Q: I want to know about precocious puberty. My daughter started showing some changes of puberty when she was 8 years and 9 months old. Since then there is not much change in her. She is 9 years and 2 months old now. When do the periods start after the onset of puberty? She is quite short too (122 cm), though genetically everyone in the family is around 5 feet. What is the treatment to delay puberty and does it have any side effects? The mother also started her periods at the age of 11 years. Can this be the reason for early puberty?

A:Your daughter does not have precocious puberty, which is defined as pubertal changes starting before age 8 years (some consider cut off as 7.5 years), or starting periods before age 10 years. Periods start 1.5 - 2 years after start of pubertal changes (breast budding), and it is in this periods that girls grow rapidly. Most girls gain about 15-20 cm in these 2 years. Girls do tend to follow their mothers pattern, which is what it looks like your daughter is doing. You have not mentioned her rate of growth in childhood, but because she is short now, she should get a complete work-up soon to look for any causes of being short.