Slack Status for Maternity and Parental Leave: 24 Statuses and Emoji

A Slack status for maternity or parental leave fits in one line: an emoji, "On maternity leave" or "On parental leave", the month you are back, and who covers your work. For example: 🤰 "On maternity leave until March. Dana is covering." The usual maternity leave emoji are 🤰 :pregnant_woman:, 🤱 :breast-feeding:, 👶 :baby: and 🍼 :baby_bottle:, and all four worked as status emoji when we set them in our own Slack workspace on 2 November 2026. A status holds up to 100 characters (our 101-character status came back with a too_long error), so keep the long version, with every contact, in a pinned handover note. Set the status Duration to end on your return date, and pause notifications separately from your profile menu.

Below are 24 statuses to copy, the emoji people use, and the setup steps.

Our free Slack status generator has more statuses for leave and every other day.

Slack statuses for maternity leave

Each one is under 100 characters. Replace the words in brackets.

👶 On maternity leave until [March]. [Dana] is covering.
🍼 Maternity leave, back in [spring]. Not checking Slack.
🤰 On maternity leave. For [project], ask [name].
👶 Out on maternity leave until [date]. Urgent: [name].
🏡 On maternity leave. See pinned note in #[team] for contacts.
🍼 Busy with a very small boss until [month].

Slack statuses for paternity and parental leave

👶 On paternity leave until [date]. [Name] is covering.
🍼 Parental leave, back [date]. Not checking messages.
👶 On parental leave until [month]. Ask [name] for anything urgent.
🧸 Out on parental leave for [8 weeks]. Handover in #[channel].
🏡 On shared parental leave until [date].
😴 On parental leave and short on sleep. Back [month].

Slack statuses before and after leave

🗓️ Parental leave starts [date]. Send open items by [Friday].
📋 Last week before leave. Handover notes in #[channel].
🎈 Baby is here! On parental leave until [month].
👋 Back from parental leave. Catching up this week.
🕘 Back part-time: online [Mon-Wed]. Other days, ask [name].
🙏 Back from leave. Thanks for covering, team.

Slack statuses that keep the reason private

You do not have to say what kind of leave it is:

🌴 On leave until [month]. [Name] is covering.
🏡 Out on family leave, back [date].
⛔ Away until [date]. Urgent: [name].
🌴 On leave. Not checking Slack. Back [month].
🏡 On extended leave until [date]. Ask [name].
📵 Offline until [date]. [Name] has my projects.

For medical leave, one of these private statuses is enough. More wording for shorter absences is in Slack status for sick days.

Slack status emoji for maternity and parental leave

We searched "pregnant" in the status emoji picker. Slack offers three pregnant figures and the baby face, and the footer shows the code of the one under the cursor:

We set each of these codes as a status emoji through Slack's users.profile.set method on 2 November 2026, and Slack accepted every one. Two guesses failed with profile_status_set_failed_not_valid_emoji: :breastfeeding: (the code needs the hyphen) and :stork:, which Slack does not have.

Type the code in the status field, or click the emoji button and search. Want a custom one, like your team's logo with a baby bottle? Make it with the free Slack emoji maker. What each status emoji signals to others is in Slack status icons meaning.

How to set a parental leave status in Slack

• Click your profile picture, then click the status field (it reads Update your status when empty).
• Paste the status and pick an emoji.
• Open Duration and pick Choose a start and end time…. Set the end to your return date. To start it later, set the start date too; the steps are in how to schedule a Slack status.
• Click Save.

This is the dialog with our test status from 2 November 2026, set to clear at midnight on 2 March 2027:

In our workspace on the Free plan, the status dialog had no pause option. Pause notifications from the profile menu instead: Notifications, then Pause notifications for…. The longest preset is Until next week, so for a long leave pick Custom… and set the date and time you are back.

On Enterprise plans, Slack also has an Out of office status that sends a private reply when someone mentions you. Every option by plan, including calendar sync, is in Slack out of office message.

Before you go, pin a message in your team channel with who covers what, and link to it from your status if the status alone is not enough.

FAQ

What should my Slack status be on parental leave? An emoji, "On parental leave", your return month and a contact, such as 👶 "On parental leave until March. Ask Dana."

What emoji should I use for maternity leave in Slack? 🤰 :pregnant_woman:, 🤱 :breast-feeding:, 👶 :baby: or 🍼 :baby_bottle:. 🌴 :palm_tree: works if you want to keep it private.

How long can a Slack status be? Up to 100 characters. In our test a 101-character status returned too_long.

Can I schedule a Slack status for my leave in advance? Yes. Under Duration, choose Choose a start and end time… and set both dates.