Delayed puberty....what was the outcome?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is he skinny? Doesn’t eat too much junk? Back in the day, lots of kids entered puberty in late teens. Everyone is so fat and overfed now, kids enter puberty early. But it’s not “normal”.

my oldest got her period at 10 and she was (and still is) the skinniest girl in her class. apparently my MIL also got her period at 10, some 60 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is he skinny? Doesn’t eat too much junk? Back in the day, lots of kids entered puberty in late teens. Everyone is so fat and overfed now, kids enter puberty early. But it’s not “normal”.

He is very skinny, all my kids are. They are all very active. You can see his ribs but he eats well. We’re not a junk food family. When most of his peers started having big growth spits around 11, 12, and 13 he hasn’t. He has always been small for his age but now his peers have short way past him. We have a pool and several of his friends come over to swim. Several already have armpit hair and hairy legs, some have faint little mustache. He is still as hairless and genitalia sized as my other boys.

OP- I think you need to talk with a specialist. I have a fifteen year old son (and he's on ADHD medication)- he's almost 6 ft. tall, his voice has changed, he has body hair, and I assume everything else is in order since I am instructed to "never, ever enter his room without knocking." In 7th and most of 8th grade, there seemed to be a wide range of "normal" as far as I can tell, but now at 15-16, my son and his friends are starting to look more like young men, instead of older boys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is he skinny? Doesn’t eat too much junk? Back in the day, lots of kids entered puberty in late teens. Everyone is so fat and overfed now, kids enter puberty early. But it’s not “normal”.

He is very skinny, all my kids are. They are all very active. You can see his ribs but he eats well. We’re not a junk food family. When most of his peers started having big growth spits around 11, 12, and 13 he hasn’t. He has always been small for his age but now his peers have short way past him. We have a pool and several of his friends come over to swim. Several already have armpit hair and hairy legs, some have faint little mustache. He is still as hairless and genitalia sized as my other boys.

OP- I think you need to talk with a specialist. I have a fifteen year old son (and he's on ADHD medication)- he's almost 6 ft. tall, his voice has changed, he has body hair, and I assume everything else is in order since I am instructed to "never, ever enter his room without knocking." In 7th and most of 8th grade, there seemed to be a wide range of "normal" as far as I can tell, but now at 15-16, my son and his friends are starting to look more like young men, instead of older boys.

Also, OP, assuming that you doctor knows better than DCUM and your son will start puberty soon, I wouldn't worry much about modesty at this point. My DS started shutting doors and scurrying into some pants when things began to change, no reminders required.

[Anonymous]

I agree the others who have suggested an endocrinologist evaluation.

I did with my son (at 13, upon recommendation from our pediatrician) and while he ended up just being a late bloomer and did catch up, if there had been an issue there's a finite amount of time to address it and you wouldn't want to find out too late. My son was followed by the endo for about two years. It was just an appt. every 6 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree the others who have suggested an endocrinologist evaluation.

I did with my son (at 13, upon recommendation from our pediatrician) and while he ended up just being a late bloomer and did catch up, if there had been an issue there's a finite amount of time to address it and you wouldn't want to find out too late. My son was followed by the endo for about two years. It was just an appt. every 6 months.

Not OP, another poster, what age did your son hit puberty?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree the others who have suggested an endocrinologist evaluation.

I did with my son (at 13, upon recommendation from our pediatrician) and while he ended up just being a late bloomer and did catch up, if there had been an issue there's a finite amount of time to address it and you wouldn't want to find out too late. My son was followed by the endo for about two years. It was just an appt. every 6 months.

Not OP, another poster, what age did your son hit puberty?

He had the very first sign right at 14 (Tanner Stage 2).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree the others who have suggested an endocrinologist evaluation.

I did with my son (at 13, upon recommendation from our pediatrician) and while he ended up just being a late bloomer and did catch up, if there had been an issue there's a finite amount of time to address it and you wouldn't want to find out too late. My son was followed by the endo for about two years. It was just an appt. every 6 months.

Not OP, another poster, what age did your son hit puberty?

He had the very first sign right at 14 (Tanner Stage 2).

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been in exactly your shoes. I'll cut to the chase and tell you it all works out!

Here's the long answer:
Son also was delayed to hit puberty, also tracked by endocrinologist at NIH and told delayed but not enough to take hormones. Started to grow in 11th grade and still growing at age 20. Is now over 6 ft 1 inches. Totally normal size.

The impact, though, was significant. Fell behind in sports (and therefore confidence) and friend group changed because he was so much smaller and less "fast" than his previous friends. His new friends were a much better match for him but it was a difficult adjustment, admittedly likely more for me because it is hard to see your child in pain. I think we underestimate how hard being small physically is for boys in high school.

So, long term, everything has worked out. GL.

If he hadn't grown by age 14, why didn't the doctor recommend a few months worth of testosterone shots? I get not doing growth hormone if his levels were fine, but why not the testosterone to just jump start the puberty? What was their reasoning? (curious because we are going through this now with my 14 year old)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree the others who have suggested an endocrinologist evaluation.

I did with my son (at 13, upon recommendation from our pediatrician) and while he ended up just being a late bloomer and did catch up, if there had been an issue there's a finite amount of time to address it and you wouldn't want to find out too late. My son was followed by the endo for about two years. It was just an appt. every 6 months.

Not OP, another poster, what age did your son hit puberty?

He had the very first sign right at 14 (Tanner Stage 2).

Thanks.

Once that very first sign happens - how much longer until the height growth? I think it’s about a year. Is that right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree the others who have suggested an endocrinologist evaluation.

