Other tumors and head trauma can also trigger early puberty. During puberty, kids increase their rate of height growth, usually making kids with precocious puberty taller than their peers during the early years. But remember, once puberty is finished, so is the growing season, which means that kids with this condition often do not reach their full height potential and may end up significantly shorter than their peers in adulthood. Even emotions and behavior may change in children with precocious puberty. Girls can become moody and irritable.
Boys can become more aggressive and also develop a sex drive inappropriate for their age.
Some girls, usually beginning between the ages of 6 months and 3 years, may show breast development that later disappears or may persist without other physical changes of puberty. The physical changes boys and girls go through during puberty are usually evident to a doctor during an exam. To confirm a diagnosis of precocious puberty, your child's doctor may order blood and urine tests to detect elevated levels of sex hormones. X-rays of the wrist and hand can show whether the bones are maturing too rapidly. Once diagnosed, the goal of treating precocious puberty is to halt or even reverse sexual development and stop the rapid growth and bone maturation that will eventually result in adult short stature.