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Original poster

Two year old high red blood count

4 replies

ivy621 · 11/08/2025 15:14

Hi,

my two year old had a blood test a week ago. Her RBC count is high, particularly her haemoglobin is very elevated. Haematocrit is high also. We have a repeat blood test in 3 weeks to check again.
Ive been told could be dehydration, but she drinks very well and her Urea was normal which to me rules out dehydration. Also apparently if it was dehydration it would only be slightly elevated.
Just wondering if anyone else has had this with their toddler?
If the counts remain high after the next blood test, what can I expect to happen? Would it been a referral to haematology?
Im trying to relax until the next test but it’s very difficult not to research and get anxious about what could be causing it.
Any advice or experiences would be appreciate
Thank you in advance!

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Unseenentity · 11/08/2025 16:10

The most common cause by far is "something went a bit funny with the original sample, and it's fine on the repeat one". Interpretation of any test will also depend on the actual number, any relevant symptoms and why the test was done in the first place.

If there were concerns the responsible medical team would write to a local paediatric haematology service for advice (absent any red flag features, the advice is usually 'wait even longer, and do the test again').

Original poster
ivy621 · 11/08/2025 16:26

Unseenentity · 11/08/2025 16:10

The most common cause by far is "something went a bit funny with the original sample, and it's fine on the repeat one". Interpretation of any test will also depend on the actual number, any relevant symptoms and why the test was done in the first place.

If there were concerns the responsible medical team would write to a local paediatric haematology service for advice (absent any red flag features, the advice is usually 'wait even longer, and do the test again').

Okay thank you. I guess that is the most likely outcome that the next test will look more normal.
Her symptoms are persistent Petechiae, low grade fevers, mottled skin and very red and mottled cheeks also more tired than usual.
However the GP I saw about all this did not listen to my concerns properly and said ‘she seems fine’ and I had to push for the blood test and all she put in the reasoning behind it was ‘intermittent rash’

OP posts:
Original poster
ivy621 · 11/08/2025 18:29

Bump

OP posts:
Unseenentity · 11/08/2025 18:35

ivy621 · 11/08/2025 16:26

Okay thank you. I guess that is the most likely outcome that the next test will look more normal.
Her symptoms are persistent Petechiae, low grade fevers, mottled skin and very red and mottled cheeks also more tired than usual.
However the GP I saw about all this did not listen to my concerns properly and said ‘she seems fine’ and I had to push for the blood test and all she put in the reasoning behind it was ‘intermittent rash’

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On the whole GPs don't like living in uncertainty about this kind of stuff for very long and will refer (for advice at least) if there is a persistent abnormality. Usually the analysis for blood counts doesn't rely on lots of specific information being provided on the request, and I'd say it's pretty common for very little to get written there. The machine analysers are pretty good at flagging unusual counts for a manual check anyway.

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