Precautious puberty

Your pediatrician will review your child’s medical history and family medical history. A physical exam will also be necessary.

Your doctor may also recommend an X-ray to help determine the “age” of your child’s bones. Indications that the bones are growing faster than normal can help confirm or rule out the diagnosis.

A gonadotropin-releasing hormone (Gn-RH) stimulation test and a blood test to check for levels of other hormones, such as testosterone in boys and progesterone in girls, can help confirm a diagnosis of precocious puberty.

In children with central precocious puberty, Gn-RH will cause other hormone levels to increase. Hormone levels will remain the same in children with peripheral precocious puberty.

A painless, non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan may also help reveal problems with the pituitary gland.

Your child may not need treatment if their precocious puberty is mild or is progressing slowly. They also may not need treatment if the condition develops closer to the age of puberty.

Otherwise, treatment will depend on the type of precocious puberty affecting your child.

Central precocious puberty

The goal of CPP treatment is to pause the pituitary gland’s production of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH).

A medication called a GnRH agonist can help block the gland’s gonadal activity. It’s usually given as an injection every one to three months, or as an implant that slowly releases the medication over the course of a year.

In addition to slowing puberty, this treatment may allow a child to grow taller than they would have without any treatment.

After 16 months or so, the treatment usually stops and puberty resumes.