Parents Speaking of delaying puberty (in another thread)

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maryRS

Proud Parent
does that really happen? My daughter only practices 10 hours a week plus plays soccer. Would that really be enough? She appears to be on track with her peers in school, who kind of at her age tend to be all over the place.

In looking at the older girls in the gym, while they are mostly all extremely fit and muscular, to me they all look like they have developed typically. Now I've really never asked them when they first got their periods but...
 
For my dd, she had delayed puberty, but it wasn't due to this sport, it would of been that way regardless. Through bone age scans it was determined that her bone age was almost 2.5 yrs younger than her actual age (her bone age was 9.5 yrs old when she was 2 months shy of being 12), it had nothing to do with this sport, but she was in the sport regardless. I think you will find many girls similar to my dd in that the are very small and gymnastics is geared toward kids who are smaller (not saying all are, but many are).
 
Actually medical researchers have found that increased physical activity in girls really doesn't delay puberty. It seems more girls that get involved in sports that favor a smaller body(not at all saying you have to be small!!) like gymnastics, dance and figure skating are like Granny Smith's dd and would have delayed puberty anyway.
 
My oldest who was training 15 hours/week, developed "normally" - hit puberty just after turning 12. My Little Monkey who now trains 20 hours and is almost 11.5 years old shows no "signs" but she is small for her age - about the size of an average 8 year old. She has always been small for her age (born at 29 weeks at 2#12) so we are not surprised by her slower growth/smaller size, and are not attributing this to gymnastics.
 
well if it does delay it I can't imagine when my DD would have started. She was just turning 13 for her if that's a delay god help her
 
No idea if it delays in general or not. My oldest was nearly 16 (I was 13). Beth hasn't yet. I have always heard that lower amount of body fat does delay puberty though--your body knows it's not capable of supporting a pregnancy yet or something.
 
i dont know if its the sport.. but my gym dd was 15 and my none gym dd was also 15 - so... prob not sport!
i thought it ran in families, but i was 12 - so who knows!
 
Onset of puberty, actually menstruation, is directly related to the amount of body fat- once you hit 26%, a switch goes off in the brain. So smaller, leaner, more muscular kids will not start as quick as girls with more curves. Breast development is directly related as they contain body fat disproportionate to other parts of the body, so the more you see up top, the more likely that puberty is upon you. Sports, size, genetics, and muscle development are all factors in how much body fat you have and when.
 
I read alot of articles on this and from what I gathered, it seems that any delay of puberty has more to do with a lack of body fat. I guess body fat triggers hormonal changes (specifically the creation of estrogen), etc.... So it could apply to gymnasts who work out alot, but it could also apply to dancers, soccer players, etc. Anorexia also delays puberty.

(I'm not in any way an expert... found most articles on Google.)
 
Everyone has a theary, but from having 3 sisiters and 2 daughters I believe it's a very individual thing and factors can play into, but a body does what body will do.
My sister was on the heavier side growing up (like 15lbs overweight) her period did not start until she was 15. So the body fat thing is not always true. Mine as an average size teen was 13.

Just saying!
 
. Breast development is directly related as they contain body fat disproportionate to other parts of the body, so the more you see up top, the more likely that puberty is upon you.

Those are PECS! PECS, I tell you! Those aren't the beginnings of breasts I see through my daughter's leotard! It's just that she has such nicely defined PECS! Going back to hiding under the bed now.
 
Mary you crack me up!

I too wish my daughter would have puberty delayed, but only because of those pesky hormones that come with puberty. I am not really concerned with it pushing her out of the sport because of breasts or size or what not... she's already so freaking tall it's just a matter of time.

I am concerned though, that when puberty hits, she is gonna want to date and wear make-up... Oy vey she's gonna drive me nuts! I already have to remind her often what appropriate attire is since everything seems to glorify little girls looking like prostitots (Oh thank you Dance Mom Christi for coming up with that word). I can only imagine what she's gonna want to wear once she's full of raging hormones and doesn't think boys are icky!
 
I guess what bothers me the most is thinking about them getting their periods. It's bad enough for girls who spend most of their time in jeans and sweatpants, but both of mine live in their leotards. I know all of the older female gymnasts and dancers deal with it, and mine will too. I just can't help but think how un-fun that will be for them. I am interested to see (though not any time soon, please) what the timing of it will be, since they're fraternal twins. Who will start first, by how long, etc. I do think sometimes that I see signs of "development" in my gymmie, but then it seems to depend on what leotard she's wearing. And I do think some of it really is pecs. But maybe not all.
 
Mary, siince my fraternal twins are b/g I have nothing to compare, LOL. But my friend's girls started a year apart, with the less athletic one starting first.

As for the whole leotard thing - my oldest always wore the little shorts w/her leo for practices, so it wasn't quite as traumatic as girls who train without shorts (current gym most girls do not wear shorts, only little monkey and maybe 2 others wear them). Big DD never ended up having her period on an actual meet day - she lucked out!
 
just to clarify, how is everyone defining puberty? Because technically, puberty begins with the breast development but I am seeing posts here noting that puberty began at 15. So no sign of puberty until then? or was this the first period, which is usually 18-24 months into puberty?

DD just turned 11 and she is just now showing the beginning stage of breast development but this happened before at around 9 and disappeared about 3mths later so only time will tell. DD is definitely one of the later developing compared to others her age.

From the research I have done, it seems than the first period comes about 2 yrs after initial breast development and that the *minimum* weight point is about 105lbs. I am sure this is not an absolute as I am sure there are some girls who start before that point but it appears that this is the point in which most girls have increased their body fat enough for the hormones to balance correctly. Looking at growth curves, dd shouldn't reach that point until she is about 15, which I am sure she will be thrilled with!! Of course, I haven't shared this with her because it's all up in the air and you never know for sure. And if she stops gym, she may end up gaining weight at a faster rate than the past 5-6 years.

As for gym delaying puberty as a whole, there is research that shows elite gymnasts (or any top athlete) do have delayed puberty, that would not happen if they weren't athletes. It has to do with weight and body fat ratios. We see this in girls with anorexia as well. It has been a while since I did the google searches but I remember the number of training hours that influence the delay in puberty being around 20 hours but it has to begin before puberty begins. If an 11yr old who is already hitting a growth spurt and developing starts training 20+ hrs, she is less likely to stop puberty. It might slow it by a few more months but not the years that we see with young elite gymnasts.
 
Well I think my dd will be delayed not that she is at age to develop yet, but if I go on her growth is very slow she hasn't lost many teeth, saying all that to me it is showing that she is going to be a late developer. So will be interesting see.
 
Not sure about the 105 pounds thing....according to the growth chart the pediatrician gives us every year, my daughter will likely be 105 pounds and 5'1" at most if she follows the path she's been on forever, when she is 18!

Also not sure about the body fat thing. They send a paper home every year from school (PE) called a fitness gram and it measures their body fat. Her % is always in the 14-16% range. So I don't know if she will ever get to the over 20%.

She is 12 1/2 and 4'9"...probably weighs about 80 pounds now. She has started developing...probably about a year now....she has a few friends who got their periods and likely weighed about 80 pounds.....so, I think anything is possible.

I think it is also body type....my daughter has a very petite bone structure....tiny wrists and fingers....but she will, of course, get her period even with a small bone structure!

It's one of the few things out there that is still a true unknown..and that can be challenging for some parents...that not knowing!
 

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