantress]

I know it wasn't your intention to offend anyone karenann33 and personally I wasn't upset by any of the posts on this thread, but having worn a DD cup bra at age 12 and having been known throughout my year at school as "the girl with big tits" and consequently made to feel like a bit of a freak I can easily understand why this is a very sensitive subject for women who developed early.

[karenann33]

I know it wasn't your intention to offend anyone karenann33 and personally I wasn't upset by any of the posts on this thread, but having worn a DD cup bra at age 12 and having been know throughout my year at school as "the girl with big tits" and consequently made to feel like a bit of a freak I can easily understand why this is a very sensitive subject for women who developed early.

Boy did you just touch a memory for me. I developed big boobs early too (12 not 7 though) and was TALL for my age (why oh why didn't my parents assure me that this was a good thing I don't know but still being a 5'8" stick girl with big boobs definately put me in the freak category as well. I was known as "Q-tip with boobs". Kids can be so mean can't they? Of course now I get the last laugh cause I'm still tall, more filled out (obviously I'm 42) but I'm thin and still have the rack too. LOL!!

[Gorilla]

you may find this thread interesting, karenann. http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2601

[karenann33]

you may find this thread interesting, karenann. http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2601

Thanks for the link. Very interesting for sure.

[Tigerlily]

It's not my intention to offend anyone. She's a very sweet girl not an alien or anything digusting. Developing early doesn't run in her family so I can see why my friend would want to rule out possible enviromnmental toxins as a cause. She's a very caring mom.

Your comments weren't offensive. It was the others who replied to you.

[AnneCE]

I started puberty early (I was 9 when I noticed changes and 11 when I first menstruated). It was scary as I knew nothing, had not been prepared for it. I hope this little girl gets checked out medically because 7 is very young but at the same time, she is given good positive messages about herself and her body.

[xrodolfox]

I'm sorry if I brought back memories of people's stressful early puberties. I didn't mean to condascend to treat you like "freaks".

However, 7 years old is qualitatively different than 11 or evern 9 years old.

I buy no means would say that the child is a "freak", but I did mean that if my kids were going through those changes that early (especially since none of that would be based on heredity), I would have a strong reaction and have my kids checked out.

My daughter could have 6 fingers, wings, and a dolphin tail, and she'd never be a "freak", but I could still worry and make sure that she's healthy and I could still support her self-esteem.

I think that to equate a parent's strong emotions with naming someone a "freak" isn't fair at all.

I still hold that if one of my kids were showing sings of puberty at 7 years old, I'd have them seen by our pediatrician ASAP, and if things weren't well (which, for all I know, things might be just fine), then I'd do what it took to make sure my kid was healthy and thriving.

[Tigerlily]

If something is freaking you out, then obviously that thing is freaky. You used the word freak twice in your first post. For someone who says they aren't trying to imply that people with early puberty are freaks, you sure use that word a lot.

[RachelJune]

I don't think it was meant to be offensive. Sometimes I guess things can be interpreted in different ways on boards such as these. I didn't take it to be offensive - more concerned - but I suppose I can see how it might be construed that way

I know a girl who developed very young too. She was taken to the doctor and her condition was indeed given some medical name - I can't remember what it is, but I can ask her.

Anyway, she started her periods before I did despite being a few years younger than me (I believe she started around 8 or 9). She was once asked for ID when attempting to buy a child's ticket at the train station - she was 12 and when she explained this the whole queue behind her burst into laughter. She certainly had to endure a lot of playground teasing at school for the way she looked. However, despite reactions of others, to my knowledge she's grown up happy and healthy

[karenann33]

My friend figures this has been going on since she was 6-6.5. They however are just now noticing (it was hidden prior). She's handling it really well with her dd, explained that it sometimes happens earlier to girls, that they can take care of it safely and painlessly (it's body hair), etc. The girl is very emotional about the whole thing but my friend is a great mom and a class act. They will all be fine.

