I missed some of the beginning of this thread.  Onset of puberty in
general is dropping--has dropped fairly dramatically in this century,
thought to be due to better nutrition in general.  I don't know, but am
interested to hear, what effect artificial feeding in infnacy may haveon
this.  We're growing bigger kids in general since WWII.  Puberty onset
seems to be related to a certain body mass/body fat %.  I believe the age
for girls in the US now is about 11 1/2 on average (first menses), with
breast buds occurring about 2 years before that on average.  8 1/2 is well
within the "normal range" for breast buds now, although probably would
have been abnormal in 1920!

--
Anne Montgomery, M.D., I.B.C.L.C.
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St.Peter Hospital Family Practice Residency
Olympia, WA