baby shoes

[belindarose]

I'm sure this has been done before, but we're in a dilemma about shoes for DD. She's 13 mo and has been walking 4 weeks. Very confident walker, obviously still falls over a lot. Thinks she's better than she is and wants to be out of the pushchair a lot. She's been wearing bare feet or little soft leather shoes (like Daisy Roots style - but cheaper!). We don't know if she needs proper shoes - can't wear these things in the damp or on rough ground really. We had her feet measured in Clarks yesterday and she was 3G, but they said she could only have cruisers as 'their feet need to get used to shoes'. I believe this is just a ploy for us to buy more pairs and won't buy cruisers, but how do I know when she's ready for 'real' shoes? I appreciate bare feet are better most of the time, but not practical for a busy outdoor girl in the autumn!

I'm not sure that cruisers are particularly suitable for outdoors, are they? We had a similar situation with my dd who bum shuffled, so I refused to buy cruisers as, eh, she didn't. She went straight into Clark's 'first shoes' (probably about a size 3) and was fine. First shoes are pretty soft and flexible; they're just a bit sturdier and weatherproof that cruisers.

The Start-Rite cruisers are pretty weatherproof. I was happy to buy them (on the advice of the fitters at both Clarks and Russell & Bromley) on the basis that they're closer to bare feet and will last her probably for six months - then she can go into hard-soled shoes.

If she's walking properly and not just cruising then surely "real" shoes are better as they will give her feet more support? It's not as if she will be wearing them 12 hours a day anyway, when ds had his first pair of shoes I only put them on him when we went outside, inside he had bare feet. So he was probably wearing them maybe for 2/3hours a day and walking in them for maybe an hour or so. We never bothered with cruisers, couldn't see the point myself, just added expense.

Maybe go to a different shoe shop and see what they say?

Thanks, I'll try a different shop. Will also look at Start-Rite cruisers and see what I think. Octaviapink - was your DD walking and not cruising when you had them?

DS's first shoes were startrite (far better than clarks in my opinion)

This was few years ago but they were a slightly softer version of a proper shoe and were fine for outdoors and wet weather

This seems to be the same style as DS had

www.startriteshoes.com/boys/pre-walkers/dinky-tot

sorry see you have a DD

here is the girl's version!

www.startriteshoes.com/girls/pre-walkers/cutie-tot

I was told to wait until dd's had been walking unaided for at least 6 weeks before buying "proper" shoes.

You were recommended cruisers as standard shoes do not start until size 4 in Clarks or startrite.
My son is nearly 19 mths and been walking since Christmas and still a size 3.5! so cruisers are the only shoes that I can get him. Compared to standard walker shoes they just have a more flexible sole so no problems with an early walker going into them.

I'd say if she is walking full time then she is defintely ready for shoes

my DD is walking quite a bit around furniture she s barefoot at home but its getting too cold for just socks outside and she likes walking a bit with us holding her but she is tiny (10 months old but only wears 3-6 months) her feet are too small for size 2 what is she supposed to wear? but size 2 is what she wears in pushchair etc to keep feet warm

DD was an early walker and her feet were only a size 1 - we managed to find that Nike do proper trainers from a size 1 (also do half sizes!) which is what she had and was running about in until she fitted 'proper' clarks shoes! Not easy!!

If you have a John Lewis near you I'd recommend trying in there. Always had very good advice there, the shoes are generally cheaper than Clarks/Startrite and asaik they don't have any kind of bonus/commission based on sales.

DD had been walking reasonably confidently for about six weeks when we got her cruisers. It's not really an extra pair of shoes because they'll do perfectly well as shoes until she grows out of them (they're a size 5G) so I don't see it as an added expense.

Sarahtigh, we bought DD some of these. The prewalkers have round grippy bits but are beautifully soft. We found them cheaper elsewhere, but I can't remember where, sorry!

Re-measured elsewhere today and was a smaller size (2.5F). Only option was a pair of Start-Rite cruisers so have gone for them. They're reasonably robust looking and she's happy walking in them, so they'll have to do. JarethTheGoblinKing - sadly no John Lewis anywhere near (and you hit a raw nerve there!!).