Aim: understand the feelings experienced by the mother when having her premature child hospitalized in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Method: Descriptive research of a qualitative nature, performed with 11 mothers, through a semi-structured interview. The Content Analysis framework was adopted. Results: three thematic categories were identified: Suffering from the hospitalization of the premature child; Premature child care: trust in the team; Experiencing the impact of the neonatal intensive care environment. Discussion: mothers were faced with feelings such as fear, guilt over suffering and possible loss of the child, and reported feeling powerless and unable to care for the child at this time, which increased their anguish. Conclusion: mothers, when faced with the premature child in the NICU, experienced different feelings, feeling incapable and, often, moving away from the newborn. However, they reported confidence and security in the care of professionals with their children, valuing both technical aspects and interpersonal relationships.