I Was Fired for Choosing My Baby: Why Motherhood Isn’t Valued in America

I Was Fired for Refusing to Work Full-Time With a Baby

When they told me they needed someone full-time, I told my boss I understood. And I did—I understood from a business perspective why my request to work part-time didn’t benefit them. But what I also understood—and couldn’t say out loud in that moment—was that their profits mattered more than my baby, a human being. And what it really meant was that they didn’t care about cutting off a single mother’s income to benefit their business.

I didn’t lose my job because I was bad at it. I was fired because I wouldn’t pretend my baby doesn’t exist. I asked to work part-time so I could prioritize the one person who depends on me for everything. That’s not an opinion—that’s a fact. My baby drinks milk from my body. She finds comfort in our breastfeeding relationship. She needs me when she’s scared, when she cries, when she drifts to sleep. She deserves her mother’s presence when she’s vulnerable—during every diaper change, every feeding, every moment. She is helpless. She cannot speak. Babies don’t have anything—so at least let them have their mothers. Because a mother is a baby’s entire world.

And the crazy part: Why does a mother have to explain why a baby needs her? And why do I have to ask my boss permission to be with my baby? A mother’s presence in the first three critical years of life is imperative because it’s the foundation of healthy, happy future adults who eventually contribute to the economy. But here in America, we don’t value the mother-baby bond. We don’t even give them paid maternity leave. So women are forced to return to work and choose a paycheck over their baby.

This is wrong. We’ve normalized separating babies from their mothers. Babies are not independent. Read that again. And yet, we send them to daycares. Shame on us for what we’ve done to babies.

The script got flipped. Before industrialization, we worked for our families—built homes, grew gardens, we were a jack of all trades and raised our children. Now? To be seen as a “good worker,” we have to pretend we don’t have families at all. America has lost its family values. We place profit above babies.

I Refuse to Abandon My Baby for a Paycheck

Choosing to be present for my baby didn’t benefit the business. But choosing full-time work would’ve meant abandoning her.

The truth is: Mothers can’t be good workers and good mothers at the same time. Not when a baby needs their mother’s care around the clock. Not when it means leaving them behind. Being a mom and working full-time are not compatible—not in the earliest, most dependent season of a baby’s life. And it’s not just a “luxury” for the privileged. Every baby has the right to their mother’s care. I refuse to accept this as normal. I refuse to give my baby to someone else just to prove I’m “dedicated” to work. I refuse to let capitalism define babies as burdens to productivity.

We Only Respect Caregiving When It Makes Money

Humans are natural caregivers—we are born dependent and die dependent. It’s why we keep pets. Why we water plants. Why we long to be held. But when it comes to motherhood, we act like it’s not real work. Caretaking is the foundation of life.

The sad irony? I’ve been waiting over a month for unemployment I paid into. And now—to stay close to my baby—I may have to work at a daycare. Just to get paid to do the same thing I already do at home for free. We only value caregiving when we turn it into business. And even then, we pay it the lowest wages. They call it unskilled. But it takes: Care. Patience. Attunement. Compassion. Empathy. Endurance. Love.

Motherhood is the most important job on Earth—yet it exists in the shadows of “real work.” We say it doesn’t count because it doesn’t generate profit. But without mothers, there is no profit. No workforce. No society. No future.

Every CEO Was Once Held by a Mother

Every worker was once rocked to sleep. Every human life begins with care. Raising a healthy, loved child benefits everyone. If you want capable, resilient employees—let mothers be with their babies. We need to stop punishing mothers for doing what’s natural, essential, and right.

I’m a Mother First—And I’m Not Sorry

So no, I will not work full-time with a baby. Because that’s not natural. Because no one can be in two places at once successfully. Because my baby is still a baby—and I am her mother. I will not apologize for that. And I will not stop fighting for a world where motherhood is honored, not penalized. Where caregiving is seen as essential, not invisible. Where babies are treated as human beings—not interruptions.

I shouldn’t have to explain why my baby needs me. But I will—until the world finally listens. We need to give mothers and babies maternity leave for the first few years of life—and recognize it for the vital job it truly is