Premature puberty of children
We live in a world where we are undergoing many changes; Developments that, at least in recent decades, have not been so rapid or less visible. Doctors believe that some of these changes can lead to premature puberty in children; This is a serious concern for many parents. With new technologies and a variety of satellite networks and multiple media, children today are much more likely than children of yesterday to face some issues that are not suitable for them and have consequences that often concern parents.
One of these consequences is premature puberty. We talked to Dr. Maryam Razaghi Azar, a specialist in pediatric endocrinology and metabolism and a faculty member of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, about the symptoms and treatment of precocious puberty in children.
Signs of premature puberty
What is precocious puberty?
Premature puberty is a problem that many parents face in today’s world, and it means that the symptoms of puberty appear at a very young age. This puberty usually begins with physical symptoms. For example, in girls, the symptoms first appear unilaterally or bilaterally as the breast enlarges, and then the pubic and armpit hair is seen, and menstruation is in the final stage, the nipple becomes dark and thick, and the nipple Comes forward. Pimples also increase on the face of girls, and in boys, the testicles grow and enlarge prematurely.
At what age can we say that a child has reached premature puberty?
The appearance of physical and hormonal signs of puberty in girls before the age of 7 and in boys before the age of 9 is called precocious puberty. At first, these children look taller and taller than their peers, but due to premature puberty, bone growth stops earlier than usual and the bones will eventually be shorter in adulthood.
To what extent are environmental factors involved in creating this problem?
It will certainly not be ineffective, and any irritating factor, both auditory and visual, can be effective in causing premature puberty, especially psychologically in children. Factors that cause premature puberty include the type of clothing, improper socializing, praising the opposite sex with the child, the pursuit of curiosity and spying by the child, the intense need for love, moral defects, and unrestrained jokes, and so on.
What solutions do you suggest to keep children away from this issue?
It is better for parents to remove any irritating factors from their children and to explain the origin of these changes to their child by establishing an honest and friendly relationship with him/her and informing him / her of the necessary care.
On the other hand, observing controllable individual, family and social issues and conditions are also important to moderate and reduce the complications and consequences of precocious puberty in the present and future lives of these children. Finally, seeing a specialist check and treat premature puberty in children to prevent ossification problems, height, and physical growth, and regular checkups and tests can be a great help for parents in this regard.
Signs of premature puberty in girls and boys
To what extent can precocious puberty have a negative effect on children psychologically?
Unfortunately, precocious puberty causes children to be exposed to the stresses of adolescence very quickly. They are physically mature but do not have enough experience. For example, girls may be exposed to sexual harassment and experience panic and psychological problems as symptoms of puberty appear.
Are girls more prone to precocious puberty or boys?
Premature puberty is usually more common in girls than boys. In some cases, important diseases of the central nervous system can cause this condition. Sometimes the production of female sex hormones also causes premature puberty.
Is it possible to prevent premature puberty in children with nutritional strategies?
Yes, for example, children should avoid fats such as chicken skin or dandelions as much as possible because they may have injected estrogen into the chicken and the saturated fat in the chicken skin will cause premature puberty. However, as I have mentioned many times during this conversation, several factors can influence the formation of precocious puberty in children, and parents can prevent such a problem by becoming aware of it.
Children who reach premature puberty like to behave like adults
Premature puberty is a glandular and physical problem and is different from purely psychological problems. This means that a child reaches premature puberty because his body hormones are activated prematurely. It may be short in stature, but psychologically, precocious puberty occurs in children when they become prematurely exposed to sexual information, and in this situation, it is better to deal with the child according to our knowledge of him.
The age of precocious puberty in children
When a child reaches premature puberty, he likes to behave like an adult, while he still does not have much knowledge about the environment and the world of adults, and this sometimes causes him to be sexually abused and then feel guilty more than Everything else is annoying for the child, so we need to be friendly with our child; For example, as you know, the age of makeup in Iran is very young compared to other countries.
When we encounter a young girl who has put on make-up, we consider her an immoral and bad girl, and the unconscious child identifies with this feeling and considers himself guilty, or in the case of boys when he reaches puberty too soon. They arrive, this issue somehow brings them a sense of power at first while it is a false sense.
Another issue is that if premature puberty is not treated in time, it can cause anxiety and frequent insecurities for the child and the anxieties that come to him in the field of life, drown him.
In any case, premature puberty is a problem because a person is intellectually the same age as children, but physically and instinctively has the feelings of adults. For example, a 9-year-old child feels like an 18-year-old and is unable to take a reasonable stand against those demands. This is where parents need to help and support their child so that he or she does not get into trouble in the future.
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