Hi I just took my 6 yr old to the doctor because she had a little hair under her arms and a couple of dark hairs on her pubic area. The Dr. said that she would have to be tested for Precocious puberty and if she tested positive for it she would have to do hormone therapy. My question is have anyone out there had to put there child through hormone theraphy and what were the results and were there any side effects? I have been thinking of changing the way we eat and what we eat by going completely organic.
This topic has been in the news the past few days.
It is increasingly common, but the exact cause is not known and I haven't heard about any concrete correlations to diet.
Here's a link to a very informative broadcast from yesterday's All Things Considered on NPR.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1290...
Please have your daughter evaluated properly. Going organic will not solve the problem. I have a friend with a daughter going through the same issue. They just started hormone treatments because leaving it untreated could result in serious growth issues( i.e. they hit full growth by 8 or 10 and thus, never get to a normal adult height). This family only eats organic and has since the daughter was a baby.
The only side effects that I've heard about were tiredness for a day or two after the shots and she has gained some weight but nothing out of the ordinary. I just saw the child a couple of weeks ago and she looks great.
I don't know ANYTHING about going through puberty at 6, however I did start my period at 9 years old. It stunk!
I would try anything if I thought it would prevent puberty from coming before 11 years old.
Organic is wonderful, but another place to look is at hot dogs, bologna and soy products. Read about them and hormones and you may be surprised, makes my stomach turn.
This topic was recently on Yahoo news. Is your daughter overweight? A recent study indicates that overweight girls start puberty sooner. They recommend that you make sure that your daughter eats lots of fruit, veggies and eats at the table with family. Here is the entire article (Good luck):
Girls in the U.S. may be continuing to hit puberty at earlier ages, according to new research.
The findings suggest earlier development than what was reported in a 1997 study and show a worrying pattern, say the study's authors, led by Dr. Frank Biro of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Girls who hit puberty earlier are more likely to engage in risky behavior, Biro's team notes, and might be at a higher risk for breast cancer, than their peers who develop later.
"This could represent a real trend," Dr. Joyce Lee, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of Michigan who was not involved with the new research, told Reuters Health.
Doctors are unsure of what could be causing girls to develop at a younger age, but rising obesity rates may be to blame, they say.
In a study published today in Pediatrics, Biro's team examined about 1,200 girls aged 7 and 8 in Cincinnati, New York and San Francisco. Researchers, as well as the girls' doctors and nurses, used a standard measure of breast development to determine which girls had started puberty.
Compared to the 1997 findings from girls across the U.S., girls in the current study - especially white girls - were more developed at a younger age. As previous research has shown, there were also large differences in development based on race.
At age 7, approximately 10 percent of white girls and 23 percent of black girls had started developing breasts - compared to 5 percent of white girls and 15 percent of black girls in 1997, the authors write.
Among 8-year-olds in the study, 18 percent of white girls and 43 percent of black girls had entered puberty - an increase from around 11 percent of white girls from 1997, but the same as black girls in that year.
This study and another published today in Pediatrics suggest that being overweight, both as a young child and growing up, makes girls more likely to enter puberty earlier. In the second study, Dr. Mildred Maisonet from Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health and her colleagues observed that gaining weight quickly in infancy - a predictor of later obesity - was linked to early puberty in girls in Great Britain.
Biro's team found that girls with a higher body mass index (BMI) - a ratio of weight and height - at age 7 and 8 were more likely to be developed than their thinner peers.
Those authors warn that their study population, although diverse, doesn't necessarily represent what's happening in all U.S. girls. But they are continuing to follow the girls in the study to see when the rest of them hit puberty, and what other factors might be related to their rate of development.
Biro thinks that rising rates of obesity could be a major reason why girls seem to be developing faster than they did even 13 years ago. "We're on the opposite side of an increase in BMI that has been seen in this country and in other countries," he told Reuters Health.
Researchers know that heavier girls are more likely to enter puberty early, Lee, of the University of Michigan, said. That could be because overweight people have more of a hormone known to be linked to development - but it could also be a matter of the actual nutrients that girls get from their diet, she said.
Lee and Biro said doctors are worried about both the psychological and physical health of girls who hit puberty at a young age.
Studies have shown that girls who develop early are more at risk for depression and often start having sex earlier than girls who develop later.
"For the 11-year old that looks like she's 15 or 16, adults are going to interact with her like she's 15 or 16, but so are her peers," Biro said. Girls who develop early "look physically older," he said. "It doesn't mean that they're psychologically or socially more mature."
In addition, women who spend more of their lives menstruating are at a higher risk for breast cancer - which, depending on when they hit menopause, could be a worry for girls who develop early.
Biro said that there are things families can do to minimize the possible risk of early puberty in young daughters, including eating more fruits and vegetables and eating together as a family. SOURCES: http://link.reuters.com/veh73n Pediatrics, online August 9, 2010
There are several diseases/medical issues that can cause premature puberty. Make sure your doctor tests for those til he confirms the cause. My understanding is that diet cannot cause puberty to onset at age 6. There is one rare condition that has a symptom of early puberty but the real problem is deterioration of the child's bones. There are other conditions that have early puberty as a symptom where the thyroid or other gland is "malfunctioning." Make sure you have the true cause confirmed before starting any treatment. Maybe go to a Pediatric Endocrinologist to confirm - - can be found at any of the major children's hospitals. Good luck.
Not knowing anything about hormone therapy, I'd sooo suggest going organic whether your daughter was going through early puberty or not. Thsere are so many chemicals that we know nothing about long term side affects. I'm currently trying to switch over to organic and already am loving it.
Also if your family drinks soy milk, stop immediately. Soy is metabolized into an estrogen mimicker and can wreak havoc on male and females alike.
Good luck to you and your daughter.
first of all no matter the results please always get a second and third opinion before starting something so drastic. would you consider consulting an ND? Good luck!
