Low neutrophils in newborn?

[Justfolditin]

Hello. I've just found out that DS has a low neutrophil count. He's 4 weeks old but was born premature. He's having a repeat blood test in a few weeks to see if it's improved but I'm worried about him getting sick in the meantime. The doctor didn't sound too concerned on the phone but I'm panicking now after googling it! Has anyone else's children had this or can any health professionals shed some light on what this means? Thanks in advance.

It's a really common incidental finding when bloods are done in the newborn period. Actual immune deficiencies detected this way are extremely rare especially in children who are well. The cell count being low doesn't actually mean there aren't useful neutrophils in the system to fight infection (this is different from low neutrophils caused by chemotherapy for example). Very likely to be normal number on the next test.

If he seems ill at any time have him seen and they could always recheck if there's any uncertainty.

A friend’s baby had this. All that happened is he had re tests every so often and then it was fine. Totally healthy baby.

Is your DS a younger sibling, if not, he is unlikely to be exposed to bugs too much at this age as long as you follow normal handwashing etc.

My little one had this. They said it was just to do with prematurity, jaundice and my pre eclampsia while pregnant.
The only thing that happened was when she had a mild fever and infection at 4 weeks old we were taken into hospital for observation but she recovered fine.
Neutrophils gradually rose to normal levels in the first few months.

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's made me feel a bit better but I'm a natural worrier! Hopefully the next few weeks will go fast so he can be tested again.

What was the update with this please? My premature IUGR baby was found to have low neutrophils at 3 weeks during a prolonged jaundice blood test. Her numbers have been gradually rising since 4 months and her last two results have been normal though one of those was a response to vaccines and we think she had a cold most recently.

She is negative for autoimmune neutropenia.

@Beth98 my ds is fine now. His neutrophils were normal when retested. Doctors said it was just one of those things and there wasn't an explanation for it. He still gets a lot of illnesses but I think that's more due to being at nursery!