I did with my son (at 13, upon recommendation from our pediatrician) and while he ended up just being a late bloomer and did catch up, if there had been an issue there's a finite amount of time to address it and you wouldn't want to find out too late. My son was followed by the endo for about two years. It was just an appt. every 6 months.

Not OP, another poster, what age did your son hit puberty?

He had the very first sign right at 14 (Tanner Stage 2).

Thanks.

Once that very first sign happens - how much longer until the height growth? I think it’s about a year. Is that right?

I think it was just about a year until my son started his big growth spurt.

[Anonymous]

My 15 yo was 110 5’5” no puberty. He was the shortest/smallest of all his friends.

He was an athlete and it was hard to keep up but he never lost faith and plays D1 is 6’2”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is he skinny? Doesn’t eat too much junk? Back in the day, lots of kids entered puberty in late teens. Everyone is so fat and overfed now, kids enter puberty early. But it’s not “normal”.

my oldest got her period at 10 and she was (and still is) the skinniest girl in her class. apparently my MIL also got her period at 10, some 60 years ago.

Same.

It's not that the food is causing "early puberty," it's more that our bodies are optimized. It was the poor nutrition and a poor environment that caused late puberty and it wasn't across all cultures. If a girl is living in Victorian England and working in a factory and not getting enough food, sunlight, or rest, puberty is going to be delayed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is he skinny? Doesn’t eat too much junk? Back in the day, lots of kids entered puberty in late teens. Everyone is so fat and overfed now, kids enter puberty early. But it’s not “normal”.

my oldest got her period at 10 and she was (and still is) the skinniest girl in her class. apparently my MIL also got her period at 10, some 60 years ago.

Same.

It's not that the food is causing "early puberty," it's more that our bodies are optimized. It was the poor nutrition and a poor environment that caused late puberty and it wasn't across all cultures. If a girl is living in Victorian England and working in a factory and not getting enough food, sunlight, or rest, puberty is going to be delayed.

Exactly. DD is growing up eating all non-organic food and, shocker, she is on track to get her period exactly when I did, at 13. It's not what's in our food. It's that we have food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been in exactly your shoes. I'll cut to the chase and tell you it all works out!

Here's the long answer:
Son also was delayed to hit puberty, also tracked by endocrinologist at NIH and told delayed but not enough to take hormones. Started to grow in 11th grade and still growing at age 20. Is now over 6 ft 1 inches. Totally normal size.

The impact, though, was significant. Fell behind in sports (and therefore confidence) and friend group changed because he was so much smaller and less "fast" than his previous friends. His new friends were a much better match for him but it was a difficult adjustment, admittedly likely more for me because it is hard to see your child in pain. I think we underestimate how hard being small physically is for boys in high school.

So, long term, everything has worked out. GL.

I had a similar experience as your son. The short of it is that it both immediate effects for me in high school/college and lingering effects beyond. It caused me to be a late bloomer in other parts of my life.

For high school (all boys), I fell behind in athletics (went from a starter in certain middle school sports to pure bench rider) and socially (easy target for bullying for being smaller, having a high pitch voiced, etc.). Socially I didn’t fall too far behind, but it still had an effect on my mental health and probably was the trigger to anxiety, self-esteem issues and over indulging.

College (big state flag ship) was really tough. I kept up some what socially but really fell behind socially with the opposite sex compared to high school and the anxiety was expounded and affected my academics.

The anxiety carried over into grad school (law) and was extremely exacerbated by the way law school was structured (rankings, hide the ball style of teaching, lingering understanding of loans coming due and a shitty job market).

I have ended up with a solid job and a great family. But it all felt like a really rough road to get there and I missed out on certain experiences my peers had.

I really don’t think there is a lot of recognition of the indirect issues this delay can cause. I felt like no one was supportive (teachers, parents, etc) and society doesn’t really recognize late bloomers as some class of people needing support. OP - I hope that if it seems like your son is falling behind socially that you can advocate for hormones/puberty starters if they are safe and/or mental health care for him.

Fell behind in athletics, was bullied for still having a high pitched voice and being small, etc. All of which affected my self esteem greatly which in turn affected my academics as well. I still hadn’t caught up by college, which continued to affect my self esteem and I believe trigger issues with anxiety. It also had affects on my interactions with the opposite sex that lingered. I also think the social issues this spurred continued to affect my self esteem and anxiety, which in turn were expounded by going to law school

While I did grow

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have been in exactly your shoes. I'll cut to the chase and tell you it all works out!

Here's the long answer:
Son also was delayed to hit puberty, also tracked by endocrinologist at NIH and told delayed but not enough to take hormones. Started to grow in 11th grade and still growing at age 20. Is now over 6 ft 1 inches. Totally normal size.

The impact, though, was significant. Fell behind in sports (and therefore confidence) and friend group changed because he was so much smaller and less "fast" than his previous friends. His new friends were a much better match for him but it was a difficult adjustment, admittedly likely more for me because it is hard to see your child in pain. I think we underestimate how hard being small physically is for boys in high school.

So, long term, everything has worked out. GL.

If he hadn't grown by age 14, why didn't the doctor recommend a few months worth of testosterone shots? I get not doing growth hormone if his levels were fine, but why not the testosterone to just jump start the puberty? What was their reasoning? (curious because we are going through this now with my 14 year old)

NP here. If you “jumpstart” puberty with testosterone shots, then you shorten the window for growth. So your son will likely end up shorter because his growth plates close faster in response to hurrying puberty along with the boosted testosterone.