A mother is considering freezing her baby daughter's eggs after she started puberty at 10 months old. Sophie Dumas was unaware anything unusual was happening with her daughter Sienna until a health visitor noticed the baby's breast tissue appeared enlarged.
The 41-year-old took her daughter to the GP and they were then referred to paediatric endocrinologists who began investigating whether she had precocious puberty. Following a series of distressing tests, Sienna was diagnosed with central precocious puberty (CCP) - a condition in which the brain begins sending the signals that trigger puberty much earlier than usual. She was just 10 months old at the time.
Tests and Diagnosis
Speaking from her home in London, Sophie said: "The breast buds weren't something I'd noticed before, and as babies are usually the sort of chubby that makes them that little bit more adorable, and also that she was breastfed, I didn't think anything of her appearance as being out of the ordinary."
The mum added: "The tests she underwent were horrible for all of us. She had what was referred to as Stim tests, which was a term I went on to dread, which involved blood tests to take a baseline to measure the LH level, the hormone that regulates puberty, then injecting her with a synthetic hormone to see how her blood hormones react over a period of different timeframes."
"This meant a whole day in hospital. Sienna became so stressed that she sweated the cannulas out, and one of her veins collapsed. They then had to draw her blood via another method from her heels with a pin-prick. It was incredibly distressing."
A few weeks later, the family received the news that Sienna's tests were positive for precocious puberty. Sophie says she'd never heard of the condition and was left desperately researching what this meant for Sienna.
Treatment and Concerns
Doctors explained that she would need regular injections of a hormone blocker known as a GnRH analogue to suppress the hormones responsible for puberty. Sienna also underwent an MRI to determine whether there was an underlying cause for her condition. In some cases, central precocious puberty can be linked to abnormalities in the brain. Sophie said the possibility was "terrifying".
Thankfully, Sienna's MRI was clear, and she was diagnosed with central precocious puberty, which has no known cause in many children and is more common in girls. Without treatment, Sienna, now five, would have progressed through puberty years before her peers.
While the condition is not life-threatening, doctors explained that early puberty can affect final adult height because children initially grow rapidly but their growth plates can mature sooner. The family has been told that Sienna is likely to remain on the hormone-blocking treatment until she is around 11 or 12, although this will depend on her bone age and how she develops.
Looking to the Future
Sophie is now looking ahead to her daughter's future and is considering whether egg freezing could give Sienna more options when she is older. She said: "I'm currently looking into that possibility in case her condition affects her fertility later down the line. When she was diagnosed, I was worried that she may not be able to start a family of her own one day if she wanted to, that the choice may be taken away from her. Hopefully, the hormone blockers will prevent this from affecting her fertility."
Sienna's getting to an age where some of the untreatable symptoms are causing her to deal with spots on her face in the areas that are linked to hormones. "It's difficult explaining it to her. There's been some teasing from her school friends who have said they think she has chickenpox," Sophie said.
"It makes me really sad. No one wants to think of their child being upset, especially when it's from what someone else has said to them. Sienna was confused because she didn't know how to explain to them that they're different kinds of spots because she doesn't even understand it. I told the teacher, who said that she knew they were hormonal spots and that she would reassure Sienna and tell the other children that it's not their job to play doctor."
For now, Sophie says she is determined to let her daughter enjoy being a little girl. She added: "My main concerns are that all little girls want to grow up before they should, and the pressures around things like breast size, so I am worried that once Sienna understands what would happen if she were to refuse her treatment early so that she goes through puberty, her mental maturity wouldn't be ready for all that comes with it."
"Puberty is such an abstract concept for a child, so talking to her about it is complicated for her to understand and also for me to explain. Sienna is still a little girl, obsessed with fairies and Disney princesses, and I'd love to take her to Disneyland next year to keep the magic of childhood alive for as long as possible."
"The only advice I would give to another parent who is concerned about anything, even if they think it makes them look or sound neurotic, is to seek that medical advice and even get second opinions. Our health visitor didn't even think it would get taken seriously and, without her noticing something I never did, Sienna would not have received treatment as early as she did."
