BACKGROUND: To become a parent of a child who is born small for gestational age can lead to challenges in addition to the newly acquired parenting role. There is currently a lack of knowledge regarding parents' experiences of having a child born small for gestational age.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe the experience of becoming a parent of a child small for gestational age DESIGN AND METHOD: A qualitative inductive approach was chosen with grounded theory as a method, a strategic selection was used and individual interviews with open questions were performed.

RESULTS: The results showed that the parents expressed guilt over the child's size and focused on the ability to nourish their child to keep their unexpectedly small child alive. An experienced concern about the child's food intake could be seen throughout the entire interview material and the need for information was great. A common experience of the parents was that constant feeding of the child dominates their lives.

CONCLUSION: The conclusion is that the unexpectedly small size of the child awakens the parent's instinct to provide life-sustaining care and the parents need increased support and more information around the child's condition. This requires well-trained professionals, because parents to children born SGA often harbour feelings of unpreparedness and guilt.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Increased understanding and knowledge about the parents' experience of having a child born SGA, healthcare services can optimize the potential for better attachment between parent and child as well as offer appropriate support.