to be taken aback by a total stranger telling me off for not putting shoes on a 4 month old baby?

[peedieworky]

Okay! So I had lifted the wee fella out of his buggy and footmuff & he was on the "lying down" style trolley in Asda. He was wearing a winter jacket with hood on top of his day clothes, mittens and thick socks. Having chased his socks & mittens round the shop floor an effing squillion times on more than one occasion, I was waiting at the till when I was approached by a woman in her late 50's/early 60's who exclaimed that it was "a sin that boy's got no shoes on!".

I have to confess, I have no shoes for my 4 month old child - thought it was just another thing to pick up off the floor and best left till he was at least crawling.

What, seriously!

Ignore her, they are indeed another thing to pick up and put back on a million times a day, dd was a winter baby so had to have layers on her toes, it was a pita, deffinatly not cold enough yet to worry.

Ignoreignoreignore! :)

My 6mo dd does not wear shoes either, just socks. When she is starting to toddle around I will put shoes on her. Don't see the point in unnecessary expense for her to kick off & lose when we are out and about. As long as they are warm enough without shoes then I don't see the problem either. Interfering old bugger :o

YANBU he was probably hot enough in all that clobber in the supermarket

Babies don't need shoes

I would have replied "Cook yer own fish,Mrs!"
Seriously, I am always suprised when people say strangers have reprimanded them/their children. I have never experienced or witnessed this in rl,yet it must go on.
I would be pretty miffed,tbh.
I never put shoes on tiny ones,maybe bootees or just thick socks, but shoes always look wrong and uncomfortable on pre-walkers.
Take no notice of busy bodies,is my advice

unless you were standing him up barefoot in one of the freezers, I doubt his toes would get cold inside the supermarket...

YANBU to be taken aback. The more I read MN, the more I'm convinced there must be a factory somewhere popping out nutty old ladies with a mission in life to make rude remarks about other people's babies :) The nutty old lady I met comiserated with me on having a 'Downs Baby' (which he isn't) - and luckily I was thick-skinned enough not to punch her up the hooter. There are some odd people about.

Babies don't need shoes. If he pulls his socks off all the time you could try tights under his trousers?

He sounds very warmly dressed. Woman is just typical mad baby-care critic. A 'sin'

A sin?? What planet is she from? Children don't need shoes until they start walking, imo. And until then, as long as their feet are warm, that's all that's neccessary.

I never bothered with socks, I found tights a lot easier. I know he is a little boy, but tights may well be easier in the middle of winter when he really will start to yank his socks off, and throw them

DD never had shoes until she walked, I loathed those soft booty things, it was just another thing to get lost in my book.

are you in germany?
the 'granny police' there is well renowned for telling off mums for not putting socks on baby's feet.

for when it gets colder, get your baby some tights, no pulling off socks then.
babies don't need shoes until they can walk.

your DS does not need shoes a supermarket is insdie so he dos need shoes in pushchair he has foot muff, in any case it is not recommended that they wear shoes until can walk properly once walking may need shoes outside but bare feet is best, socks keep his feet warm but he will learn to walk best completely barefoot as socks a bit slippy, though some have rubber things on base like sleepsuits for 9 months plus.... if you have excess money to keep buying shoes as he kicks off and loses them,,, there are still better things to spend it on my DD first shoes size 3 at 12 months as she was walking really she was 2.5 but they don't make shoes for wwalking outside that small!!!

Cogito - I don't think it's a factory producing these old ladies - it's probably a special Adult Education course you get sent on when you claim your pension. They probably have a quota of nutty remarks they have to make, in order to qualify for the bus pass, or something.

One does wonder what Our Dear Queen would say - though she has Prince Phillip to do the nutty-remark making for the both of them!

I love that. I wonder if it actually is a sin. If it is a sin, then you better get that sorted out.

Half the time my toddler doesn't have shoes on. Actually that should say most of the time my toddler only has half his shoes on, because he can take one off much easier than the other.

I've had rude comments a few times. You just have to accept some people are a bit odd and smile at them sweetly.

She was a) mad and b) wrong. Shoes can be terrible for babies feet. But then again I must be a dreadful mother as I kept my DS in sleepsuits all winter, with layers of vests, cardigans and socks instead of putting him in jeans with a bomber jacket.

Oh, and c) interfering!

My dd2 and ds would regularly take their shoes and socks off in all weathers until they were gone 3yo. I figured if they were cold they'd soon ask for them back on again.

Why is it that women of that age think they have the right to have their say about things which are nothing to do with them?

My toddler pulls her shoes off ALL the time, and quite often her socks, too. I know she'll start doing it when it's cold, and I'll get the looks/comments. But what are you supposed to do, stop EVERY five bloody minutes to put them on again?

Its about 18 degrees here! Socks are good enough before they walk, surely?
I have the opposite problem in that Boy is only just walking, but i can't put him on the cold ground without some form of soft shoe protection, so I find myself feeling guilty for introducing them too soon and hideously misshaping his feet for life.

But what are you supposed to do, stop EVERY five bloody minutes to put them on again?

tights tights tights

Thanks mousy

She'd have had a word with me too then I'm afraid! Neither of mine had shoes until they were a couple of months into walking and were either in socks or tights the rest of the time.

@ angrybeaver "cook yer own fish Mrs"

I didn't think that babies should wear shoes of any sort, don't their feet need to grow/develop without any restrictions. IMO shoes at this age are likely to cause more problems than not.

I know my mum always pulls a face when she sees babies in pushchairs with barefeet, esp in cold/coldish weather, but I always remind her that DS wouldn't keep anything on his feet when he was tiny - and at 12 even prefers now to be barefoot around the house, even if it's chilly - I stopped buying him slippers cvos he didn't wear them.

Silly old lady didn't have enough to worry about in her own life obviously...

How funny! I'd be utterly intruiged to meet one of these, although even with all the preparation of reading threads like this I'd probably still be stumped.