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PRIVACY

EXCLUSIVE: NHS treating transgender kids aged just three as sex change doctors see soaring numbers of under 10s

An eight-year-old boy has told how he struggles with being a boy and lives as a girl, Jessica, with the full support of his parents

NHS treatment: Victoria Derbyshire interviews Jessica, a young transgender girl(BBC)

A child of just eight has told how he struggles with being a boy and lives instead as a girl – with the full support of his parents.

Now called Jessica, the youngster is among of an increasing number of children turning to the NHS for transgender ­treatment as they battle with the distressing feeling of being born the wrong sex.

Two of them were just three-years-old, not even school age, when they were referred for counselling and support.

Experts claim better acceptance of gender change and more awareness among the young about exploring their feelings are some of the factors has led to the number of under-10s being sent to sex change doctors quadrupling.

Jessica told the BBC’s Victoria ­Derbyshire Programme: “I really didn’t want to be a boy. It was really frustrating for me. It feels like I’m in the wrong body.”

And the youngster, whose name was changed to protect identity, said that while living as a boy he “didn’t fit in”.

Jessica also told how going to the toilet at school was a problem because other boys thought he was a girl and did not want him in the male loo.

But using the girls’ was also out of the question.

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Positive: Dr Polly Carmichael(Nicholas Bowman )