Background: All expectant parents can suffer a premature birth. In today's society, 5% of all born children are preterm born. How parents experience the care at a neonatal intensive care unit is not fully known. As a nurse, it is important to have knowledge of how parent's experiences having their preterm infant cared for at a neonatal intensive care unit in order to provide parental participation and family centered care. Aim: The aim was to illustrate parent's experiences to have their preterm infant cared for at a neonatal intensive care unit. Method: A literature-based method was used, where 10 qualitative articles were analyzed with the five-step model by Friberg.

Results: The results are presented in one overarching theme: From being passive to becoming active, illustrating the timeline of becoming a parent to a premature infant. It was built on three main themes: To become a parent; Parent's needs; Being a parent to my child and eight subthemes. The results show that parents express feelings of helplessness and fear when being separated from their baby and the parents need support and supervision to become participated in the care of their child. Conclusion: This study shows that parents are doing a journey going from becoming a parent until being a parent to my child. Parents with preterm infants at neonatal intensive care unit need to participate and get continuous information, support and privacy during their stay, in order to be actively involved.