A mother from Sydney, Australia, had a shocking revelation about her baby after rushing her to the hospital upon finding blood inside her diaper. While changing her 9-month-old daughter’s diaper, Sarah Regan found an excessive amount of blood inside.
Terrified by the discovery and fearing it might have been a kidney infection, she quickly carried her daughter, Birdie, to the emergency room. After several ultrasounds, hormone tests, and a wrist X-ray, Sarah learned that her daughter had precocious puberty.
Precocious puberty is a rare condition in youngsters where the physical indicators of sexual maturity appear too early, according to Stanford Medicine. Medical professionals advised Sarah that Birdie’s bones were advanced by 18 months, and even though she could not say the alphabet yet, the blood she saw is from her being on her first period.
Since her first period in 2020, Birdie, now two years old, has experienced sporadic spotting, and every six months, she must endure a hormone test, ultrasound, and X-ray to monitor her growth. “She’s had spotting since the full bleed. It hasn’t been monthly. It’s stretched itself out, it’s not regular,” the 38-year-old mother told Kennedy News. “It makes it really hard to track. We’re trying to make sure it doesn’t affect her physically.”
Since Birdie is at a tender age, it would be challenging to pinpoint the other symptoms she experiences, such as mood swings, pains, and menstrual discomfort. “She doesn’t have pubic hair or breasts, which some children with the condition can get,” Sarah stated.
Sarah has two other children, a 10-year-old named Zachary and a 1-year-old named Elsie. The biggest obstacle she indicated that she has with Birdie is explaining her condition to others, which she had to do when Birdie started daycare. She also keeps a “doctor’s note to ensure no one becomes concerned about it.”
Should her daughter’s development accelerate, Sarah said she would think about hormone therapy and hormone injections to slow it down and prevent other aspects of puberty from occurring too soon. But for the time being, she is being monitored by doctors.
“She’s a normal girl, she’s almost 3, she’s having tantrums. She’s normal, you wouldn’t know,” Sarah added. In an advice to parents who might experience same with their child, she encouraged them to take swift action if they find blood in their infant’s diaper.
