My daughter is 11 yrs old and I've talked to her pediatrican about PCOS. He of course told me that she was too young to suffer from that. I know better! She started to gain weight when she was about 8 which is also the age I was when I started to put weight on. Before then she was on the thin side for her age. I've also noticed the skin discoloration and acne (which is made worse with puberty) and the fact that the weight is in her belly. She is 4'10" and weighed 154 lbs. I talked to my OBGYN and he said that she does have the onset of it. He said that he would like to see her once she's started her periods and has had 2 so he can put her on birth control to go ahead and get control of it. She decided that she wanted to diet this summer so she has been doing weight watchers. In the past month and a half she has lost 13 lbs. so she now weighs 141. I'm so proud of her and she is excited too - I don't want her to have to go through what I did.

It is also VERY normal for girls to gain weight & get chubby just before their big growth spurts.

I hope she doesn't develop it.

OK, big thumbs up to you. I absolutely think you're doing the right thing by at least being very aware the possibilities (and probabilities). god, if someone had known about PCOS when I really started to show symptoms (around the same age, in retrospect) I can't even imagine how different my formative years would have been.......!!!!! GRRRRR!!!!

Oh Wow! I could have written the EXACT same thing about my daughter! She is also 11 (will be 12 in February) and since about age 8 her weight has really climbed. She is 5'2" and weighs 156... She has skin tags, abdominal fat but skinny legs & face, etc... I tried to talk to her pediatrician about the possibility of insulin resistance when she was 9 and he totally shot me down! He pretty much told me I was loco and that she must sit around all day eating junk food, that I was too quick to label her with a disorder to explain her weight! I've changed pediatricians but I'm afraid to bring it up with her new doctor.

I wish I had a doctor in my area that would proactively want to help make sure this didn't get out of hand. I would think if we could treat our daughters early enough they could avoid so much of the pain and aggravation that comes from living with PCOS/insulin resistance!