Early Onset Puberty for 7 Yr Old- Any Other Parents Experiencing This?

Hi! I was diagnosed with precocious puberty at age 5. Through extensive hormone testing, I had the same hormones as a thirty year old woman - in kindergarten. My mom was very health conscious (sp?) with us, but it happened. While it's becoming more common, my daughter is also haivng issues and we regularly see the endocrinologist. I was on Lupron until age 11. Once going off, I started my period at 13. I would talk to the doctor and do as much research as possible.

I am so grateful that my parents opted for hormone therapy. While my childhood was a little different, I received daily injections given by my mom and a lot of doctor visits, not all pleasant, I was not noticeably different from my classmates. I was taller, but the body changes were delayed.

I would be happy to go more in depth if any one has any questions, but ultimately I think parents know their child and the doctor can be a great resource -- if you have a good doctor. They need to make the decision. I read some of the other posts and in this day our food has tons of hormones, we are exposed to things far different than previous generations, but my family grew a lot of their own food and our meat wasn't bought at the store and I still had it. So you have to be careful. Once she has started menstruating, there is little that can be done and it can have extremely negative consequences. Hope this helps! Good luck!

This is an article from Time Magazine on this very subject and how increasingly common it is becoming. It addresses hormone therapy and the hypothesized causes. All the best to your friend.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998347,0...

I was 7 years old when I started puberty. I did not take any hormones or do anything to regulate it. I got breasts early and had some teasing issues from that, but generally did not have any long lasting ill effects from it. The problem is that early onset puberty can be a wide range of issues which really need individualized treatment.

When I was diagnosed (back in the dark ages cause I am old :) )I spent the better part of a week in the hospital where doctors ran a battery of tests. They looked for everything from growths on my pituitary gland, ovaries, and other glands to simple hormone imbalances and several conditions in between. The treatments they would have offered my mother for me were different depending on what the root cause was.

The doctors at that time (the 70's) indicated 1 in 5 young women experience early puberty and are perfectly healthy requiring no treatment. They also indicated 2 in 5 might require hormone therapy, an additional 1 in 5 have some growth needing to be removed, and the last 1 in 5 have other conditions which they did not go into with much detail. I do not know if those statistics still hold true today.

Hopefully, your friends daughter is being referred to a specialist. I know that the 7 year old is not trying to get pregnant but a reproductive endocronologist (who handle fertility issues primarily) may be the best bet because they handle all hormone issues that relate to the female reproductive cycle. Over the years I have experienced something called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and have gone to one with good results. It is possible the premature puberty and PCOS are related. If your friends family has a strong history of diabetes that may be something to look at closely.

My daughter had her first period at 9 and I was a bit overwhelmed at first myself. I was then a divorced mom and also had to talk to my ex.

But first things first. Your friend should talk to her daughter about her body and the beauty of womanhood. Then take her to the store and help her buy the products she feels most comfortable in getting her.

I personally encouraged my daughter to get a tampon type product because I did not want her to have any messy accidents and feel embarrassed--especially at school.

My daughter then became very involved in sports and her period was sporadic. She is now 5'7'-just a bit taller than I.

My sister also had early onset period--I think 10--she grew to 5-8 at 12 and stopped growing then.

So early onset period does not mean she will not grow.

No I haven't experienced this as a parent but the idea of giving hormones to an emotionally and physically immature (despite symptoms and signs) young 7 year old girl really kind of horrifies me. Just a few years ago they threw HRT (hormone replacement therapy) out of the window, despite years of promoting it, despite years of studies and use with menopausal women, of which there are millions and millions. Early onset puberty is a rare condition and hormones can be a powerful and misunderstood medication that has not been well researched at all in immature females. I really urge your friend to get not one, but two or three other opinions before persuing this method of treatment. Personally, I would recommend seeking out the advice of a naturopathic doctor. A 7 year old presents a very delicate physiological and emotional landscape which Naturopaths not only respect, but really understand. Hormones can really mess up this landscape, but it doesn't mean that more hormones will clear it up if it wasn't the cause of the imbalance. Google it, early onset puberty doesn't come about because they were born with imbalanced hormones.
2 ND's I could recommend are Tori Hudson and Satya Ambrose. Both are reknowned in the Portland ND community as experts in women's health and endocrine (hormonal) issues, and Satya Ambrose is especially good with kids. If they are outside your location or price range, many NDs could provide valuable advice, guidance and support. Homeopathy, which some NDs specialise in, could be a good route to investigate. You can explore these alongside conventional treatment. NDs are trained in a similar fashion to MDs for 4 years, yet they learn different ways to treat, ways that support healing and
health, rather than drugs that surpress the natural expression of dis-ease. A good ND will be willing to work with an MD, and understand and support his or her goal.

Seriously, think twice before accepting this advice for hormonal treatment in someone so young as the final call.

Also, this girl will need extra support and counseling if she is going through physical changes that her peers might tease her about. Its a very sensitive stage that can pave the way for self acceptance or not.

In genuine concern,
Helen

I have read that consumption of soy products has been linked to early puberty.

Dear D.

Does your child eat junk food? McDonald's, Burger King, KFC?
If so she is getting tons of hormones.
If you eat healthy food is it organic? It makes a difference.
I can never figure out why people don't feed their kids organic food. Put the money into the food and not into the doctor!

If she eats chicken that is not organically grown stop immediately. It is full of hormones.

No sugar and dump the milk products that are not organic they too are full of genetically modified hormones.

If your doctor did not tell you this dump him. He's too ignorant of food facts to be a modern doctor.

Forget the hormones. Start with nutrition.

L.-Maggie

My oldest daughter was diagnosed with precocious puberty when she was 6 years old. I choose not to treat her with hormones or the such and let nature take its course. Yes it was difficult to explain to my daughter what her body was going through since she was not emotionally ready to deal with the information. We somehow survived and she is now a healthy 13 year old who started her periods 2 years before her peers (which was better than what the doctor predicted, she said it could have been as early as 8 years old) and is a bit more physically developed than her peers as well. I am glad that I didn't put her on hormones.

Tell her to check out the Weston A. Price Foundation on the internet.
The most recent quarterly magazine from them had a letter from a woman whose daughter was going into puberty at age 8, and when they switched to the Weston A. Price diet, she normalized quickly and didn't actually go through puberty until age 12.

I have not heard of this... but I agree with the mom before me seek out more advice. At 3 months old my daughter had labiah adhesion and the doc wanted to put her on hormones to open her up! No Worries but she would get small breast for awhile!!!!

We said no thanks and now she is two and it is now opening up naturally on it's own...

D. - Hello!

There is a better and safer option to consider rather than medication. Natural support for our endrocrine system. A reseach and development company in Texas has formulated a product that is plant based ingredients that our can simulate and get what our bodies need for normal hormonal production. This has benefited people in many areas some are PMS, energy, thyroid, depression, fertility, balance hormones, etc. I, my husband and 12 yr. old son take this on a daily basis and have experienced improved health. (husband and I for 11 yrs. son has for 2 yrs.) We are not eating what our bodies require to produce a fully healthy endrocrine system, just think of the added horomone they add to our food and then on top of that what producers take from foods. If you want to look into the science that this behind this company and their technology let me know...I would love to educate and help you help your daughter - W.