The objective of the present study is to investigate the perspective of mothers regarding the care given by academics of nursing to their newborn in a neonatal intensive therapy unit. This is a qualitative research based on a phenomenological approach which has as its philosophical framework the thought of Martin Heidegger expressed in his book Being and Time. The data used in the investigation were interviews given by ten mothers who had their newborns in a neonatal intensive therapy unit of a university hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The interpretation of the data collected revealed that mothers viewed the nursing academics as solicitous beings regarding the care given to their newborns. They also acknowledged that these students were engaged in the assistance given and concerned with what was being done and to whom it was being done.