To not buy him shoes?

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DS is 12 months and getting more confident on his feet. He walks around indoors, doesn't crawl anymore. He stumbles sometimes when he tries to run but overall is becoming more stable. At the moment he's shoe-less and I'm having a nightmare finding shoes that fit.

He was measured in Clark's and they said he's 5 1/2 G-fit and has really wide feet. The cheapest they have in soft soles is £30 and money is tight. It seems alot to spend on something that won't fit for long, especially as he's always in his pram when we're out.

I've trawled endless shops looking for a cheaper alternative but nowhere has soft soles that fit. It's stressing me out more than it should

Wibu to just not buy him shoes yet.

At 12 months babies should be mostly barefoot. I must admit mine all walked outdoors barefoot too, but by luck they all started walking securely in late spring/ early summer and first outside walking was on grass.

I did buy dc1 expensive first shoes as soon as she took her first steps, but she lost one (must have kicked or chucked it out of the pushchair) on the walk home from our very first outing with them, so then she stayed barefoot a while longer

If he can't walk in any shoes then he needs a bit more time barefoot walking.

Try grippy socks as an in between for now maybe.

Bare feet are not really practical outdoors in the UK in Feb though. Or at any time unless your local park is totally free of dog shit and broken glass.

H&M do thinsulate booties, mine wore them with socks inside almost every time we left the house for over a year. Theyre about £7 or £8, would highly recommend them.

It’s totally normal for them to refuse to walk in shoes at first. One of mine looked like a ventriloquist’s funny when he first got shoes. His legs just went dangly and he wouldn’t even crawl. We just left them on and he gradually got used to them, especially when he realised he could walk outside if he wore shoes.

Sainsbury's do wee moccasins for a fiver. More like socks with a soft sole. Wouldn't do for gravel but fine for walking on carpet or shopping centre floors.

I've made note of the suggestions I've been given here, thanks. If he doesn't take to the ones I got him then I'll go back into town and check asda/H&M/sainsburys.

I don't have a Clarks factory outlet near me unfortunately only the standard shoe shop that gave me the dodgy size!

He's got really wide, chubby feet and I've really struggled to find something that fits. I came across these ones in TK Maxx by pure luck today, after scanning the kids isle and finding nothing then going back to double check. They're the start right brand and lightweight, so are meant to be good for developing feet. I've been on the hunt for weeks now.

He's in his pram all of the time when out but I feel so sorry for him not being able to run around on the park with the other toddlers, so hopefully these will do the trick

He's walking in them! Hooray.

He's a little bit wobbly but he's bombing around the living room as I type.

So relieved

I bought my DS Clark's Cruisers, they are first shoes that stand up to scrambling, crawling & learning to walk. I bought his first pair when he was around 9 months & trying to stand up, he has a very wide foot & was a GG fitting & still has a wide foot at 15 size 11HH fitting.

Is it just Clark's who accommodate different widths then?

I haven't noticed anywhere else (yet) that have sizes with width taken into account, like G, GG etc. Only the sizing in numbers.

Startrite do width fittings. Elefanten so wide, Standard and narrow rather than letter widths. I'm sure there are others. As he gets older there are also brands which just are wide fitting while other brands are narrow. Geox are excellent wide fitting shoes for older boys.

My DD has H or G width feet according to Clarkes, theyve always told us to size up, so she was recently measured as 10.5H and was fitted in size 11G

Oh give over @BarbarianMum. When a child is just walking it's fine to not want to spend money on expensive shoes they'll grow out of before they've potentially even had a days use out of them.

If you're taking issue at me saying I didn't buy proper shoes until needed at nursery - they were in nursery from 8 months, walked at 14 months, and had shoes then. My son that walked at 10 months and didn't go to nursery till pre-school had them at around 18 months or so. I think. Maybe younger.