Question for moms who have pumped in Disney

[bostonminnie]

We are heading down to WDW in a couple of weeks. I am exclusively pumping for my daughter and will need to use the baby care centers in the parks to do this. At home I just pump and either feed her or throw the bottle in the fridge. I'm wondering what people do in the parks, do you bring a cooler to carry around the pumped milked? If so, is there a type of cooler you would recommend? I don't need anything too big as we are staying on site and will be back to the hotel during the day to take breaks.

Also, I have never been in the baby care centers before. Is there one that you prefer to pump in? Are they all pump friendly? Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My pump had the cooler as part of the bag. The ice pack was designed for the bottles which allowed up to 6 bottles to be pumped. Any well insulated small portable cooler would be find with a good ice pack. If you can transfer from bottle to storage bags, it would hold more. While you do plan to return to your room, being able to accommodate your pumping needs in case you are delayed is good. Having adequate ice packs is key. Depending on time of year--how long a pack lasts is variable. You also want a way to refreeze those packs. Breast milk is only room temp stable for a short period of time. I find the block ice packs to be better than the little gel packs. A well insulated cooler will make that last longer. Do NOT leave the cooler in Stroller as strollers are always parked outside. Take it in with you for attractions. A/C prolongs that ice pack.

This is what I did when I was employed and still nursing and pumping.

As far as rooms, Animal Kingdom is the largest and IIRC, each nursing room is private. So I think you could have dad hang with you--but so long I do not remember. MK has a nursing room, but it is 4 rockers. No dads permitted and certainly not private from any other moms there. But dimly lit and nice.I am not sure the power outlet locations if your pump is powered. And double check when you pack. I had intended to bring a pump on my cruise one time and failed to pack and double check I had all the parts. Oops. Since it was just to have a bottle for my son at flounders, we coped. But that would have been a problem if I pumped exclusively.

EPCoT's just seemed too inconvenient to get to and I'm not familiar with DHS.

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

Your baby must be really little.
It's been a really long time, I don't even remember if they had baby stations I thought I was in the First aid area.

I didn't need equipment to pump. My let down and a squeeze filled 4oz. I know they have bags that seal now, I used an a empty bottle. At the time Toys R Us had a big baby area and i found a small lunch bag size cooler that zipped on top and ice pack. It fit in the diaper bag. Gosh, it's still in use for day trip water bottles.

That worked a few days, but after that I found I didn't need to pump. I wasn't leaking, baby drank enough (she was about 6months). I sat on a bench to nurse with a blanket over the shoulder. I took maybe 10 minutes. I didn't lose any milk or dry up. But, I had a ton of supply. You may need to increase your intake of fluids, don't get dehydrated.

By that time I had a bottle of juice and water in the bag.

 

[Robs627]

I would bring a cooler with me to keep the milk cold through the parks. There are some great cooler packs that can last several hours. Also you can bring ziplock bags to put ice in if the cooker pack melts.

 

[Angel Ariel]

We are heading down to WDW in a couple of weeks. I am exclusively pumping for my daughter and will need to use the baby care centers in the parks to do this. At home I just pump and either feed her or throw the bottle in the fridge. I'm wondering what people do in the parks, do you bring a cooler to carry around the pumped milked? If so, is there a type of cooler you would recommend? I don't need anything too big as we are staying on site and will be back to the hotel during the day to take breaks.

Also, I have never been in the baby care centers before. Is there one that you prefer to pump in? Are they all pump friendly? Thanks in advance for any advice!

I had to exclusively pump for my daughter too, as she could not nurse (no suck reflex when born, would latch but could not drain milk efficiently due to her poor suck). We went to WDW when she was 8 months old, and I was still EPing. I wrote 2 advice posts on EPing at WDW..here are the links:

My experience EPing at WDW
My top tips for EPing at WDW

If at all possible, I would highly recommend getting an Ameda Purely Yours pump - whether renting one just for the trip (some hospitals may rent), or buying one. It runs on batteries, so you don't have to have a wall outlet. It was *invaluable*.

I started out pumping and keeping milk cool in a cooler, and bringing it in the park with us (the stroller company we rented from gave us a cooler with the rental, we just put that in the bottom of the stroller) - but DD never did like cold milk (still doesn't) and we found it very difficult to warm up the milk as we needed it.

Breast Milk is good at Warm Temps (80-90 degrees) for 3-4 hours . What I ended up doing was using cold milk to heat up her first bottle of the day at the hotel (where we used a coffee maker to heat up water to warm her bottle), but then once in the parks I would just feed her whatever I last pumped. I didn't have a great supply so I had to pump 7-8 times/day, so it worked out that DD would drink whatever I last pumped when we stopped for the next pump session. It was never more than 3-4 hours between pumping sessions.

I did update my tips thread with the Tommee Tippee Bottle Warmer thermos link - if you need to use cold milk, this is a GREAT way to keep hot water with you all day long (and it comes with a cover that you can put the water/bottle in to warm). It keeps the water hot all day long.

