Maternal experiences with premature children in a neonatal intensive care unit

Objective: Understand the maternal experience with premature children in neonatal intensive care unit. Methods: This is a qualitative and descriptive study. A questionnaire was used with semi-structured interview type, analyzed by the technique of content analysis and discussed, using the theoretical framework. The sample consisted of 11 mothers who accompanied their babies every day in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Results: After discourse analysis emerged the following categories: experiencing maternal feelings in relation to the baby at risk; the meaning of the neonatal unit for mothers of premature infants, maternal perceptions about prematurity and experiencing the formation of the maternal-filial bond. Conclusions:The mother of premature experiences difficult times in the face of risk and instability of the baby, causing ambivalent feelings in relation to prematurity. Nevertheless, it was found thatfeelings of happiness, love and desire to see your baby being discharged form hospital and live with his family, were significant in relation to feelings of sadness and fear of losing her child.