Is it normal for a nine-year-old girl to start developing breasts?

If a nine-year-old girl starts to develop breasts at this time, many parents will be particularly worried about the child's condition, because various reasons in today's society have led to the phenomenon of precocious puberty in children. If a child has precocious puberty, it will be very harmful to the body. The normal development time of a child's breasts should be after the age of 10, and the breasts of a nine-year-old girl should be taken seriously by us parents. So, is the breast development of a nine-year-old girl precocious puberty?

If a girl starts to develop before the age of 8, it is considered precocious puberty. Relatively speaking, boys enter puberty one year later than girls - that is, if secondary sexual characteristics develop before the age of 9, it is considered precocious; if they develop before the age of 10, it is considered early puberty; and if they start to develop after the age of 11, it is normal. Secondary sexual characteristics refer to the beginning of breast development, growth of pubic and axillary hair, and menarche in girls; and enlargement of the testicles and penis, growth of pubic and axillary hair, etc. in boys.

Whether it is precocious puberty or early puberty, the most direct impact on children is their height. A child's final height is determined by his or her bone age, not his or her age. There was once a boy who had an Adam's apple at the age of 13. He did not grow taller for one or two years and was less than 1.60 meters tall. The mother brought her son to see a doctor, but when the bone age was measured, it was found that his son was over 15 to 18 years old. He was basically mature and could not grow taller anymore. The mother cried sadly. This type of case occurs frequently in the Endocrinology Department of Children's Hospital.

Precocious puberty can limit children's height development. During puberty, children reach the peak of growth and development, and their height increases faster than usual. But after puberty, the rate of height growth slows down. If precocious puberty occurs, although the child will be taller than children of the same age in the early stage, he or she will be shorter in adulthood. The reason is that the normal development period before puberty is shortened. After puberty, the bones gradually close. Once they are completely closed, people can no longer grow taller. Therefore, children with precocious puberty are generally shorter when they grow up.

When many parents bring their children to the hospital for treatment, they often wait until a girl's menarche or a boy's voice change, and then discover that the child is short before they think of seeking medical help. But at this point, puberty has often matured and the best time for intervention or treatment has been missed.

So, what are the characteristics of a child's puberty development? Girls generally experience enlarged breasts and often complain of breast pain; boys experience enlarged penis and testicles; or, the child may originally grow very slowly in height, but suddenly grow very fast in a few months. If these phenomena are inconsistent with the child's normal puberty development age, parents should pay more attention.

In life, we must prevent children from being exposed to factors that may cause precocious puberty, and avoid letting children frequently take hormonal drugs or foods. Such foods or drugs are particularly harmful to children's bodies. Many people also frequently take contraceptives while breastfeeding their children. Such drugs have a greater impact on children and may cause precocious puberty in children.