Traveling to Disney with a nursing infant

Traveling to Disney with an infant alone can be overwhelming, even more so when your infant is nursing. Which is precisely what happened to me during not one, but TWO Disney vacations last year. When booking our first trip last year it didn't even occur to me that our son was only going to be 7 months old and would still be nursing. In fact, it didn't occur to until just a few weeks before we left! Let me tell you, the anxiety that took over was over a level 10. The thoughts came flooding in, where would I feed my child? Do I bring pumped milk? What if he doesn't drink it? How long would it last in the Florida heat? What if he doesn't nurse, and I become engorged? 

I'm sure these are all questions that have been flooding your mind lately as well, but have no fear, Disney has your back! Each of the parks has a quite place called The Baby Care Center where you can go to handle all things your baby needs; including breast feeding. These centers have cool, dark, quite rooms that allow you to either nurse your child or pump. Even as I walked up to the Baby Care Center for the first time I was unsettled, I've never been a mom to breastfeed just wherever (big props to those who can) and I didn't know what to expect. The cast member was super sweet and guided me to the room where I could nurse my son. Believe it or not, it was relaxing. The rooms are kept cool, which is nice after hours of walking around in the Florida heat, and they are quite. The room has probably about 6-8 rocking chairs for all nursing moms to occupy, and though it may seem a little uncomfortable at first, the quietness and darkness made everyone else disappear. I sat there and rocked and nursed my son for a good 20 minutes at peace. The care center has a little lobby area for the fathers and other children to hang out while you're taking care of business, which also helps you relax because you don't feel like you need to rush the process. 

The Baby Care Center has another room with several changing tables spread out so that you can change you baby's diapers or clothes. They keep sheets of thin paper on the bottom so each baby has their own and protects against the spreading of germs. Each time a parent left the room I would see a cast member come in with antibacterial wipes, and wipe down the changing table as well. This is very comforting to see that Disney makes cleanliness and health a high standard. 

Throughout the day we visited the Baby Care Center several times. They have a nice little kitchen section for you to handle other forms of feedings, but it also has baby items for purchase. This was super helpful to us during one of our park days as our son dropped his bottle somewhere and we didn't notice. Thankfully the baby care center had a bottle for us to purchase averting our crisis. 

Baby Care Center locations 

Magic Kingdom-  Located between Casey's and The Crystal Palace at the front of the park. 
Epcot- Located in the Odyssey Center between Test Track and the Showcase Plaza. 
Hollywood Studios- Located inside of Guest Relations near the main entrance to the park.
Animal Kingdom- Located to the left of the Tree of Life in the building right before your cross the bridge into Africa. 
Disneyland- Located at the end of Main Street USA. 
Disney California Adventure Park- Located next to Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop and across from The Bakery Tour in Pacific Wharf.

Other ways to nurse your infant in disney

I have to give my husband a HUGE shoutout for this next section. My husband is the KING of FastPasses, and with a lot of dedication and research he was able to find rides that our son was big/old enough to get on. From there he looked for FastPasses for these rides around the time our son would need to nurse or nap. These rides were a great help as all of them are in pretty dark rooms. This allowed me to nurse our son without causing disruptions in our day or making our 3 year old live in the Baby Care Center. 

I did not pump nor bring any milk with me to any of the parks either time we went with my son nursing. After park day one, all of my anxiety and fears went away. I was able to enjoy the rest of that trip, and we were back 4 months later doing it all over again. Is it easier now that my son is no longer nursing? Absolutely! However, it wasn't horrible with him nursing. Between Disney's Baby Care Centers and my husband the trip was barely any different than any of the others we have been on. 

What Rides I nursed on

Figment- Journey of Imagination 
Living with the Land (in the beginning before I got to the garden)
The Seas with Nemo and Friends 
Gran Fiesta Tour 
Impressions de France 
The American Adventure 
The Haunted Mansion 
The Hall of Presidents 
Journey with the Little Mermaid 
​Peter Pan's Flight

I hope this has helped to ease your mind with nursing in Disney. Let us know have you nursed on a ride? Which ride? What was your overall nursing experience in the Disney Parks?

Much Love, 
​Main Street Mommy