..to let dd go barefoot?

[mrsgordonfreeman]

Little Freeman is not walking yet, at 19 months.

So we decided to let her go barefoot.

It's been a revelation. From stumping about like a recently reanimated Frankenstein's monster, to toddling along quite happily, holding on with just one hand.

When we put the shoes back on, the monster returns, shambling beside us, asking for an "uppy" after a few minutes. Her shoes are well fitted and of good quality, but they are like little inflexible blocks on her tiny feet. They do not move with her feet, thus denying her the benefit of priorperception (feedback from the surface her foot meets which helps with her balance). Watching her feet as she walks barefoot is edifying: every toe splays out, you can see the dozens of bones and muscles move in response, absorbing the shock of her landing and pushing her off again for the next step. She will even run, hands held, round and round the playground. I tried that in her shoes and she fell over almost immediately.

Her father has recently converted to barefoot running and absolutely loves it, his posture and speed have improved tremendously since he ditched the clompy trainers (he wears barefoot shoes if he can't be sure of the surfaces).

However, the level of horror the barefoot baby causes in passers by is quite offputting. Even indoors, apparently, there are piles of broken glass, stray pins, rusty nails and pools of toxic chemicals just waiting to impale or scorch her tiny feets. Outside is basically carpeted in dog poo, barbed wire and unexploded WW2 ordnance.

I honestly thought that as a mother who still breastfeeds a toddler in public that people would comment upon that, rather than my shoeless infant, but I've never had anything at all. If someone catches a glimpse of pink feet on the other hand, they do find it necessary to point the many hazards out to me.

I don't really mind. I do scan the ground in front of her for hazards. I will scoop her up if necessary. Her walking has come along really well and she just needs a hand holding for confidence's sake.

So is it unreasonable to let her walk barefoot whenever possible? Obviously she wears shoes when it's wet, cold or hazardous, and sometimes just socks.

oh those inch blues are gorgeous... there goes the rent money for the next year

DS has been walking for 3 months, and is still barefoot. I do the scanning thing, and he is happy that way. Sometimes I pop a pair of socks on him, but that's it.

He still stumbles fairly often, so uses his hands on the ground too. I don't have any special protection for them either

While the weather is good, I'm going to let him stay barefoot for as long as possible. If the weather makes that impractical, or if he starts wanting to walk places where I think bare feet would be a problem, I'll get him some shoes.

There's a lot of open countryside here, and DS isn't the only barefoot baby I've noticed in the area. Doesn't bother anyone.

i only wear shoes when i absolutely have to, never ever at home or in the garden or walking dogs etc

my granny used to call me the barefoot gypsy :)

browneyes, people are funny about bare feet in Europe. Like it's unhygienic.

Mind you, dd wears shoes at her GPs house as her DGF likes to carry a pin tucked under his crooked forefinger (nobody knows why) and drops them frequently. I often do a pin check before putting her on the carpet there as, hippiness notwithstanding, I don't want to yank a pin out of her foot, knee or hand.

I can understand not letting a child walk barefoot outside for fear of glass or vomit- but for fear of stubbing her toe, as one poster said; that strikes me as seriously pfb.

I was fortunate enough to spend my holidays in the countryside as a child; I hardly ever wore shoes. Of course I stubbed my toes. And grazed my knees. And bruised my elbows. It's part of childhood.

Feet/hands/babies are washable.

Odd about the pin!

Unless she is a toe-sucker, whats the problem with getting the outdoors on bare feet? Skin is a bacteria repelling shield. I wouldn't let mine run through dogdoo with shoes on either. I love to see babies flexing their little piggies in the sunshine!

brandalley have a sale on Robeez little soft leather shoes at the moment.

Then try vivobarefoot kids' shoes when she is big enough, they are superthin and great for proprio-whatsit.

We are not permitted to discuss the pin. The pin is an enigma. His own MIL thought he had a deformed finger for years till I told her there was a pin tucked under there.

oo, I didn't know that, trifling, DH wears vivos for running.

YABU.little tiny shards of broken glass, sharp stones ,thorns to nothing of the minging stuff.i don't think you can compare your DHs toughened adult soles to a babies soft ones

But she shouldn't be wearing shoes anyway until she is a confident walker

OP - I grew up in South Africa too. My dc both wear shoes outside.

fairydoll, you see my point. She is not yet a confident walker. She can't walk unaided, but wants to walk a lot.

And, if you read the OP, you see that I do put shoes on when I consider it necessary.

So

YANBU.

Presumably if your DD is not walking on her own yet she doesn't often go walking down the street where there's dog poo and vomit etc.

Gosh people really do jump to huge assumptions don't they, that you must of course be a complete idiot with no common sense whatsoever who just lets your child walk around the city streets with no shoes! Handily ignoring the parts of your post where you say you do put shoes on her when you feel it is really necessary just for the drama of the whole thing!!

Anyway, my little one walks around barefoot in our garden, at the playground (if the weather is nice and I fee it is clean and safe), in the park and at beach etc etc - again if I feel it is safe. Now he is more confident and will go off exploring further and further he wears shoes nearly all of the time time in public places.

I really agree that you should get some mocasin type things www.moccis.co.uk/index.php/moccis/baby-moccis.html

I had some lovely knitted slippers for my LO which have sheep skin bottoms and he wore them outside a lot when he first started walking.

A good shoe shop (and this doesn't mean clarks!) will look at how your baby is walking in a pair of shoes and make sure they are suitable. They really shouldn't sell you something that hinders there walking.

Honestly some peoples reactions to walking around barefoot is as if your going to lick your feet afterwards, I find it very odd.

DS2 had these, when it was winter, he was too big for cruisers and not walking yet (he has very long feet). They were great as a stop gap - no risk of hurting feet on glass and stuff, but not so thick soled that he couldn't feel the pavement under him.

I recommend them. They are also really funky and do actually smell nice!

www.bicalsocks.co.uk/

She def needs something to protect her from pavements - they are filthy as others have observed. How about those little boottee things which are totally soft and the soles are just a piece of soft leather? Or even ballet shoes (ie the proper ones for ballet classes and not shoe style ones). They are also v soft. I seriously wouldnt let my lo's go along the pavement bare foot - I had to run after a friend recently who left something behind at my house and got a little bit of glass stuck in - painful when it happened and even worse to tweezer out!!

I can't link as I'm on my phone but funkyfeetfashions.co.uk (or call.com can't remember ) do lovely leather soled slippers. My ds loves them and they go up to quite large sizes for when they're older.

Call.com? meant .com :)

If she's happy to walk outside in bare feet then continue. I think bare feet are better anyway, especially as its summer. If the ground is yuk, you could just use some of those really soft slipper like shoes which she can still feel the ground in. Definitely bare feet inside though, until she is a confident walker. She shouldn't be wearing proper shoes yet anyway if she's not walking properly.

Then get some proper shoes when she's walking properly unaided for a few weeks.

Hippychick does some nice soft slipper like shoes which are really soft and just about ok for outside since they are usually made of suede.

I tend to think 'why on earth not'? if it were uncomfy for her she wouldnt keep walking, When she has been outside you can always wash her feet. In other cultures it is the norm and at least we don't have venomous spiders and scorpions, just the occasional bee (says she who stood on a bee recently and had an allergic reaction - oops!)

YABVVVU to not be able to spell proprioception.