Mary Rosa, from Rhode Island, was concerned when her daughter developed body odor – at the age of 6. Rosa did some investigating and discovered several posts on a parenting bulletin board that made her take another look at something she fed her daughter daily: non-organic dairy products. Rosa noticed a trend that every time her daughter had non-organic dairy – whether it was the cold of winter or a hot, sweaty day – she developed underarm odor.

"The upside is I know when she's had ice cream at Grandma's, but the downside is it can be embarrassing for her," Rosa says. "We've alleviated the odor by using deodorant, but only when necessary because I don't want her to start using deodorant daily too early."

Rosa mentioned her concerns to her pediatrician, and he agreed that a hormone in dairy might likely be the cause. "He's not overly concerned because she doesn't have any other signs of early puberty," she says. "He's great about recognizing parents' instincts, but also acknowledges he doesn't have research to back it up. Still, with my 2-year-old twins I've tried to limit them to organic dairy from the start (including breastfeeding them for two years) in the hopes of not over-stimulating their growth hormones."

Rosa admits that there's no scientific data to back up her observations, but she, like most parents, is concerned for her daughter's well-being, and that includes trying to avoid a premature onset of menstruation. And Rosa's experience is far from rare – increasingly pediatricians are seeing signs of hormones run awry in children, including infants with breast buds and pubic hair; body odor and severe acne in little ones; and the early onset of puberty in children.

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