Yes, and there are three reasons, obesity, chemicals in the foods and our environment, and third stress. According to “The New Puberty,” a book by Louise Greenspan and Julianna Deardorff, Ph.D., these three factors seem to be behind early onset puberty in girls. 

When girls experience one or more of these factors, it causes something called hormonal disrupters, which can cause a cascade of physical and emotional events in girls’ and women’s bodies. 

When the factor is obesity, it’s due to the overproduction of fat cells which contain estrogen. That overproduction can tell the body to initiate early onset puberty and periods as well.  Number two is the chemicals in food and our environment. I invite you to take a few minutes and check out the labels of the products in your home. What did you find? Does it contain words you’ve never heard of, and do the ingredients take up a very long paragraph? 

The third is stress. When we experience stress, our bodies create a hormone called cortisol which is part of the flight or fright response. That hormone worked well back in caveman time when we needed to respond quickly to imminent danger. Young girls are faced with twenty-first-century stress and anxiety, which then affects their endocrine system.

What can a parent do? 

Take our E-Course Puber-Tea, designed for parents and tweens ages 8 thru 11. The class covers puberty, physical, and emotional changes, hormones, hygiene, nutrition, and preparation for periods. Girls gain confidence and a sense of normalcy, and parents feel prepared for future conversations.