Early signs of pre-puberty?

[mammal_mama]

My 9yo has been saying for quite some time that she' thinks she's in puberty.

She still doesn't have breast-buds or noticeable (to me) underarm or pubic-hair -- but she is sometimes noticing tingling in her nipples and vagina. And good feelings in her genital area.

Does this sound like things could be getting ready to happen? I started getting breast-buds and the hair when I was around 10, but didn't start menstruating 'til about 4 months before my 13th birthday, so it seems probable that she could have a similar time-clock.

[Maiasaura]

To the best of my (admittedly lapsed, from Developmental Psych) knowledge, I think you need to watch for a hee-yooge growth spurt in the feet, and in general, and the beginnings of schtank under the armpits. Then her moon is about 6 months imminent. But I think it's mostly in the foot growth, so watch her sizes of shoes

Good time to start looking at ways to celebrate her impending womanhood! Now if only I knew what to do about my boy. Sigh. He's 8-3/4 and he's started, just the tiniest bit, to smell under his pits. I'm SO not ready for this!

[mommyinIL1976]

It's interesting reading your post. It sounds exactly like what I went through and what DD described a few years ago just prior to her push into womanhood.

I can honestly see where a tingling in the breasts/nipples could be a precursor to growth in that area. (skin starting to stretch etc.)

As for the tingling in her vagina, idk, but I distinctly remember my labia tingling a lot at about 8 to 9yo. It wasn't a sexual tingle, but a feeling of pressure (sort of). It's hard to describe. (WARNING: TMI ahead) Those tingles occured directly prior to my labia minora growing quite a bit. That occured even before I got pubic hair (much to my consternation, but that's another story).

So long story short....yes I think she's getting ready to blossom!

[mammal_mama]

Wow, we've just had an exciting revelation! I was telling dd about your responses, and she mentioned that she felt pain in her breasts when there was any kind of pressure, i.e. flopping down on the bed or a tight hug. And I asked if I could check (just to make sure there was nothing abnormal).

And I felt a definite layer of meat there -- not just her chest wall. AND her nipples seem much more pronounced than they were. She is soooo elated. We're probably going to make a chocolate cake to celebrate.

mommyinIL -- I'm just curious, since you seem to have started feeling the tingling around the same time dd has, we're just wondering what age you actually "got your moon" as Maiasaura calls it -- if you don't mind sharing.

Maiasaura, she doesn't have the stinky pits yet, and her feet seem to be growing at about the usual rate, so I guess we'll just wait and see.

Dd says that she wants to go outside tomorrow and yell really loud, she's so excited.

[ZoraP]

That's cute that she's so excited. My older DD is also developing (she's actually getting pretty noticeable breasts now) but it started too soon for her and she wishes she still had a flat chest like some of her friends. Of course it doesn't help that she's getting pimples on her forehead, too. DH and I keep telling her that we both had our acne early and were mostly cleared up by age 13 or 14 when everyone else had it bad, so I hope it goes the same way for her.

I remember noticing my own breast buds in 5th grade -- I was playing soccer with a bunch of boys and the ball hit me hard in the chest. And it HURT! After that I took a good feel around and realized there was a reason my boobs were sore. My mom hadn't noticed or said anything.

[mammal_mama]

Zora, I hope your daughter gets to feeling better soon! Probably as soon as her friends start developing and they can talk "girl talk" together about it it will be more fun for her.

That's great that you and your dh got over your acne before you were in your later teens. I started getting pimples around 11 or 12, and at that age I didn't care so much.

But it got progressively worse and was still going strong into my 20's. I finally saw a dermotologist, who discovered I had extremely high androgen levels which he couldn't help with, so he referred me to an endocrinologist.

I ended up taking a combination of estinyl and something called androcur, which wasn't available here at that time so a friend of my mom's smuggled it in when she went to visit her family in Austria (I was determined to avoid acutane since I'd heard it could cause sterility, and after trying alot of other stuff the dr said androcur was the only thing besides acutane that might help me).

It cleared up up my acne -- but then my dad let me know how overwhelmingly costly it would be for me to keep this up, once I was through college and taking responsibility for myself (the doctor said I'd need it 'til menopause -- though I could take short breaks whenever I wanted to try for pregnancy).

Well, I decided to just quit taking it and trust God to heal me. It took like a year for my periods to get back to normal. And my complexion stayed clear at first, but then I started getting some breakouts -- but it was much more manageable than before, and throughout my 30's and 40's so far (I'm 45) my skin has been mostly clear.

I'm just hoping that neither of my girls has inherited my hormone-imbalance. Because I'd hate to go the medical route -- but at the same time I'd hate to have them suffering as I did for so long. It was beyond the normal teen acne, to the point where some strangers felt compelled to comment on it and offer their advice, as if they thought I didn't know how to wash my face properly.

