SAHM
Also called sahm, SAHMs, stay-at-home mom, stay-at-home mum, SAHD, SAHP
SAHM stands for stay-at-home mom, or mum, a mother whose main work is caring for her children instead of a paid job. It has siblings in SAHD for a stay-at-home dad and SAHP for any stay-at-home parent.
How it's said
I would say a SAHM definitely DOES work!
Unless you have a pretty serious SAHM exit strategy for once school starts.
There's no law that you must become a SAHM just because you won't break even...
Who says it
Where it came from
Stay-at-home is older than the parent sense. Wiktionary's 1899 quotation uses it for someone who never travels far from home, and it now also records it for a parent who isn't employed and spends the time with their children.
Wiktionary's quotations for SAHM begin with Meredith Efken's 2005 novel SAHM I Am, and for SAHD with Libby Gill's 2001 book Stay-at-Home Dads. Guides to parenting forum shorthand list SAHM beside SAHP for stay-at-home parent and WAHM for a work-at-home mum.