When Nevaeh Denton turned two she began developing breast buds.
Her mother took her to her local GP only to be dismissed – with the doctor saying said she just had “puppy fat”. But her concerned mother insisted on tests and was told after a round of scans and blood tests that the little two-year-old was undergoing a condition she had never heard of, “precocious puberty”.
When Nevaeh Denton turned two she began developing breast buds. Via ITV.
“I’d never heard of it so we were so shocked. He was amazed, too” her mum Charlene Denton, 29, told The Sun.
“By the time we had the tests done, (the) other breast was beginning to grow too.”
Ms Denton said that Nevaeh has had emotional side effects too.
“Nevaeh is like a proper little teenager. She slams doors and shouts: “You can’t tell me what to do”.
“Her poor little body is being flooded with all these teenage hormones and she doesn’t know how to cope or how to express herself and deal with all these turbulent emotions.”
Nevaeh did not want to be there. Via ITV.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain Ms Denton and Nevaeh, now 4, aimed to raise awareness of “precocious puberty”. But the mother ended up swimming in controversy after she was accused of exploiting her daughter by taking her on national television.
With a shy Nevaeh in her arms, hiding from the cameras and squirming into her mother, Ms Denton explained how her daughter is now on 12-weekly injections of a hormone suppressant called Decapeptyl.
But as she tried to explain her daughter’s condition viewers were predominately interested in how the little girl was faring in front of the cameras.
After the mother and daughter appeared, viewers took to Twitter to express their fears the little girl had been uncomfortable appearing on the show.
But support groups for those going through the condition feared the segment had led to the wrong type of exposure.
Precocious puberty is a medical condition that causes an early release of hormones from the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus areas in the brain, which in turn stimulates estrogen production, causing puberty to begin prematurely.
Approximately one in 5000 children will experience it.
Dr Hilary Jones appeared on air alongside Ms Denton and Nevaeh and told presenters that it wasn’t a normal puberty.
“This is a medical condition called precocious puberty. “
“Normal puberty at the very earliest will start at the age 8 in girls and 9 in boys lasting until about 14 or slightly there after in both sexes.
“But at this age its very abnormal and there's a release of the hormones from pituitary and hypothalamus areas in the brain which stimulate oestrogen production.”
Paul Kaplowitz, a doctor at the Children's National Medical Centre in Washington DC told The Independent only one in 10 of the children referred to him with signs of early puberty had true precocious puberty.
He said that children can have isolated breast development and pubic hair without other symptoms. This determines that they are not signs of puberty, but just normal variations.
A spokespersons said that the little girl was in no way embarrassed. Via ITV
After the segment finished a spokesperson from the TV show was forced to justify the use of the little girl in the segment releasing a statement saying:
“Charlene Denton appeared on today's program to raise awareness about a serious condition affecting her daughter Nevaeh.
“Nevaeh was more than happy to be on the sofa with her mum but as the item began and due to the unpredictable behaviour of four year olds on live television, she became shy and hid her face.
“She was in no way embarrassed or distressed at the time of the interview or following it.”
Top Comments
I don't know how any parent could violate the privacy of their child like this.