Abstract

Abstract
Background: The serotonin concentration peaks at night which causes intestinal cramps. Both serotonin and melatonin have circadian rhythms and they peak at night. While there are only serotonin circadian rhythms during birth, the melatonin circadian rhythms begin after 3rd month. It is argued that serotonin is high and melatonin is low for the infants who have colic, yet there are no studies proving this argument.
Methods: The study population is chosen with a developed random sampling method among 50 infants who have infantile colic and 66 infants as healthy control group.
Results: The melatonin levels of the blood samples are taken from both groups at 09.00 am and also from 20 infants with infantile colic blood samples were taken 09.00 pm.
The melatonin level of the infants who have infantile colic wasfound lower than the control group (P: 0.014). The evening melatonin levels in babies with infantile colic were significantly higher compared to the morning levels (P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Serum melatonin levels of the group under study have been found to be statistically significantly lower than the control group.The results of our study support the hypothesis that the decrease of melatonin level causes infantile colic

Key words: Infantile colic, healthy baby, melatonin.

Article Language: Turkish English