I worry that I don't feel more love for my baby. When premature babies are born, almost all parents have some fear that their baby will die. Because of this fear, parents naturally have what is known as anticipatory grief. Anticipatory grief is a way of preparing yourself emotionally, in case your baby would die. Anticipatory grief both helps parents and causes them problems.
Anticipatory grief helps reduce the pain already felt by premature parents.
For example some parents of premature babies delay giving their baby a name. These parents believe that their baby's death would be easier to adjust to, if their baby had no name. This fear of death creates a temporary separation of the bond between premature babies and parents. And this is the reason why many parents wonder why they don't love their baby more. When their baby starts to get healthy, almost all parents of premature babies re-establish their bonds of love with their baby.