Precocious Puberty
Six and seven year old girls should not have to deal with a period. They just should not.
Many of our daughters are in the high risk group for early puberty. Children who undergo rapid “catch up” growth are much more likely to enter into puberty much too early. My own daughter’s weight increased by about 40 percent within a six or seven week period of time - a very dramatic catch-up.
So, I keep up on the latest research into the other factors that can lead to early puberty and try to keep as many of them out of her life as I can.
She doesn’t drink cow’s milk, though she does eat yogurt and cheese and sour cream. She is still getting the hormones given to cattle since we do eat some dairy products, but she’s getting about half of what she would if she drank cow’s milk as well. Instead she drinks fortified rice milk.
I also buy the free range eggs from the chickens that aren’t fed anything extra that can make it into the eggs.
And we don’t eat meat. Another big source of hormones.
There are studies out there that suggest we might get the esters from the plastics in bottles and such (polyester). Nothing conclusive, but there is enough doubt about it that I think it’s better safe than sorry. So, I used glass bottles as much as possible for her when she was little - we only used the plastic refill things in China. She doesn’t eat or drink off of plastic all that much now - she has a plastic thermal cup with a lid that we use when outdoors, but we use glass in the house. Yes, there have been two or three broken glasses, but there have been no cuts. Drinking glasses can be easily replaced, and broken glass is pretty easy to clean up.
I wasn’t aware of the early puberty risk when we adopted our daughter, but I’m not sure I’d have done anything differently. We gave her all of the food she wanted, until she was done. In China this little bitty thing would take a full bottle and then eat as much as me at the table. And, of course, we had the Cheerios available pretty much constantly on top of that. But that was a very important part of her learning that we were there to satisfy her needs, to take care of her. Yes, we could have easily slowed down that rapid growth, but I’m just not sure it would have been a good thing to do. I’m glad I didn’t know about precocious puberty back then.
I hope that the daughter we are waiting for is not underweight, but if she is then we will again feed her as much as she wants to eat. I’ve read the research about how this rapid growth spurt that happens out of sync can reset the brain and cause early puberty. But I can’t help that. Attachment comes first, then we worry about the rest.
June 20th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
Right on! As an Ohio born gal I started all that period business at 9 years of age. It was not the easiest because most of my friends could not relate. And to think, such early puberty and infertility….weird. Not that I give a hoot these days, I just want my daughter and care not how she gets here.
June 28th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
RQ -
I talked to my Nurse Practitioner about this. She adopted her daughter from China @13 years ago. She agreed that nourishment and attachment definitely come first. I also thought it was interesting that when she received her daughter she was not underweight at all (a little chunky even), plus her daughter has never eaten meat, and she STILL went through puberty between 9 and 10.
Might it even be common for girls with Chinese ancenstry to go through puberty earlier since they traditionally have married much earlier?
This is definitely an interesting topic, but it is hard to know what you can really do about it…
Lee
July 6th, 2006 at 12:59 am
I too began around age 10 and was only producing 1-2 eggs by age 38 (and maybe even earlier; I didn’t check), so no pregnancy. Maybe with early menstration you run through your eggs quicker?
However, according to Dr. Fertility I am no where near menopause, which is good too.
All the women in my family, Italian-Irish, began early except for my very skinny little sister.
I was a huge milk drinker as a kid, but now I’m no meat and mostly no dairy, and will raise my daughter on milk substitutes.
July 7th, 2006 at 6:31 pm
ps. dr.mcdougall discusses this:
http://www.drmcdougall.com
August 23rd, 2006 at 7:45 am
Early onset of puberty is a well known phenomenon in the international adoption world, at least here in Sweden. Adopted children, both boys and girls, run a higher risk of starting puberty earlier than children in the birth country. Theories are that the endocronological (?) system is put out of phase by rapid growth after adoption and early trauma (adoption for instance).
Look out for breast growth in girls and testicle growth in boys, and for growth spurt. At least here in Sweden children can be treated to delay puberty - both for psychological/social and developmental reasons and to give them a chance to reach full height. Growth slows down after puberty.
August 25th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
I have a biological daughter and worried very much about this. We use organic everything b/c of it. While I cannot control what she eats outside of the house at least I know that by eating such things in the home I’m minimizing the effects of things eaten at school, friends etc.. We have not cut out milk but have used organic (and my girls loves her milk)..at almost 10 we have no signs of an early puberty…yeah! I didn’t realize this was even a bigger issue in adopted child…thanks for the heads up!
August 25th, 2006 at 1:27 pm
I have a biological daughter and worried very much about this. We use organic everything b/c of it. While I cannot control what she eats outside of the house at least I know that by eating such things in the home I’m minimizing the effects of things eaten at school, friends etc.. We have not cut out milk but have used organic (and my girls loves her milk)..at almost 10 we have no signs of an early puberty…yeah! I didn’t realize this was even a bigger issue in adopted child…thanks for the heads up!
October 25th, 2006 at 10:59 am
Chinese girls do not marry younger. They usually marry in their late teens. I think environmental factors play a part in it. The overuse of soy is a major contributor. Soy mimics estrogens. Even the Asians eat it sparingly. Our fatty diet may have a lot to do with it. Girl menstruate when they have the right amount of body fat to support a fetus. Genetics may determine that our ddaughters dont need that much body fat to support a pregnancy. So a little goes a long way.
January 2nd, 2007 at 10:34 am
2 studies were done on precocious puberty a couple of years ago in NZ and Australia. One showed early trauma as being a catalyst the other suggested girls who live in a home with a non-biologically related male are more likely to develop precocious puberty.
I found it interesting that neither suggested any connection to diet.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:10 am
I’ve just recently heard the estrogen/soy connection & unfortunately, have raised my bio daughter on soy formula & soy milk as a substitute for the hormone laiden milk for the past 9 years. I thought I was doing her a favor. We’re eliminating soy from our diet now. A little too late…
She’s close to 10 & showing signs of early puberty. However, early puberty runs in my family. Me/11, Mom/9. I’ve heard some speculation that girls in developed countries are starting earlier due to increased “nutrition”…which could also include incr. food intake which incr. body fat & since fat releases estrogen…… The 1 girl I know that started at age 7 is very overweight for her age/height. My SIL says that her 2 oldest started periods when they hit about 100 lbs.
Will definitely keep the adoption & puberty info in mind later. Who would have thought?