BACKGROUND AND SIGNIFICANCELactation often plays a dominant role in how motherhood is experienced during the early postnatal period. 1 However, for mothers of premature infants (about 10% of infants worldwide), lactation and breastfeeding can be extremely challenging. 2,3 Premature infants are fragile due to their early birth (less than 37 weeks of gestational age), and they often require treatment and care at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). 4 A review from 2015 revealed that stable premature infants exposed to the breast as early as 27 to 28 weeks postconceptional age (PCA) maintain their physiological status. Furthermore, some infants exposed to the breast before 30 weeks PCA were exclusively breastfeed at 32 weeks PCA. 5 According to the World Health Organization, exclusive breastfeeding is the optimal nutrition for all infants during their first 6 months due to its nutritional, gastrointestinal, immunological, developmental, and psychological benefits. 6 Early breastfeeding (before 32 weeks PCA) has also been found to be less stressful to the premature infant than bottle-feeding. 7,8 Nevertheless, research has revealed a lower incidence and a shorter duration of

The study reinforces the need for further research, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods, into age and ethnicity aspects of FCC group interventions. There is also a need to compare the new parents' perceived level of stress and support from the FCC group intervention in relation to participating and nonparticipating extended families.

Purpose: Several Danish neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) offer the possibility of an early discharge program (EDP) for families with premature infants, when the infant reaches the gestational age ≥ 34 weeks and a weight ≥ 1,500 g. The purpose of this study is to explore how the partnership with these families can be facilitated by the nurse based on the principles of the framework of family centered care (FCC). Design and Methods: The study was conducted as an ethnographic inquiry inspired bySpradley and based on participant observation of 12 contacts between nurse and family, one informal and three formal interviews with nurses in the EDP-unit of a Danish NICU.Results: This study illustrates how EDP-nurses facilitate a partnership with the families enrolled in EDP by using a range of complex strategies to adjust their care to the family's changing needs, while acknowledging the family's way of being. The partnership typically develops in three phases: "Settling in EDP," "Thriving in EDP,"and "Leaving the EDP nest." The EDP-nurses have a clear understanding of whether a partnership is well functioning or challenging and they play a unique role by facilitating a partnership that supports the family on the journey towards a normal everyday life.Practice Implications: The knowledge unraveled in this study may prove helpful for training future EDP-nurses in the neonatal field of FCC, when improving the quality of an existing EDP or developing a new EDP based on the principles of FCC. K E Y W O R D S early discharge, ethnographic methods, family centered care, home gavage, neonatal care, qualitative research.