Puberty is when kids develop physically and emotionally into adults. Hormones from the brain trigger the start of puberty. Hormones are chemical messengers that tell the body what to do. If puberty happens before age 7 years for girls or age 9 years for boys, it is considered early puberty (or precocious puberty). For most kinds of early puberty, health care providers can prescribe medicines to slow, stop, and even reverse it. Treatment is important because going through puberty early can be stressful for kids, and can make them stop growing early and be shorter than they would have been if puberty happened later.

Follow your health care provider's recommendations for:

• Starting any medicines.
• Taking your child for any studies or lab tests.
• Taking your child to see any specialists, such as an endocrinologist (a doctor who treats growth and hormone problems).
• When to follow up.

Help your child cope:

• Talk to your child about why their body is changing and what will happen if they start treatment.
• Understand that your child may be upset that they look and feel different from other kids their age. Ask if they want to see a counselor to talk about their feelings.
• Tell your child that they might look older than other kids their age and so people might treat them as if they're older than they are. Talk about what kind of words and behaviors are safe and appropriate. Remind them if anyone ever talks about or touches their body in a way that makes them uncomfortable, they should tell you right away.

Your child:

• is getting treatment and isn't responding the way your health care provider said they would
• seems sad, anxious, or depressed
• is getting in trouble at school or doesn't want to go to school

What happens in early puberty? Depending on the stage of puberty a child is in, they may:

• develop breasts and start their periods (in females)
• start having a deeper voice, grow facial hair, and have growth of the penis and testicles (in males)
• grow hair under their arms and in their pubic area
• have a growth spurt
• get body odor
• get acne
• have sexualized thoughts and behaviors

What causes early puberty? Usually it happens because the brain starts sending puberty hormones early for no clear reason. Less often, early puberty happens from a genetic (inherited) disorder, tumor, brain trauma, or other hormone problem.