Cool thing is my friend is going to work towards being more vegan which was my point to starting this thread in the first place. She's known she needs to do this from listening to me but now she is really interested in exactly WHAT is in her food. KWIM?

[Tigerlily]

I don't think it was meant to be offensive. Sometimes I guess things can be interpreted in different ways on boards such as these. I didn't take it to be offensive - more concerned - but I suppose I can see how it might be construed that way

I know a girl who developed very young too. She was taken to the doctor and her condition was indeed given some medical name - I can't remember what it is, but I can ask her.

Anyway, she started her periods before I did despite being a few years younger than me (I believe she started around 8 or 9). She was once asked for ID when attempting to buy a child's ticket at the train station - she was 12 and when she explained this the whole queue behind her burst into laughter. She certainly had to endure a lot of playground teasing at school for the way she looked. However, despite reactions of others, to my knowledge she's grown up happy and healthy

Same here! They wouldn't sell me children's movie tickets when I was younger because I was so developed and older looking.

I grew up to be healthy and happy. Actually, once I reached 13, I stopped growing and everyone caught up to me.

I was around 7 when I started noticing more leg hair and pubic hair. By the time I was 9, my armpits were super hairy and I was wearing a 34A bra!

[xrodolfox]

If something is freaking you out, then obviously that thing is freaky. You used the word freak twice in your first post. For someone who says they aren't trying to imply that people with early puberty are freaks, you sure use that word a lot.

Yes, I did use the phrase "freak out" a lot. But that doesn't mean that it is the same as "I see people as freaks".

My daughter was born with an extra finger. I don't see her as a freak, but when I first took notice, I certainly did express a degree of concern, since I knew that physical abnormalities often come in groups, and that some of them can be harmful (such as one friend's daughter who's anus didn't line up with her rectum and had to undergo surgery at age 1 so that she could function).

I think that it is quite different to label someone a "freak" than it is to "freak out".

I myself have always been an "outsider", and occasionally labeled a "freak". I see that as quite different than my boisterous emotions, even if they share a root word in the phrase.

I think you are dragging too much of the personal context to a phrase that I intended to be read quite differently. If anything, I apologize for such sloppy use of English. That was my mistake. However, to pin my language down for more than I (sloppily) intended is to pursue a straw man.

[matt35mm]

Puberty was fun.





Oh wait, it wasn't.

[sugarmouse]

I developed early, breasts andbody hair came at around age 8.
But I was very overweight.
In fact, I weighed more aged ten
thanI do now.

[Ruby Rose]

Puberty was fun.

Pubs were fun as a teenager, pubes not so much!

[sophietoodles]

I was 11 when it started for me, but at that time in the seventies I was treated as unusual by adults and a freak by my classmates thanks to a 'wonderful' school nurse that thought it was a good idea to point it out in class. I do think it's worrying when a child as young as 7 is showing signs of puberty, and it is so much more common. I think it is likely to be meat and dairy that is mostly to blame. After all they're 'fiddyling' with the poor animals diets now to get a higher yield as you all will know.
Early puberty should be handled sensitively unlike our school nurse.

[John]

Is body hair significant? Or does that mean pubic hair?

I heard of a todler who was developing breasts. A researcher suspected that a placental hair product the mother was applying to the girl's hair was responsible.

There was a girl around seven years old who gave birth in the twentieth century in South America.

[herbwormwood]

I think anything like this needs to be handled extremely sensitively by the parent, because if the parents or anyone around the child gives the slightest hint that there is anything "wrong" it can do a lot of lasting harm to the child's self-esteem.

Prhaps the mother could make an appointment to see her doctor alone and discuss it with the doctor and see what they say.
If the doctor is concerned as well, maybe the child could get a general health check, with the emphasis in "A general check-up". However I would be more concerned about the child's self-esteem than anything.

[sophietoodles]

However I would be more concerned about the child's self-esteem than anything.[/quote]

I agree, the last thing a child needs is to see themself as a problem, or worse a 'freak'