The study explores mothers’ of premature infants experience of how health centers especially adapted for families with premature infants can help them to cope with everyday life after discharge from a neonatal intensive care unit. Background: Premature children are at higher risk for physical and mental health problems, which makes parenting demanding. The transition between hospital and home is a challenging period where parents may need extra support to cope with everyday life. Method: Nine mothers of premature infants receiving follow-up care at a health center especially adapted for families with premature infants were interviewed. Data were analyzed by Kvale and Brinkmann’s guidelines for text analysis. Findings: The study revealed that mothers of premature infants need to adapt to a daily life with both challenges and joys. Mothers’ sense of coping in everyday life is affected by the public health nurse’s knowledge of and experience with premature infants. Conclusion: Mothers of premature infants experience a challenging daily life after discharge from neonatal intensive care unit. A health center especially adapted for families with premature infants can help mothers cope with everyday life after discharge through availability, flexibility, expertise, facilitating a social network and focusing on mothers’ own experience of their daily life.
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