Babies - Field Museum

The Field Museum is huge, and has lots of less-crowded areas compared to many other Chicagoland museums. Particularly in bad weather, it can be a nice place to enjoy walking with a baby in a carrier or stroller. The Mammals of Asia, Mammals of Africa, and World of Mammals on the west side of the main floor are favorites of mine for being fun to look through and generally quieter, along with the Pacific, Traveling the Pacific, and the Maori meeting house on the upper level.

For a baby starting to crawl, the animal and Pacific areas listed above are fun and usually not too busy, along with the Ancient Americas and the Hall of China, which have a few noisier parts of the exhibit.

Nursing

There is a separate nursing room, tucked away behind the Siragusa Center on the ground floor. The Siragusa Center is the large area with picnic tables, across from the lower level of Inside Ancient Egypt. From the main hallway, you can walk straight through the Siragusa Center and the nursing room, along with other bathrooms, is located in the back hallway behind that room.

The Field Museum encourages nursing wherever a mother feels comfortable. A few other options are the Sue Ling Gin Garden at the back of the Hall of China—you can access it for free by going to the back of the Hall of Plants and turning left. There are three benches, though no armrests. Although you’ll have some traffic from people leaving the Hall of China or taking the shortcut to or from the dinosaurs, it is one of the lower-traffic areas. It also has a modest amount of open space for older kids to run around, and pretty rock gardens to enjoy (although the rocks which should not be touched may provide too great a temptation—at least there are two foot glass walls around them, so younger kids won’t be able to reach in).

Other good choice are the Mammals of Asia and Messages from the Wilderness exhibits. Both are similar: they have long benches and are dark with fewer people going through. The Mammals of Asia benches have small armrests at the end, though they may be too short to be helpful. The nearby Lions of Tsavo also have benches and good space for older kids to run around, however there are fewer things for older kids to watch and it will be more crowded compared to the Mammals of Asia.