Early Puberty: What you can do to protect your daughter(s)

If you have a daughter, the trend of girls developing breasts and pubic hair earlier is something you should be concerned about. This issue of early puberty has been in the news more frequently and the National Institute of Health is now funding several major longitudinal research projects to determine why it is happening.

On average, Caucasian girls are developing breasts and pubic hair one year earlier than is considered normal and African American girls are developing an average of two years earlier. This may not seem like a big deal, but this earlier development has major social, psychological and biological consequences (ie. higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer and low self-esteem to name just a few).

There is no definitive answer as to what is causing girls to develop earlier, but several factors are being investigated. Until an answer is found, researchers are urging parents with daughters to do the following:

1) Feed your children organic/hormone free meat and dairy products. Animals are fed hormones to make then grow faster and bigger and hit puberty themselves earlier. It makes sense that by eating these animals, we could potentially be doing the same to our children.

2) Limit the amount of sugar your children eat. It is suspected that obesity may play a role in early puberty. Eat from the farm not the factory...fresh fruits and vegetables and organic/hormone free meats and dairy products is the way to go.

3) Limit the use of personal care products, particularly sunscreen. These products contain all kinds of chemicals any one of which could be contributing to the problem.

4) Use stainless steel water bottles instead of plastic and NEVER microwave food in plastic containers. When plastic is heated or cooled beyond certain temperature, chemicals leech out and it is not known what effects these chemicals are having on our bodies.

This issue is very alarming to me as it should be to anyone raising a girl. Despite the fact that it is becoming more common, it is NOT NORMAL for children to develop breasts and pubic hair at the young ages of 7 or 8. If taking these small steps could potentially help my daughter in the long run, I am totally willing to take them even if it does turn out that one or all of them are not the cause. It is just not a risk I am willing to take. Sadly, an answer to this problem may not be found in our lifetime, but my daughter is not going to be part of the experiment.