first shoes

[fireflyz]

DS just starting cruising and a few steps when hands held. He only wears socks usually but am wondering when and what shoes to get. A friend kindly gave me some unworn shoes , a pair of Fisher Price rainforest frog shoes and a pair of mothercare canvas t bar pumps, but am not sure. The Fisher Price ones seem quite firm so am not sure if too restrictive, and the canvas ones have a bucklrpe type fasteners which could get in the way if crawling. They're perhaps just ok for keeping feet warm in buggy?
I got some moccasin socks for in.the house and some wool booties , yet to try moccassins but booties just get kicked off.
Any SD ice welcome. TIA

PS I meant to say. Any advice welcome!

I would always get fitted shoes for first shoes - the bones in babies' feet are so soft, you need to be careful, and IMO, shoes bought yourself from high street shops are not always best. You need clarks, startrite, pediped etc who have shoes for different stages and fit them appropriately.

or could you get him some of the socks with the sticky bits on the bottom, to stop him slipping indoors, for now?

good old clarks shoes are needed for outdoors as you can damage their feet otherwise - but those moccassin shoe-socks are fabulous for indoor practice or at baby groups/soft play areas! thats what we started with :)

yy to getting the shoes properly fitted but it isn't recommended to have babies wearing any shoes at all until they are confident enough walkers to walk across a room unaided.

The best thing is to have bare feet for walking practice but as it's a bit chilly the moccassin socks would be a good alternative. DD has some of these are they keep her feet lovely and warm.

I got those socks with grippy things on the bottom (like baby gap) till my kids could walk really well and were walking outside. You don't need shoes indoors. I think Clarks 'cruisers' are just a way to make money. Once they are walking outside they recommend something firmer and more watertight.

DS had some incredibly soft leather slippers with suede soles. They were basically like little socks made of the same kind of stuff as ladies' leather gloves. like these. He wore them until he wore through them (he had been walking outside in them for about 6 weeks). Then I went to get him cruisers and the lady in the shop said he was walking well enough to go straight to shoes.

these also look quite good and probably go in the washing machine.

Ds and dd both walked at 10 months. Both go bare foot in house when little. Ds didn't get his first pair of shoes until he turned one, dd got hers earlier because she wanted to walk etc at the park like her brother. I get my kid's shoes from an independent shoe shop, clarks shoes don't fit my kids, their feet are too wide and their instep too high. Definitely get her feet measured and be prepared to gasp in amazement at the price of kid's shoes.

Inch blue shoes are brill for pre-walkers, although they're not the cheapest. I didn't bother with cruising shoes, just used those until DS was able to toddle on his own, at which point he went straight into his first pair of walking shoes from Clarks (£32! And my instructions were to take him back 8 weeks later to see if they still fit!!)

I love my DS's first shoes from www.snugglefeet.com/. Very soft with suede soles, good grip for taking first steps but really comfy to crawl in as well, very nice designs, and only £10 so much cheaper than the alternatives.

DS was barefoot or wearing "pram" shoes, little leather slip ons from Daisy roots until he was 14 months, the shoes could be worn outside as long as it wasn't cold or wet. Afterwards he went straight into a pair of Clarks shoes, he found them a little weird at first, refusing to walk in them at all, but it didn't last long!