When Is Puberty too Early? (2024)

FAQs

When Is Puberty too Early? ›

But it's perfectly normal for puberty to begin at any point between the ages of 8 and 13 in girls and 9 and 14 in boys. There's not usually any need to worry if puberty does not start around the average age, but it's a good idea to speak to your GP for advice if it starts before 8 or has not started by around 14.

Male puberty usually begins at about age 12. Female puberty is at about age 10. Sometimes, though, puberty can start earlier and before signs show. When male puberty starts before age 9 and female puberty before age 8, it is called precocious (pre KOH shuss) or early puberty.

Girls and, possibly, boys who exhibit premature adrenarche are at a higher risk for developing features of metabolic syndrome, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease later in adulthood. Altered timing of puberty also has implications for behavioral disorders.

Hormonal basis

It is normal for production of these hormones to increase (something we call adrenarche) and for pubic hair to appear after age 8 in girls or 9 in boys. The reason why this increase occurs earlier in some children is not known.

Because their skeletons mature and bone growth stops at an earlier age than normal, kids with precocious puberty that's not treated usually don't reach their full adult height potential. Their early growth spurt may make them initially tall when compared with their peers.

Premature pubarche, or the development of pubic hair before the age of 8 in girls or 9 in boys, is most commonly caused by premature adrenarche. Adrenarche is the maturation of the adrenal zona reticularis in both boys and girls, resulting in the development of pubic hair, axillary hair, and adult apocrine body odor.

It's unclear why it's happening more, although possible causes include diet, obesity, genetics, socioeconomic status and potential exposure to certain chemicals. Kids entering puberty earlier than the average can be mistakenly treated as older and inappropriately sexualized by society.

There's not usually any need to worry if puberty does not start around the average age, but it's a good idea to speak to your GP for advice if it starts before 8 or has not started by around 14. In some cases, early puberty or delayed puberty could be a sign of an underlying condition that may need to be treated.

The link between early puberty and shorter life expectancy may be partly explained by its negative impact on cardio-metabolic health and diseases such as Type 2 Diabetes. If so, then finding ways to prevent early puberty could help improve health in later life.”

Girls who begin puberty early commonly experience problems with regular menstruation; early puberty also could cause infertility for both genders. The study has identified kisspeptin, a hormone made in the brain's hypothalamus, as the master controller of the onset of puberty.

How to avoid puberty early? ›

You can't prevent most early puberty cases. Limiting your child's exposure to reproductive hormones from outside sources may prevent it. These sources may include estrogen or testosterone creams, lotions or other medications.

Untreated precocious puberty usually leads to short stature and can also cause significant emotional and behavioral issues.

First thing's first: There's no age when girls should start shaving. In fact, girls don't have to shave at all if they don't want to.

Children with precocious puberty might grow quickly at first and be taller than others their ages. But their bones mature too soon. So these children often stop growing earlier than usual. This can cause them to be shorter than average as adults.

Boys begin puberty sometime between the ages of 9 and 14. Boys hit puberty about two years later than girls. However, Black and Hispanic boys tend to enter puberty a bit earlier than white boys. If your son starts showing signs of puberty before age 9, it's worth asking his pediatrician about these early changes.

First crushes may occur at any time, but generally start at around 10-13 years of age. They are an important step in developing normal and healthy romantic relationships, and provide opportunities to learn how to compromise and communicate.

Most females will start puberty when they're 8 to 13 years old, and most males will start between 9 and 14. But it can also be normal to start earlier or later. Hormones from the brain trigger the start of puberty.

The average age at which children entered puberty was the same as for most boys and girls today: between ten to 12 years. But medieval teenagers took longer to reach the later milestones, including menarche.

Right off the bat: Dr. Dweck says there's no such thing as a second puberty—we're only going to suffer through that once, thank god. But your body is going to naturally change as you get older, and a number of things can mess with your hormones in your 20s and 30s, which might cause puberty-esque symptoms.

Second puberty isn't a real medical term. People use it to describe how your body changes during your 20s, 30s, and 40s. The term can be misleading, as these changes are different from puberty during adolescence. Many age-related changes are due to declining hormone levels over time.