This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

A mother in Washington noticed something unusual one day, just before her daughter's eighth birthday.

MOTHER: "I noticed around the end of two thousand eight, I think she's getting breasts. This is ridiculous, she's seven, and I thought I was crazy. So, when we went for our annual check-up, I asked the doctor if I was right. And she said, 'Yeah, she has breast buds.'"

Last year a study in Denmark reported an increase in early breast development. Now a new study in the journal Pediatrics adds to evidence of an increase in early puberty in American girls.