Kids hitting puberty at three

GIRLS in Britain are starting to hit puberty at the age of three.
The Daily Telegraph
Jan. 19, 2008

Shocked doctors blame hormones in food and water for some toddlers showing signs of breast growth, The Sun reports.

Other pre-school youngsters even experience periods that normally start in their teens – and have temper tantrums just like adolescents.

The phenomenon is feared to have become more common since the 1990s – with doctors having to give increasing numbers of tots jabs to keep puberty at bay.

The mum of one girl, who at three was found to have the “bone age” of a nine-year-old, told how she was stunned when her daughter began acting like a ratty teen.

Hayley Holden said: “She used to slam doors a nd try and hit me. We’d go to supermarkets and she’d lie on the floor screaming.

“At the time, I just thought I had an ‘Omen’ child.”

She was stunned when medics told her Ellie-May – now eight – needed hormone injections to stave off puberty.

Harley Tedds, now ten, also has the painful jabs. Her mother Bernie said: “At five-years-old Harley was shaving her armpits and legs.

“Her face and hands were appearing puffy – the nurse noticed she was developing breasts.”

Harley said: “I used to get bullied about how I look and I used to get dirty looks from people.

“You just want to be the same as your friends.”

Junk food diets could be another factor in the early onset of puberty, according to hormone expert Peter Clayton.

He said: “There might be a link between the increasing amounts of obesity in childhood and early puberty.”