Archana, mother of a six-year-old girl, notices a significant change in her daughter’s body, which is unusual and leaves her very worried.

“I’m afraid to see him at such a young age. She’s starting to get upset because of the little boxes. These changes worry me,” she said.

Archana, not her real name, lives with her family in a village in the Satara district of western India.

She lives in a small house they built on a farm with her husband and two children – a son and an older daughter.

When Archana’s daughter starts looking older than her age, she decides to wear it and see a doctor.

Meanwhile, Rashi, who lives in Delhi, also sees changes in her daughter’s body, but doesn’t consider them normal.

Her six-year-old daughter weighs 40 kg and she considers her a “healthy child”.

But one day, Rashi’s daughter suddenly complains of bleeding.

After they went to the doctor, they discovered that her daughter was not starting to menstruate.

“It is very difficult for us to accept this. My daughter does not understand what is happening to her,” Rashi said.

At the same time, a local doctor advised Archana to consult a gynecologist.

“Wen Archana brings us her daughter, after an examination we found that she has all the symptoms of puberty. Her body structure resembles that of a 14-15 year old teenage girl and her periods can start at any time” , Dr. Sushil Garud for Motherhood Hospital, for Pune tok.

Dr Garud said the girl’s hormone levels were much higher than normal for her age and there were many reasons for this.

“Archana bin, tell me that two 5 kg drums of pesticides they keep for her house and her daughter always plays with them. So this can be one of the main reasons for the change in hormones of girls,” the doctor said.

Dr. Garud said the name of premature changes in children namely precocious puberty or precocious puberty.

Puberty is a process by which changes occur in the body of the boy or girl, the sexual organs develop and they can have or give birth.

Most boys have facial and pubic hair and their voices are deep. Most girls have pubic hair and breasts and are starting their period.

It is normal for puberty to begin any time between the ages of 8 and 13 for girls and between the ages of 9 and 14 for boys.

Dr. Vaishakhi Rustegi, a pediatrician and adolescent endocrinologist who specializes in hormone-related diseases, says she hasn’t noticed any changes in girls over the past few years.

“We used to see girls get their period dia 18 months to three years after the first signs of physical changes. Now girls get their period dia within three to four months,” she told the BBC.

She says boys now don’t start to develop bias between a year and a year and a half after the start of puberty, whereas in the past it took up to four years.

Dr Suchitra Surve, Department of Child Health Research, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), found an increase in cases of precocious puberty in her study.

A study conducted by the National Institute of Reproductive and Child Health (ICMR-NIRRCH) among 2,000 girls reveals that mothers often fail to understand the signs of puberty.

The organization does not study the causes and risks associated with premature puberty in girls under the age of nine.

For 2020, Mumbai’s Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital and ICMR are collaborating on an early puberty camp for girls aged six to nine.

“Sixty girls, aged six to nine, are experiencing early puberty and some can have periods at any time,” said Dr Sudha Rau, who works in the hospital’s pediatrics department.

Doctors say that there are many reasons for early puberty and a single reason cannot be attributed to them, considering ongoing studies.

They believe that pesticides, the preservatives they use in food, pollution and obesity are among the potential causes.

Dr Prashant Patil, who studies the problem among girls in Mumbai, says obesity is one of the biggest risk factors for developing early puberty and the problem is increasing due to the increase in Childhood obesity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 390 million children and adolescents aged 5 to 19 will be overweight by 2022, of which 160 million will suffer from obesity.

Obesity is a complex chronic disease defined by excessive fatty deposits that can be detrimental to health.

They measure the body mass index (BMI), which includes the sex at birth, age, weight and height of the child or adolescent.

Excessive use of cell phones, television screens or LCD screens, and lack of exercise are also potential risk factors.

Dr Vaisakhi said that in the last two to three years, five to six cases of non-menstruation were being reported every day among girls in his outpatient department.

“I also get cases where mothers say they notice changes in April and girls start menstruating in June-July. Now many cases are coming up for boys as well,” she said. explain.

She says screen time also indirectly affects premature puberty.

Archana and Rashi’s daughters undergo treatment to delay their periods until they are at least 10 or 11 years old.

Doctors say that at their current age, girls are not mature enough to take care of themselves and maintain cleanliness during their periods.

Both doctors say girls who experience early puberty are likely to have psychosocial problems.

Studies do not reveal that these girls are prone to lifelong body image issues and are bullied by their peers due to early body changes.