A mother is considering freezing her young daughter's eggs after she started going through puberty at just 10 months old.
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she → consider → puberty
Sophie Dumas didn't think there was anything unusual about her daughter Sienna until a health visitor noticed that the baby's breast tissue appeared enlarged.
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tissue → think → daughter
The 41-year-old took her daughter to the GP, and the pair were referred to paediatric endocrinologists who began investigating whether she had precocious puberty.
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she → take → puberty
A series of 'incredibly distressing' tests confirmed baby Sienna had developed the condition in which the brain begins sending the signals that trigger puberty much earlier than usual.
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that → confirm → puberty
Doctors explained Sienna would need regular injections of hormone blockers to safely pause early puberty, but Sophie is just as worried about the 'emotional impact' the condition will have on her as Sienna grows up.
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Sienna → explain → her
Sophie had never heard of central precocious puberty (CPP) and was left desperately searching for guidance on what it would mean for Sienna as she continues to agonise over how to 'explain this to' her beloved daughter, now five.
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she → hear → daughter
'Sienna was a happy and healthy baby,' Sophie, from London, said.
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Sophie → say → London
'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.'
Sienna then underwent a series of 'horrible' tests, Sophie shared, adding the only way she could soothe her baby through the procedures - known as Stim tests - was to 'breastfeed her in all sorts of strange positions'.
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she → notice → positions
Sophie Dumas didn't think there was anything unusual about her daughter Sienna until a health visitor noticed that the baby's breast tissue appeared enlarged
A series of 'incredibly distressing' tests confirmed baby Sienna had developed the condition in which the brain begins sending the signals that trigger puberty much earlier than usual
Sophie explained: '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.
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hormones → think → timeframes
'This meant a whole day in hospital.
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This → mean → hospital
Sienna became so stressed that she sweated the cannulas out, and one of her veins collapsed,' Sophie described the ordeal.
'
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Sophie → become → ordeal
They then had to draw her blood via another method from her heels with a pin-prick.
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They → have → prick
They had to carry out X-rays to determine Sienna's bone age, which was awful as they needed her to keep her hand flat and still whilst the X-rays were taken.
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rays → have → hand
That's not easy for a 10-month-old to do.
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old → do → ?
'The only way I could soothe Sienna through procedures and tests was to breastfeed her in all sorts of strange positions and with one of those heavy blankets over me.
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I → soothe → me
'
A few weeks later, the family received the news that Sienna's tests were positive for precocious puberty.
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tests → receive → puberty
Treatment involves being injected with a hormone blocker known as a GnRH analogue to suppress the hormones responsible for puberty, with Sienna receiving the jabs every four weeks.
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Sienna → involve → jabs
Without them, Sienna, now five, would have progressed through puberty years before her peers.
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Sienna → progress → peers
Doctors explained Sienna would need regular injections of hormone blockers to safely pause early puberty, but Sophie is just as worried about the 'emotional impact' the condition will have on her as Sienna grows up
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.
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she → explain → age
Sienna also underwent an MRI to determine whether there was an underlying cause for her condition.
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Sienna → undergo → condition
In some cases, central precocious puberty can be linked to abnormalities in the brain.
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puberty → link → brain
While the possibility was 'terrifying', 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.
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.
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plates → diagnose → height
Sophie admitted she worries having CCP will leave Sienna vulnerable to 'bullying, isolation and mental health issues' as she grows older.
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she → admit → bullying
'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.
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that → get → hormones
'There's been some teasing from her school friends who have said they think she has chickenpox,' she revealed.
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she → be → chickenpox
'It makes me really sad.
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me → make → ?
No one wants to think of their child being upset, especially when it's from what someone else has said to them.
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someone → want → 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.
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she → confuse → 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.
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it → tell → doctor
'
Sophie has also found the lack of information about Sienna's condition 'very hard', noting 'the only parents I could find to talk to were via Facebook groups for it, but even then, they were parents of seven- to eight-year-olds, so it was never relevant'.
'It feels very isolating, and I still have so many questions about it, mostly about how I can explain this to Sienna,' she continued.
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she → find → Sienna
'I also can't tell her that she needs to have these injections to stop her getting sick, as this is untrue,' Sophie reflected.
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Sophie → tell → injections
'Sometimes she's absolutely fine about them, but there are still lots of occasions where she kicks, screams, hides and
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she → be → occasions
as her parent, it's a labour of love, knowing it's best for her, but it does kill you inside.
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it → know → you
'
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.
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she → look → options
She said: 'I'm currently looking into that possibility in case her condition affects her fertility later down the line.
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condition → say → 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.
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choice → diagnose → her
Hopefully, the hormone blockers will prevent this from affecting her fertility.
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blockers → prevent → fertility
'
For now, Sophie says she is determined to let her daughter enjoy being a little girl and is planning to take her to Disneyland to 'keep the magic of childhood alive for as long as possible'.
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daughter → say → childhood
'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.
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them → give → 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.'
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she → think → treatment
The Aporia
