When Jamie Lynn Spears went shopping with the father of her child, Casey Aldridge, at Wal-Mart near her hometown of Kentwood, La., “she looked depressed and stressed out,” store employee Sarah Lampton tells Life & Style. “She was wearing a big sweatshirt, blue jeans and dirty white shoes. She didn’t seem happy. It looked like she had a lot on her mind.”

That shouldn’t come as a surprise. A week earlier, her mother, Lynne Spears, had jetted off to LA to join Jamie Lynn’s father, Jamie, in the ongoing battle to save their older daughter, Britney Spears, 26. While the young actress understands that her sister is deeply troubled and needs care, “Jamie Lynn really wants to be near her mom,” says an insider close to the Spears family. “She pretends to be a self-sufficient young girl, but she really needs her mama right now.”
Luckily, Jamie Lynn, who’s due this spring, has been able to lean on Casey, 19. In recent days, the two have been spotted out and about, holding hands in Kentwood.