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Abstract Objective: To understand how the primiparous mother exercises maternal care of the child under six months of age at home. Method: Descriptive research with a qualitative approach. A research was carried out at the Primary Health Care Unit in Fortaleza/CE, between the months of May and June 2017, with 20 primiparous mothers. It was used thematic content analysis to analyze the data. Results: Through the organization of the speeches, we obtained the category Maternal Experience in Care. It was noticed that fear, insecurity and doubts were present in the daily life of the interviewees, interfering with care such as bathing and holding the baby; the cleaning of the umbilical scar was ceased after the stump fell; babies slept on their stomachs; pain and stress contributed to the failure of lactation; cleaning of the umbilical stump was ceased after its fall; babies slept in the ventral position; previous experience in caring for younger siblings influenced maternal care. Conclusion and implications for practice: It was understood that the orientations made by the nurses are fundamental for the qualification of the primiparous mothers in the care of the child.