Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) with Kids

Yes, but only two, and they're not evenly spread across the airport. Toronto Pearson names a children's play area in Terminal 1's Departure Lounge near gate D24, on the Domestic side, and a second, larger one in the Infield Concourse near gate 521, which the airport describes as featuring 'a large climbing apparatus for kids.' There is no published play area in Terminal 3, and none inside the US preclearance zone, so a family flying to the United States from the F gates in Terminal 1 or the A gates in Terminal 3 has nothing to use once they've cleared US Customs and Border Protection. The Infield Concourse is a 10-minute bus ride from Terminals 1 and 3, so it's only a realistic stop if your own flight actually departs from there.

Toronto Pearson publishes 12 nursing locations in total: five walk-in rooms and six Mamava pods spread across Terminal 1, Terminal 3 and the Infield Concourse, all of them after security. Terminal 1 has rooms and pods in its Domestic (D gates), International (E gates) and Transborder (F gates) zones; Terminal 3 has one walk-in room near gate B1A and a Mamava pod near gate B22, plus a second pod near gates C30-31; and the Infield Concourse has an upgraded nursery room from its 2024 renovation. The Mamava pods need a code from the free Mamava app or Pearson's customer care line to unlock. Crucially, four of these twelve — the F67 and F87/F88 rooms and the F59 and A12/A13 pods — sit inside United States preclearance and can only be reached on a same-day flight to the US.

Most of them, yes — but not all. Eight of Pearson's 12 nursing locations are outside US preclearance and reachable by any passenger who has cleared ordinary Canadian security: the Domestic and International rooms and pods in Terminal 1, the Terminal 3 room near gate B1A and its two Mamava pods, and the upgraded nursery in the Infield Concourse. The other four — the rooms near gates F67 and F87/F88 in Terminal 1, and the Mamava pods near gate F59 in Terminal 1 and gates A12/A13 in Terminal 3 — sit inside United States preclearance, past US Customs and Border Protection, so only a passenger with a same-day boarding pass to the United States can reach them. If your itinerary eventually crosses into a Transborder zone, feed or change your baby before you clear preclearance rather than counting on those rooms.

Only three are named by gate, and all three are in Terminal 1. Pearson describes them as combination family washroom and nursing rooms: one at gate D37 in the Domestic zone, one near gate E78 in the International zone, and one near gate F67 in the Transborder zone — which means it sits inside United States preclearance and is only reachable on a same-day US flight. Terminal 3 gets a nursing room near gate B1A but no family washroom is named there specifically. Separately, the Infield Concourse's 2024 renovation added new universal washrooms equipped with an adult changing table — the only adult changing table Pearson publishes anywhere on the airport. Nothing is published about family washroom coverage beyond these locations, so treat this as a partial map rather than a complete one.

There is exactly one, and it's easy to miss. Pearson's Quiet Room opened as part of the Infield Concourse's 2024 renovation and offers soft seating, charging outlets and tranquil images as 'a peaceful space away from the busy gate areas' — Pearson's own words, and notably it does not describe the room specifically as a sensory space for neurodivergent travellers. There is no equivalent quiet space in Terminal 1 or Terminal 3, so a family departing from either main terminal has nothing to use unless their own flight happens to leave from the Infield Concourse, which is a 10-minute bus ride away. Pearson's accessibility hub lists Autism Ontario, Hidden Disabilities Sunflower and other partners, but no additional quiet or sensory facility is confirmed anywhere else on the airport.

Yes — Pearson lists a dedicated Family/Special Assistance security line among its special checkpoint lanes, alongside a Trusted Travellers line for NEXUS and Global Entry holders and an American Express Priority Security Lane. CATSA, the national screening authority that runs Canadian checkpoints, calls the same thing the Family and Accessible Line and tells passengers to check whether it's open at their specific checkpoint — wording that implies it isn't guaranteed to be staffed everywhere at every hour. Pearson also publishes live estimated wait times for each checkpoint by zone — Terminal 1 Domestic, International and USA, and Terminal 3 Canada, International and USA — rather than a single typical figure, so check those before you commit to a lane.

CATSA's national rule applies at every Pearson checkpoint: if you're travelling with an infant younger than 24 months, you can bring baby food, milk, liquid formula, water, juice and other baby items in quantities greater than 100 ml. Breast milk over 100 ml is allowed whether or not your child is with you, as long as you present it to the screening officer before screening. Powders such as inorganic baby formula are capped at 350 ml total. If your flight departs from the F gates in Terminal 1 or the A gates in Terminal 3, you'll also clear US preclearance, where the parallel TSA rule applies — the same over-100-ml allowance, but treated as a medically necessary liquid that must be declared at the very start of screening rather than presented partway through.

Take the free Terminal Link train, which runs 24 hours a day with a journey time of two to eight minutes between stations and a maximum wait of four to eight minutes depending on the time of day. Pearson describes it as fully accessible, capable of carrying a non-folding mobility aid, so a stroller fits without folding it. The one catch: both platforms are landside — the Terminal 1 platform is at the parking garage's Level 5, the Terminal 3 platform is at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel's pedestrian bridge — so changing terminals means leaving the secure area and clearing a security checkpoint again on the other side. Pearson does not publish whether an airside route between the two terminals exists, so plan on the re-screening.

No stroller rental or loan programme is published anywhere on Toronto Pearson's family travel pages. What the airport does publish is guidance: keep your stroller with you throughout the terminal, and check it at the departure gate before boarding — Pearson's own words are that 'it will be ready for you to pick up again when you get off the plane at your destination.' Before you fly, Pearson recommends confirming with your airline that strollers and car seats can actually be taken on the specific aircraft. No stroller parking area is published for gate-checked strollers either, so if you need one waiting on arrival, that arrangement is entirely down to your airline rather than the airport.

Both Canadian hubs share the same structural quirk — a chunk of their family facilities sit inside United States preclearance and are unreachable unless you're flying to the US that day — but they differ in depth. Pearson documents more nursing locations overall, 12 versus Vancouver's 6, and adds a dedicated Quiet Room, though it's stranded in the Infield Concourse, a 10-minute bus ride from the main terminals. Vancouver, by contrast, publishes a changing station in literally every washroom and a full Changing Places assisted-change facility, plus four Quiet Spaces spread across its terminal rather than one hard-to-reach room. If gate-level nursing detail matters most to you, Pearson has the edge; if washroom-level changing coverage matters more, Vancouver documents it more thoroughly.