New mom tracks daughter's baby cam from office — until one message from the nanny breaks her down

When Brooke Lipps (@adayinaeats) switched on the baby monitor at her desk during a workday, she expected to see her daughter going about her usual routine. Instead, she saw Taylor, her nine-month-old, sit up on her own for the very first time. Brooke's emotions were mixed, with joy being quickly overtaken by heartbreak. Lipps shared this proud yet devastating moment on TikTok, with an overlay text on the video that read, "me at work because I'm watching my baby sit up for the first time through the monitor." “[It] felt like someone took my heart and pulled it from my chest,” she told Newsweek. “At the same time, I was so proud of her and dumbfounded how she can sit up on her own.” At 25, Brooke returned to work as a sales development representative when Taylor was only 4.5 months old. She had to work because it was a financial necessity, not a choice. Her husband, who works part-time and attends college, couldn’t support the family alone, and Brooke wasn’t offered paid maternity leave. So, they hired a nanny to care for Taylor during Brooke’s work hours.

Even with the nanny being present, Brooke’s ache wasn’t erased. Balancing motherhood and her profession was taking a toll on her mental health, especially given the tenderness of the situation. Despite having a supportive husband who shared responsibilities with her, the young family was caught in a loop of doing everything and feeling like they were still falling short. With Taylor, Brooke feared she was missing her daughter’s “firsts.” The nanny not only provided attentive care for the kid, but also understood and respected Brooke’s emotional struggle. When Taylor sat up for the first time, it was the nanny who sent a text update. Brooke said, “Being a younger mother herself, I know [the nanny] relates to me. When I tell her how hard it is, and how at times I've felt jealous of the time she spends with my daughter, she says she can imagine how difficult it is for me to be away.”

Brooke's tearjerking video has gone viral with over 691.1K views and 96.8K likes so far. People resonated with the thought and expressed their sympathy and concerns for new moms. @frankie.21 wrote, "The US needs to figure something out because being a parent in this country is so unfair." @sarahnsatt added, "My worst nightmare tbh." @readbynature shared her experience, "I ghosted my job after maternity leave. 3 years later and I don't ever wanna work a regular job again."

While Brooke’s post moved many emotionally, it also highlighted a broader structural issue facing new parents in the U.S. For Brooke, that issue was personal because financial pressure forced her to return to work sooner than she wanted. She and her husband had to make it through postpartum life with no FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act) and just one income between them. "I wish it were standard to get paid leave, not just FMLA's guaranteed 12 weeks off," Lipps said to Newsweek. "Most people can't afford to take three months off without pay, especially as such young parents." 

Brooke’s story illustrates a harsh truth about parenting in America. Even with a support system in place, the absence of paid family leave forces impossible choices, particularly for mothers. The U.S. is the only high-income country without mandatory paid maternity leave. While the FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave, it covers only 56% of the employees, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Like Brooke, countless others are overlooked by the system. Only 27% of U.S. private-sector employees had paid family leave as of March 2023. In Texas, where Brooke lives, there is no state-mandated paid parental leave, and according to Every Texan, for 61% of working people, even unpaid leave is out of reach.