The study aimed to analyze the prenatal care for mothers of infants who died in the neonatal period, in Londrina-PR, through a quantitative retrospective cohort study, between 2000 and 2009. Almost all women held the prenatal care (91.4 %), with 55.1 % up to six consultations. In ten years, the low number of visits (≤ 6) predominated. There was a statistically significant relationship between the number of prenatal visits and maternal sociodemographic variables (p < 0.004) and characteristics of the labor and the newborn (p < 0.001). The surgical delivery was predominant among women with ≥ 7 queries (71.3 %). Among women with ≤ 6 prenatal visits, 65.9 % of births occurred before 32 weeks of gestation, 79.8 % of the newborns had Apgar scores ≤ 6 at 1 minute and 51.7 % weight ≤ 1000 grams. Most deaths occurred in the early neonatal period (72.6 %). We highlight the necessity of qualitative and integrative prenatal care in this city, considering beyond biological conditions but also maternal socio-economic conditions in order to reduce neonatal deaths.