Aside from the ease of pumping with the batteries - the freedom of location that the Ameda gave me really helped me feel like I was not missing as much of the trip. My nephews were with us as well, and if I'd had to go to the Baby Care Centers all the time to pump, I would have missed out on so much. With a nursing cover, I pumped all over the place (in as out of the way/unnoticeable places as possible) - but not being tied to an outlet *really* helped. Because of this,t hough, I didn't spend much time in the baby care centers so I can't really speak to what they are like or how pump friendly they are.

If you have any questions at all about EPing through WDW, let me know! EPing is hard, and at Disney it can be even harder! I'd love to do anything I can to help another mom have a good trip

 

[MichaelaF]

All of the baby care centers have plenty of outlets in the nursing areas for pumping. I was impressed that it seemed as though nearly every chair had an outlet. As PP noted, AK has the best baby care center overall, just because of the private rooms, and is my favorite for both nursing and pumping. DHS also has private rooms but only two of them. That said, when we were there (last October), I never found them both to be occupied. Both of them had outlets and tables for pumps as well. I'm a big fan of the baby care centers overall and they are very pump-friendly.

I also have a small cooler that came with my pump. It's like this one, but mine holds 6: http://awaybabyessentials.com/item_...oler-Set.htm?gclid=CLKalOOB0MACFWELMgodth8Aug

They are very small coolers and would work easily in a bag, assuming you can freeze the ice pack in your room fridge.

 

[klburns]

I breast-fed all three of my kids until they were 1 year old, and so I took several trips without the kids and needed to pump. As pp mentioned, all the baby care centers had outlets available for the pumps. Something I didn't find out until baby #2 was that you can store your pump and your expressed breast milk at the first aid center which is located right next to the baby care centers. It was wonderful not having to haul the pump around and I didn't have to worry about the milk spoiling or the cooler not staying cold enough during a day at the parks. I would just stop by the first aid center on our way out of the park to pick up my pump and get my milk out of the fridge. Also, when the first aid center wasn't busy, they would allow me to pump in one of the rooms there. This was especially nice at MK and Epcot where the nursing room is shared, because I had privacy, but in all parks it saved me the hassle of picking up my pump at first aid going over to baby care to pump and then heading back to first aid to store the pump and milk.

 

[bostonminnie]

Thanks for all the info and advice, it was very helpful!

 

[bostonminnie]

I had to exclusively pump for my daughter too, as she could not nurse (no suck reflex when born, would latch but could not drain milk efficiently due to her poor suck). We went to WDW when she was 8 months old, and I was still EPing. I wrote 2 advice posts on EPing at WDW..here are the links:

My experience EPing at WDW
My top tips for EPing at WDW

If at all possible, I would highly recommend getting an Ameda Purely Yours pump - whether renting one just for the trip (some hospitals may rent), or buying one. It runs on batteries, so you don't have to have a wall outlet. It was *invaluable*.

I started out pumping and keeping milk cool in a cooler, and bringing it in the park with us (the stroller company we rented from gave us a cooler with the rental, we just put that in the bottom of the stroller) - but DD never did like cold milk (still doesn't) and we found it very difficult to warm up the milk as we needed it.

Breast Milk is good at Warm Temps (80-90 degrees) for 3-4 hours . What I ended up doing was using cold milk to heat up her first bottle of the day at the hotel (where we used a coffee maker to heat up water to warm her bottle), but then once in the parks I would just feed her whatever I last pumped. I didn't have a great supply so I had to pump 7-8 times/day, so it worked out that DD would drink whatever I last pumped when we stopped for the next pump session. It was never more than 3-4 hours between pumping sessions.

I did update my tips thread with the Tommee Tippee Bottle Warmer thermos link - if you need to use cold milk, this is a GREAT way to keep hot water with you all day long (and it comes with a cover that you can put the water/bottle in to warm). It keeps the water hot all day long.

Aside from the ease of pumping with the batteries - the freedom of location that the Ameda gave me really helped me feel like I was not missing as much of the trip. My nephews were with us as well, and if I'd had to go to the Baby Care Centers all the time to pump, I would have missed out on so much. With a nursing cover, I pumped all over the place (in as out of the way/unnoticeable places as possible) - but not being tied to an outlet *really* helped. Because of this,t hough, I didn't spend much time in the baby care centers so I can't really speak to what they are like or how pump friendly they are.

If you have any questions at all about EPing through WDW, let me know! EPing is hard, and at Disney it can be even harder! I'd love to do anything I can to help another mom have a good trip

I really enjoyed reading your tips and about your experiences pumping in WDW. I've been really overwhelmed just thinking about EP'ing in the parks, but after reading about your experiences I feel better. Thanks for sharing, and way to go Ep'ing for so long, it is definitely not easy!

 

[jll2800]

Can I just say, all you ladies are awesome! We're visiting WDW in January. I am not sure what I'll be doing when our trip comes as far as feeding, but if I do need to pump, all this info will really, really help. Thanks!