Interviewer: It seems today sometimes girls starting and get a little pubic hair and nipples get butted and the kids maybe 7 or 8-years-old. Is that a problem? Could that kid get a pubic in very young age, is that a problem?
Doctor: A collogue of recently published a paper that spokes to the fact that children tend to be entering puberty earlier today then they have in past decades.
Interviewer: What is the normal age for girl to go through puberties?
Doctor: What we have to find us normal and of course it is important to understand that definitions like these are arbitrary. We must pick a certain age below which we would consider development to be early. However, that is not synonymous with disease. For even a child begins to develop early, it is important to realize that most if not the majority will in fact be a normal variation with that said.
The defining times for the earliest onset of development are age 8 and that includes the development of pubic hair or breasts and in boys age 9, the development of pubic hair and testicular enlargement.
On the other end or the late side, we would consider the absence of any development at the age of 12 or 13 in a girl and 13 or 14 in a boy to be considered abnormal. Despite the fact that many of us have observed the early onset of pubic hair and body odor in many children as young as 3, 4 and 5 of age.
The first age of the period what is called menarche seems to be quite stable for the last 3000 years at approximately 12.25 years. So even though we are beginning to see some of the signs of pubic occurring earlier than we have used to see them, we are not seeing the actual change in the date of first period. Some of the reasons behind these may include excess exposure to fact in the diet, excess body weight and excess risk of developing diabetes in children where we see this kind of development.
So it maybe that these signs, although associated with puberty really are into true puberty, but rather signs if you will of potential risk of the development of problems like diabetes and early heart disease later on in life.
Interviewer: If the girl reaches her first period, when do hide stops as levels off? How soon?
Doctor: Typically, girls experience a growth birth early in the pubertal process. They experience breast development and that usually coincides with a spurting growth which tributes approximately 10% to 15% of final height to that child.
Typically, girls will experience period fairly late in puberty and at that time they are almost at their final adult height. It is quite possible that a child after experiencing their first period may grow in inch to inch and in half, but essentially the growth is complete by the time the first period happens.
In boys, however, they tend to go through most of their pubertal changes prior to their growth birth and that growth birth occurs very late in the pubertal process.
Interviewer: A very common question to pediatricians, they get a brand new little baby girl and they see blood coming from the girl’s vaginal. Does that mean the girl who is going to have a period?
Doctor: This phenomenon of a little bit of bleeding from a newborn’s vaginal is quite common and really has to do with a withdrawal of estrogen or female hormone that they baby is expose to while in the mother’s uterus. That uterus is a reach environment field with circulating hormones and when the baby abruptly withdrawn from the mother’s environment, the exposure to estrogen is also abruptly withdrawn and there maybe a build up a little bit inside the baby’s uterus which is often at least shed when there is that bleeding that occurs shortly after birth.
Interviewer: We also sometimes saw a baby or girl that there is a little bit of formation of the breast, a little budding and sometimes there is a little whitish discharge, how come?
Doctor: Quite commonly in about 65% to 80% of newborn girls in particular. They will be the development of breast tissue between the ages of 6 months in approximately 2-1/2 years. We typically see about two to three children per week who co
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