[Maiasaura]

Well, moon...I consider it a sacred thing, and so "period" is so...well, while not clinical, just...cold. It reduces the menses to a bodily function, while for me, it's more spiritual than that.
I wish that I had had more of a celebration when I got mine. I just announced to my mom "I'm menstruating", to which she showed me the routine about napkins and belts (I'm 49), and, later, tampons. And that was it.
I live in a rather crunchy area and lots of moms I know, even the ones that aren't Pagan (I am, and it's a common thing IME among Pagan parents of girls) have First Blood or Moon celebrations for their DDs.
They all do different things. I have a son, but if I had a DD, I would have red velvet cake, red candles and probably a special jewelry for gifting, and maybe a party or ritual to bring her to womanhood from girlhood

[mammal_mama]

Maiasaura, that sounds beautiful! Sounds like I'd better start planning for it now ...

[Mama~Love]

Originally Posted by Maiasaura

Well, moon...I consider it a sacred thing, and so "period" is so...well, while not clinical, just...cold. It reduces the menses to a bodily function, while for me, it's more spiritual than that.
I wish that I had had more of a celebration when I got mine. I just announced to my mom "I'm menstruating", to which she showed me the routine about napkins and belts (I'm 49), and, later, tampons. And that was it.
I live in a rather crunchy area and lots of moms I know, even the ones that aren't Pagan (I am, and it's a common thing IME among Pagan parents of girls) have First Blood or Moon celebrations for their DDs.
They all do different things. I only have a son, but if I had a DD, I would have red velvet cake, red candles and probably a special jewelry for gifting, and maybe a party or ritual to bring her to womanhood from girlhood

I love that too! My mom did NOTHING to prepare me, and it was rather embarrassing to try & figure it out on my own. By the time she talked to me, I already knew what I needed. My oldest daughter is 7, and I plan on making it a very special event for her .

[Maiasaura]

mammal, I guess you could do it with a Christian slant, huh? I can't see why not. If you start researching now, and tweak it your own way, I bet you can come up with a beautiful little ceremony.

Oh yeah, I'd probably gift with some homemade flannel moon pads, too--but not sure how welcome that'd be to a new young woman. If I was 11 (which I was, my first moon) I don't know that I would have welcomed homemade products I wanted to die because I thought everybody would know, just looking at me, that I'd started bleeding!

[mommyinIL1976]

Originally Posted by mammal_mama

mommyinIL -- I'm just curious, since you seem to have started feeling the tingling around the same time dd has, we're just wondering what age you actually "got your moon" as Maiasaura calls it -- if you don't mind sharing.

I was just short of 13 when I got my first one....DD is just past that age so we have been preparing (not that it will necessarily happen at that age for her).

[inkedmamajama]

as a mother of daughter who is super close to the age that i was when i got my first period-i am

i have definitely noticed an increase in attitude and volatile emotions lately for sure!

[harrietsmama]

My dd is 9 1/2 and has breast buds, and her feet just grew astronomically fast, but that has been a pattern for her anyway. I teach cb classes so she is pretty familiar with a lot of how women's bodies work. We have been reading puberty books together, actually her brother has been far more interested than I expected, he's 7 1/2. I bought her a few cloth pads, but I need to get going on a stash for her. I had a hysterectomy 3 years ago so I have no other back ups. She is very excited to have a party, we've been talking about it since the article in Mothering came out 2? 3? years ago.
She is very excited about developing, we're going through the 'I'm sad and confused and I don't know whyyyyyyyyy!' Poor thing.

[sunshine's mama]

My friend's 9yo dd has started puberty......and my friend was 10 when she got her first cycle so her dd is right on track. She wears cami's under her shirts at school bc she doesn't want a bra bc most of her friends in her grade wear cami's too....they all seem to be developing together, most of them anyways my friend says.

She and I were the only ones when we were younger for like 2 years so it was rough. I hope my girls don't start as early as I did. My mom went through menopause later than most too. joy of joy.

My friend said she can do without the attitude and moodiness that's coming with it though. The eye rolling is driving her batty.

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by Maiasaura

To the best of my (admittedly lapsed, from Developmental Psych) knowledge, I think you need to watch for a hee-yooge growth spurt in the feet, and in general, and the beginnings of schtank under the armpits. Then her moon is about 6 months imminent. But I think it's mostly in the foot growth, so watch her sizes of shoes

I don't think it's that way for everybody. DD2 has had breast buds for about 3 years, and started "real" breast growth about a year ago. But she's still growing about one shoe size a year, the same as she's been doing since about kindergarten. Nor am I expecting any major foot growth since her feet are only about a half size smaller than mine. She's growing cup sizes, not shoe sizes. DD1 followed a similar pattern- her foot growth has really slowed down since puberty started- she's about a half to a full size larger than the shoes she had for her Bat Mitzvah (age 12).

Meanwhile, my 7yo has grown about 2 full shoe sizes (4-5 "half sizes") since his last birthday, and he's NOWHERE near puberty! So, whether or not a "foot growth spurt" is a common sign of puberty, it's certainly not a universal one.

DD2 has just recently noticed some pit hair (happily showing it off). I know she had pubic hair before that, but I don't know exactly when that started because she kept that to herself. She hasn't gotten her period yet. Both girls started getting breast buds/breast tingling around age 10, and DD1 got her first moon at age 13.5, which is around the age I was as well. DD2 isn't 13.5 yet.