The 7-year-old girl's breasts developed in advance, and the 10-year-old girl came to the "big aunt"... How can parents perceive precocious puberty from the "clues"?

A few days ago, 10-year-old Xiaomi (pseudonym) and her mother happily came to the pediatric department of Hangzhou First People's Hospital to find Xu Fang's deputy chief physician for follow-up consultation.

Back three years ago, Xiaomi, who was only 7 years old at the time, met with Dr. Xu Fang for the first time. "I still remember the first time I saw Xiaomi, she sat in the clinic, kept her head down, and the family was overwhelmed." Dr. Xu still remembers the scene when they first met.

It turned out that half a year ago, Xiaomi, who was only in the first grade, found that her breasts had enlarged. "When I was in physical education class, I didn't dare to run, for fear of being seen by other students." Xiaomi said timidly.

The mother who accompanied her said that when she first saw her daughter suddenly "jump up", she suddenly became a little taller, and she was quite surprised. But the daughter is only 7 years old, and her breasts have developed so early, which can make her anxious.

Breast development in 7-year-old girls

Bone age is equivalent to the height of an 11-year-old girl

Dr. Xu said that Xiaomi's height at that time was 127.7 centimeters, which is equivalent to the height of normal children aged 8. To this end, she did a bone age examination for Xiaomi and found that the bone age was equivalent to the height of an 11-year-old girl. Further blood-pumping provocative tests and B ultrasound, magnetic resonance and other examinations were done, and the diagnosis was finally confirmed as central precocious puberty.

"Precocious puberty?" Knowing the diagnosis results, Xiaomi's parents were somewhat difficult to accept. And the young Xiaomi is still ignorant, she does not know what precocious puberty means to her.

"If this situation is not treated in Xiaomi, it is predicted that the adult height will not exceed 150 centimeters. To change this outcome, it is necessary not only to adjust from the aspects of daily life, but also to cooperate with growth hormone injections combined with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRHa). Dr. Xu said.

After careful consideration, the parents agreed to the treatment plan after 1 week. After 3 years and 5 months, Xiaomi's height increased by 30.3 centimeters. Now Xiaomi is 158 cm tall and 13 years old, and it is predicted that Xiaomi itself can continue to increase by 3 cm!

"This time we can definitely reach the ideal goal of more than 160!" We can stop the drug first for observation. Xu Fang said to parents.

The 10-year-old girl actually came to "big aunt"

Doctors predict that adult height will not exceed 145 cm

Coincidentally, on the same day of outpatient clinic, Xiaomi actually met her classmate Li Li (pseudonym). However, Li Li was not as lucky as Xiaomi.

Dr. Xu found in the consultation that Li Li, who had just turned 10 years old, like Xiaomi, had her breasts develop before she was 8 years old, when she was only about 130 centimeters tall. Parents are worried that Western medicine treatment has side effects, and they are distressed that their children will be painful every day, plus considering that the cost of injection is large, so they have been dragging on without treatment.

One day 6 months ago, when Lili came back from school, her mother found a stain on her panties that looked like a blood clot, which frightened the whole family.

"Did you get hurt at school?" At first, the family thought that lili had encountered something, but when they asked about it carefully, they found that nothing had happened.

Li Li's mother reacted to this, and it turned out that Li Li was a "big aunt"!

"Menstruation at such a young age?" Li Li's mother was anxious, "Will the child still grow tall in the future?" ”

Dr. Xu Fang measured Li Li's height by 142 cm, and after menarche, she obviously grew very slowly for nearly half a year, and only increased by 2 cm in 6 months! The bone age examination on that day was also 13 years old, that is to say, if it was not treated naturally, even if it could grow another 3 centimeters, the adult height of Li Li was only 145 centimeters!

"Is it still too late for treatment?" Lily's mother asked anxiously.

Unfortunately, the best time for treatment was missed, and if the current sprint treatment with a growth hormone needle is also limited in efficacy, it is difficult to exceed 150 cm.

Looking at Xiaomi, who is more than half a head taller than her daughter, Li Li's mother blamed herself, the same central precocious child, missed the treatment opportunity, which will lead to such a big difference.

Early detection of precocious puberty from "clues"

What exactly is precocious puberty? What are its early symptoms? And how to deal with it?

The influencing factors of precocious puberty are race and heredity, high-protein, high-calorie diet, environmental pollution, network, media, books and other related knowledge, blind supplementation, exogenous hormone drugs, etc. In particular, it should be noted that diet and supplements, precocious puberty and diet have a very large relationship, excess nutrition is not advisable, which is why most of the children with precocious puberty are high and fat.

"Now the living conditions are better than before, and children eat more high-protein foods, which makes the number of children with precocious puberty increase and their age is also advanced." According to Dr. Xu Fang, precocious puberty means that the breasts begin to develop before the age of 8, and the testicles begin to enlarge before the age of 9. Based on this age definition, parents can detect their child's precocious puberty early through some clues.

First, it is possible to visually detect whether secondary sexual characteristics are present:

Girls: breast development, enlargement of the labia minora, appearance of pubic hair, menarche;

Boys: enlargement of the testicles and penis, the appearance of pubic hair, muscular development, a thicker voice;

Second, it is found that the child suddenly grows taller. Eight- to nine-year-olds suddenly grow taller in a short period of time, such as suddenly increasing by 1 centimeter in a month;

Third, we must pay attention to the changes in the child's personality, and the child will have uneasy emotions due to changes in his body.

"Precocious puberty is not terrible, what is terrible is that it is not detected and treated in time." Dr. Xu Fang said that precocious children are generally affected by sexual hormones in the body, physical growth is accelerated prematurely, the growth period is shortened, and the epiphyseal closure is advanced, resulting in a final adult lifetime height lower than the height of normal children of the same age who develop according to normal puberty.

"There are many treatments for targeted precocious puberty, and different methods will have different effects. At the same time, the child should be treated psychologically. Because some children who develop early may feel embarrassed and inferior, we need to do more science popularization of adolescent development knowledge to prevent children from being sexually assaulted; parents should also give children timely comfort, telling him that only adolescent development is advanced, do not feel embarrassed. ”