My neighbor's little girl is just shy of 2 years old. At her last visit to the doctor, with a male pediatrician, they were told that her breast were developing unnaturally and that they wanted to take tissue samples of them. On the same day, a woman doctor examined her and said nothing. I looked at her and could not tell if there was anything unusual to me. Has anyone ever heard of this before? The mother thinks it's a sexist statement. I think she should get another opinion. Please get back to me if you have anyexperience with this phenomenon. E. C.
A second opinion will do no harm, so I'd continue to strongly advocate for that. I think it's sexist to assume the male pediatrician is sexist because he commented on a 2 yo's breasts. I have no experience with this. I just have personal experience with 2 different doctors not always seeing the same thing. Some are just more observant than others and people do have off days. Bet wishes.
DEFINATELY get a second opinion. No ifs, ands or buts. Good luck.
Go with your gut, always. Get a second opinion. Even if there were something abnormal, that was strictly developmental, that is usually just monitored and not addressed until later development. I don't know if it is sexist, but it was sure poor bedside manner and did not provided mother with adequate information.
I dealt with a similar situation with my daughter when she was a year old. She had one breast that looked bigger and when you felt it there was a lump. She was diagnosed with Premature Thelarchy (not sure if I'm spelling it correctly now). Go on WebMD and search for it. It does have to do with hormones. My daughters went away naturally but I was told that if it didn't by 2 1/2 they would run some tests. It could lead to premature development and other issues.
Maybe the doctor suspects that. My girlfriends daughter has it pretty severely and does have to go to Stanford and have scans, medication etc....for this. I wouldn't suggest waiting on it......I'd get a second opinion but go in with some information on what it could be.
Hope this helps!
N.
My little girl had breast development issues.
My question is does she drink regular cows milk? Is she still being breast fed? It could be that she is getting too many hormones.
My daughter's budding breasts did not go away after I weaned her from the breast, but after I switched her milk to organic she no longer had the breast buds.
By the way, I couldn't tell there was something going on until the doctor taught me how.
Weird -- get MANY more doctor's opinions before doing something so extreme.
E., I don't have any personal experience with this but would like to share my gut feeling about this . . . which is your hunch as well . . . to get another opinion. If the male pediatrician saw something so alarming that he had to suggest such an invasive procedure for a 2-year-old, it would seem that the female pediatrician would also notice the need for more testing as well. These examinations occured within a short time of each other (which means the two doctors should have seen the same things), and, of course, I am assuming both of these doctors (especially the female pediatrician) are competent. I woudl also be supportive for the mother's gut reactions to the male pediatrician's attitude . . . if she felt he was sexist, it's worth another opinion. Good Luck, and it is so nice of you to be a surrogate grandmother to your neighbor's little girl. N.
The little girl I used to babysit had a similar issue. Her grandmother (a nurse) suggested switching to a hormone-free milk. Within a short time the whole issue had cleared up on its own. Early breast development is not all that uncommon, and I would really doubt the first doctor was being sexist about it. Some doctors just notice unusual development patterns better than others. It took my disabled cousin's female pediatrician seven months to notice she couldn't hold her head up.
I'm not sure it's a sexist statement, however he is way out of line. Tissue would not be taken unless a health risk was suspected. I would report that guy to this superior since he could be saying it to a lot of mothers and freaking them out.
