My 7 year old girl has been dealing with BO for the past year. BUT now, I found that she has pubic hair. After searching this subject I learned that many parents (or should I say mothers) have been experiencing this as well. My little girl is close to 100 lbs. She does not eat alot of veggies nad loves her milk. She was also born 2 months premature and spent 1.5 months of life in NICU. I know about some of the questionable causes but what I would really like to know is: How many of these very young girls having "early puberty" were premature newborns and could this ealry puberty be linked to medications given to these children?
I should also say that my little girl is also almost 5 ft tall. She has always been 90-95% in height and weight. I will be scheduling an appt with her pediatrician regarding my concerns and get some input from him. I'll keep you infomred when I know more.
The fact that she's 100lbs could have something to do with it.
Early weight gain can cause early puberty
http://womenshealth.about.com/b/2007/03/06/early-weight-g...
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/...
I am very surprised your 7 year old weighs nearly 100 lbs. My daughter is 8 and just broke 50 lbs recently. I would think that your pediatrician would already have addressed the issue of her weight. Perhaps she has a glandular issue. I would definetely think that the early onset is a direct result of the weight. The question is "what is causing the weight?"
I do think weight plays a big part in early puberty. My 14 year old (15 in dec) is about 90 lbs and has barely started puberty. My 13 year old is a good healthy weight (about 120) and started her period at 12. If your daughter is over weight so young i would think it would kickstart everything. Will she eat veggies if they are raw with a little fat free ranch? Also, try to gradually move her down to skim milk. That may help. My 2nd child is guzzling whole milk and i see it putting on pounds. We just started 2% this week. Good luck :)
It's probably a question better posed to your pediatrician who has access to clinical data the rest of us don't. You'll likely receive a lot of answers about organic milk/meat, cutting out soy, but there's little clinical evidence currently to suggest a true, defined link.
A leading cause of puberty beginning early is that our diets are so much richer than our ancestors. As you mentioned, your daughter is close to 100 lbs. 100 years ago, people were considerably shorter and lived considerably fewer years than we do today. However, our children's generation is the first in modern history expected to have a lower life expectancy than their parents. This is largely because of childhood obesity leading to diabetes, cancers, and cardiovascular diseases.
See what your pediatrician can tell you and ask if it's worth a consult with an endocrinologist to see if there's an imbalance of hormones at an earlier than normal age.
Good luck.
Go to a pediatric endocrinologist-they are the ones that will be able to help you with this. My friends little girl is 8 and sounds just like yours-all the same things going on. She took her to the ped. endo. and she is fine but she goes every year for followups. Also-she was not a preemie.
****ETA- I wouldn't eat meat nor did I drink milk. I have an allergy to milk. So it's not always the hormones in the meat and milk. I was born in 1979... My mom was born in 1956... My great aunt was born in 1925. So, what some of you are saying is that the milk and meat we've all been drinking/eating or not drinking/eating probably caused us to have early menstral cycles? I don't completely buy it. I think it has a ton to do with genetics. I'd ask the women in your family when they all started.**** Oh yeah... When I started my first period, I was only about 4' and weighed around 60lbs at most. My mother... EVEN SMALLER. So weight had NOTHING to do with myself or my family either.****
My mom said I was only a couple weeks early. My EDD was 1st of Feb. I was born Jan 14th.
I was barely 10 when I started my first period. I had began to get pubic hair at only 4 or 5yrs old. I started shaving at 5 because my mom felt sympathy (getting made fun of).
My mom was not early. She was only 9 when she had her first period.
My great aunt was only 8 when she had her first period. I don't know if she was full gestation or not.
I believe that my daughter will be an earlier starter (I have seen signs). She just turned 7. She was not a premie. And on no meds.
The most common explanation for early puberty these days (yes, lots of girls are having it) are the hormones in non organic milk and meat. It's too late to prevent, but if it is in your budget, and she's a big milk drinker, you should buy organic milk. Not only are regular cows treated with medications and hormones, but they are eating food contaminated with high levels of pesticides too. The industry has changed since older generations. Since most kids drink large volumes of milk, it's important that it is good quality.
She needs to eat veggies. They keep all our systems strong. Find ways to make them delicious.
See your Pediatrician.
You can also get referred to a Pediatric Endocrinologist... the endocrine system is VERY complicated... no layperson can diagnose it on their own, nor all of the information about it. You need to see a Pediatric Endocrinologist. Even a regular Pediatrician, does not have the specialized knowledge about it...
It does not just depend on diet/medication etc., but MANY things.
And your daughter's weight, at 7 years old... should be considered.
Ditto all the previous posters here.
all the best,
Susan
