Blood tests show elevated AST liver enzyme in baby DS - does anyone have experience of this?

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My DS had some blood tests, they came back with raised AST, a liver enzyme.

Apparently it could mean liver damage for a number of reasons, or it could come to nothing.

We have to test again in a month. I'm trying hard not to worry. My DS is 7mo and appears healthy.

He only had the blood tests as a precaution because he's large and it's standard for babies over the 99.6 percentile. Everything else came back normal.

Does anyone have any experience of AST / raised liver enzymes?

@spel21 thought I would update you - found out the results from Friday which were just AST raised at 105. Had more bloods and has gone up to 134 which seems like a sharp rise in the space of 3 days 😕 I’ve been told they’re not worried as he’s clearly a well baby - feeding well and gaining weight etc, but that we are being referred to a specialist at another hospital as that’s what their guidelines stipulate should be done. Am a little disappointed/nervous but will just have to trust what they say and that he is Ok x

Experiencing the same thing with dd, high liver enzymes still at 12 wks (persistent testing, originally found at prolonged j clinic although jaundice subsided quickly). Off to liver specialists imminently and so worried. Growing, well, healthy baby otherwise.

@LRJB20 it’s such a worry isn’t it. Have any additional tests been done so far? We had loads of bloods done on Thursday plus an ultrasound - ultrasound came back all normal, just waiting on the blood results now x

@MintGreenLife
Hi, would you mind telling me how your little boy is doing now?
My little boy’s bilirubin level was 16.7 with conjurgated at 16%. He was 3 weeks when the jaundice started to show.
Do you know the reason your little boy was sent for liver function tests? They refuse to repeat his bilirubin or do liver function tests on my little boy. The nurses refuse to let me even see a peadatrician 😔
I’m so worried but I have no idea what to do.

Hi, i am really glad came across this page. Was feeling alone going through all this @idlipera my dd is going through the same thing right now, she is 2mos old still jaundiced with elevated liver enzymes. Have done all the tests you have done. All to be negative. Just wanted to ask you when did you notice the colour of your little 1 going back to normal...cause my dd still appears quiet yellow at 2mos. It will be really helpful if you please replied. Really worried. Thankss

Hi @Mommy02,
Yeah my son's eyes was still yellow at two months thats why we still did those tests still at 3mos. He became ok after a few weeks or 3mos. I know how worrying this is for you right now, but believe that babies body are strong and they grow out of it. Just keep on feeding your baby and see your pedia/GP if something still doesn't look good.

BTW, my son is 4yrs old now and we did not look back on this issue ever again. If I can go back, I would not do the TORCH test after all the other tests are negative. Cause it only caused me great anxiety, I can still hear my son's cry when nurse get his blood.

@idlipera thank you soo mch for replyin also my dd was born at 2.5kgs so hope its the same as your baby. We did the torch test everything came negative. Now the pedia is suggesting liver biopsy which my mummy gut is completely against. Wil keep you posted how she does. Really glad your little angels doin well

@Mommy02,
Yeah he is very healthy and active now. Even as a baby he is very active and I don't see any problems physically. Looking back, i remember I got a bad flu while I was pregnant so I guess that's where the infection came from. You know your baby well, and drs are there to diagnose (sometimes very technical) but if there is something wrong, is it something very urgent to do? Or can it wait when babies are stronger?

I was not advise to do a biopsy but maybe because I said I do not want to test my son anymore. Cause when I ask what will happen if we found out the source of infection, the dr said nothing, we are not even sure if we can find it as there are other viral infections that are not discovered... so nothing to do even if you know. They should have said it to me the first time we do all those blood tests. The other tests are reasonable like the liver structure, liver profile, hepa...
I felt the dr sometimes are just laying everything to us technically, they don't personally advise what is better (for us) to do. So ask a lot of questions to your pedia, and decide from there. Wish you the best. I know we worry a lot but this too shall pass.

@idlipera yeaa have also decided to hold the liver biopsy and the other tests cause little 1 is active without any fever or any signs of pain just alil yellow. Keep her in your prayers. Thanks for replying

Hi all, I know this is an old thread. Going through the same thing right now and I know it’s a long shot but any chance that anyone of you is still using Mumsnet and could give an update? @MintGreenLife @Mommy02 for example. I’m super worried that it’s something serious 😓 My baby is 9 weeks old.

@Wln going through this now too! How are things with your little one now?

Hi @ArcticNinja! My baby’s liver enzyme and bilirubin levels were going up and down for several weeks. We did blood tests once a week. Baby hasn’t had any symptoms apart from being a little jaundiced. After maybe 5 tests his bilirubin levels started to go down and the jaundice was gone. ALT was still a bit high and because of that we got referred to a gastroenterologist. She wasn’t concerned at all and said that it is actually pretty common and harmless for breastfed babies to have slightly elevated ALT and usually it resolves itself by the age of 6-9 months. Since our baby doesn’t have any symptoms and abdominal ultrasound was clear, we don’t have to do any more blood tests and the doctor didn’t want to see us again. So this was a big relief for us. It was such a stressful time. How old is your baby now and how high are his/her levels?

@Wln thank you so much for your reply! So happy it worked out for you in the end! Gives me so much hope. He's 16 weeks old. Bilirubin has now normalised but AST and ALT are now both coming back in the 90s. Everything else seems to be normal. He had an ultrasound today and more bloods taken to look at additional viral and metabolic causes. Waiting for those results is killing me. How high did your little one's ALT get? And did you see them come down? Xx

@ArcticNinja Did you get any results yet? Waiting sure is sooo stressful. My baby’s ALT was approx 90 in the last test that we had. It came a little bit down and bounced back up for several times during those 5 weeks.

@ArcticNinja so sorry you are going through this, I was sick with worry for my baby, it’s horrible not knowing what’s causing it! Also sorry for my late reply - I don’t check Mumsnet’s often. So with my little boy (now just over 2!), it turned out he was a carrier of a single faulty gene, meaning he didn’t have the disease, but him being a carrier was what the cause was put down to in the end. I think our last blood test was when he was 6 months old and after that they didn’t want to see him again :)

I really hope you get answers soon, or things start to right themselves. In the case of my little boy, the fact that he is a carrier of this gene should impact his life in any way.

I know from personal experience though just how awful this can be. I had all sorts of complications in pregnancy, a traumatic birth and then all of this once he was born, and it wasn’t until I saw a counsellor that I realised how traumatic I found the experience of him being unwell and all of the blood tests. As I recounted his blood tests and him screaming through them and me feeling helpless watching him in distress and not able to stop it, I cried a lot and realised just how much it effected me. Be kind to yourself, I’m sure your LO will be absolutely fine and with time it’ll improve. Just hold onto hope and know that it’s ok to not be ok through all of this xx

@Wln @MintGreenLife thank you both so so much for your replies. I'm over the moon to report that today his results are normal!!!!! 🎉🍾🎉 I could cry with relief. My stress levels have been through the roof, I can physically feel it all leaving my body 🥰🥰☺️

@ArcticNinja great news!! 😍🥳 I’m so happy for you!