To want to pull my hair out looking for teeny tiny walker shoes?

[marenmj]

DD is 8 months and happily cruising - starting to let go momentarily in fact. If you take her hands and let her toddle around the room she is the happiest baby EVER.

Soft-soled shoes are all well and good at home, but I would really like something a little more hard-wearing and protective for stomping around outside, not to mention waterproof! (she does stomp too - she toddles with authority)

Had her measured in the shop yesterday and though the assistant swore beforehand she would be at least a 2 based on height/age, after actually pulling out a foot and measuring it, has confirmed my suspicions that DD isn't quite a 1 yet . She referred me to Next, who seems to start their shoes at a 3. Better, but I doubt DD will be in a 3 before Autumn descends.

Not that shops should cater specifically to my DD's itty bitty feet, but it seems like they make nice, big crib shoes for the 18 month-olds who aren't walking, why not some outdoors-ready tiny wellies for the ones who want to stomp around earlier? Should I just order the 3's and start buying fluffy socks??

Maren, mothercare start at a size 2 for first walkers.

Mine wear star-child little leather shoes until they're 18mo-2yo.

They wear them outdoors with no problems at all.

Personally, neither of mine have been in proper shoes until they were walking well - for several weeks. I used robeez before then, inside and out.

However a friend has a similar problem to you and eventually her DD fitted into start rite which start at a 2

Your DD's feet must be teeny tiny! My ds3 is a size 4.5 and he is 9 months old. What size do Clarkes and Startright start from?

Sorry to say, but I think though that you will probably struggle to find any shoes for her until she reaches a 3.

Thanks! I think I will try some of the mothercare ones.

She has soft, leather shoes for now (size 0 and plenty of room). I'm sorry, I should have specified that I'm trying to look forward a bit. I'm looking more for Oct/Nov, when there won't be many dry days in the park .

My DD was the same, happily walking at 10 months, she was a size 2 (just) and we managed to get cruiser shoes for her from Clarks which were fine. I also find that as she is petite anyway her shoes last a lot longer than for bigger children, which is great when they cost £25 a time!
DS also has small feet, he's nearly 2 and wears size 4. It was much harder getting his first walkers and went to an independent shoe shop which had a much larger range of shoes.

Also, maybe get your DD measured in another shop - according to a sales assistant last week my daughter's foot had grown 1 and a half sizes and gone down 2 widths in the space of 4 weeks. I got a second opinion on that one!

5inthebed they are! She's only just grown out of her newborn-sized socks and is wearing great, big size 1's that are long enough to be holdups!

She comes by it honestly, DH and I both have small feet for our height.

For those whose LOs were in soft shoes outdoors, what did you do when the ground was wet? The ones I have seen don't look like they would hold up well or keep their feet dry after a wetting, even the spendy ones.

Also, what did you do about traction? Her little soft shoes are cute, but the leather soles slip a lot, especially on carpet and grass.

DD wore her Robeez soft shoes outside in wet and dry weather though only on hard surfaces (not grass). They were fine. They are leather-soled and pretty water-resistant. Obviously at toddling/cruising stage, they aren't walking great distances so I really wouldn't worry too much about getting damp feet. I didn't bother with cruising shoes and her first shoes in November were a 3.5 at around 16 months old (she had been walking for around 2.5 months by then.

Alternatively, what about something like these?

Adams have some 'baby wellies' but only in purple and black hearts here.

The only other possible options are patent ankle boots here.

Mothercare have these boots which start at a 2.

I got some size 2s from zara a few years back

My dd is v tiny footed - only a 5 now at 4!

But ditto them inchblue soft thingies are fine for outside. Went camping last year when ds was about 10 mo and they were fine outside. Weather was horrendous as well

The socks are very cute. I will probably pick up a pair for day-to-day outings right now.

I saw the purple boots at Adams yesterday, very cute! We did a day at the new Westfield mall because I went into the city to go to the embassy only to discover they were closed, five hours before I was meant to meet someone. So I had time to kill and I hit all the baby stores in one go.

Anyway, it looks like we may have unintentionally sorted it. Dh is constantly buying DD age-inappropriate shoes because he likes the look of them and "she will fit them eventually" (he had a six month supply of mary janes before the 26-week scan) and it would seem he bought a pair of leather boots from mothercare somewhere along the line, in a size 2, and put them on her "clothes to grow in to" shelf

I had the same thing with my DD who was walking really well by 9 months - and cruising around way way before that. She had tiny feet, and at the point I judged she needed shoes (ie, she was wanting to walk around outside, and the weather was pants), she was unmeasurable according to Clarks. I finally got her some size 2 shoes, but she'd been walking unaided for months by that point. She had those soft leather shoes, and whilst not ideal, they were ok. Just meant she couldn't stomp around in muddy puddles with her big brother. Would have loved some wellies for her... She's nearly 2 and a half now, and size 5, so they did grow at some point!

Also...what's the point of size 2, when size 1 seems to be non-existent? [puzzled]

Have you seen this website? www.petitefeetbabyshoes.co.uk/categories.php?gender=G

Pedipeds are fabulous. Leather, but supportive enough to be worn outside and a huge range of lovely shoes.

I was gutted when DS grew out of his.

Bookmarked the petitefeetbabyshoes site.

I will have to tell the grandparents, who are Stateside and wanting to buy presents, about the pedipeds