Shoes for a walking 9 1/2 month old...

[ohthegoats]

... so, it seems she's walking more than just a couple of wobbly steps.

I've never put any shoes on her, not even for decorative purposes when she was small. Considering she'll still be getting carried around quite a bit, what shoes do I need to put her in? Or can I get away with none until she's properly running about?

[ZebraZeebra]

I think for the first six weeks of walking you put them in soft soled shoes like these ones. Which is great if she's walking now in the summer - less so when mine started walking in the winter. TBH I'd probably keep her in soft sole until the weather starts getting wet and cold because her feet need the time to get strong - I can't think of the official terminology for it but they need time to walk flat rather than in supported "shoes"

[ZebraZeebra]

I meant to add - at home she should just be barefoot for as long as possible

[mrsmalcolmreynolds]

Yep I believe the recommendation is walking unassisted for six weeks before any "real" shoes. The shop I got both my two DCs' first shoes at also checked that they were walking a certain distance - couple of metres from memory.

At that stage they can then go into special softer soled shoes - they're not fabric soles but lighter and more flexible than usual. DD walked at 10m and was quite dinky so her first pair were size 2.5!

[ApplesTheHare]

Sorry to hijack your thread OP but how soft are the soft soled shoes you're meant to use?

DD has been walking for a couple of weeks but I've just been using her Clarks cruising shoes when we're out and about, which have a flexible sole but are still fairly hard. At home she's just barefoot. Is that ok?

[cathpip]

As long as the soft sole can be rolled up unlike a hard sole they should be fine. My dc's got hard soled shoes after they were walking competently for about 6/8 weeks, it's also good to remember that their feet grow fast so you could end up replacing shoes every 5/6 weeks! Dc3 was a 3.5 at 11 months when he was walking, he's now a 6.5 at 16 months.........