Measuring for first shoes yourself

[Megan2018]

Due to Covid I can’t get DD measured for her first shoes. We didn’t bother for cruising but now she’s properly walking we need outside shoes and boots.
Can’t afford to order lots of pairs to try at home and really worried about buggering up her feet getting it wrong.
Anyone any measuring and first shoe tips? We have some of the soft barefoot shoes but they are no good for outdoor country life.

Don't overthink it. DS had to see a chiropodist when he was 5 for verrucas. The chiropodist said he'd clearly been badly fitted up til then and asked me to bring his usual shoes is so he could show me what he meant I.e. where the toe marks were etc inside the shoe. This showed he'd been put in too narrow shoes. Every time I'd had DS fitted at Clarks or Startrite. What a waste of £ that was as it tuned out. I did it myself from then on in. He's 19 now and his feet are fine.

You won't get it wrong - just follow the instructions of the foot measure (we got the Clarks one) and it'll be fine.

(Oh and I worked at Clarks in my teens - believe me, they are not always experts!)

I saw someone recommend this website the other day:

www.happylittlesoles.co.uk/advice

I found it helpful

We’ve bought one of the at home measures from Clark’s, we’ve then bought shoes from start rite and they fit just fine. The measurer was a tenner so worth it

I’ve got the Clark’s measurer thingy but the twin who’s now walking confidently and needs shoes is still a little titch and her foot doesn’t even reach the first line! Start rite have a thing you can print out on their website which I’m going to try...

I managed one round of shoe buying fine (2nd shoes, first were a Clark's job) but when she needed bigger it just wasn't working and I got pissed off and took her to an independent shoe seller working from her home (front garden) who's measured her at bigger than I did but when we put the shoe on it was way too big but the size down was perfect.

Long story short sometimes it's like buying clothes and you need to try some one first.

Have a look for "second hand" never worn shoes maybe to cut down the outlay, I got a pay from the indie place and a pair from Facebook so it averaged out at £30 each rather than £45 each.