Baby shoes....advice please!

[gemmeg]

Hello,

My DS is 15 months old and still cannot walk unaided although he is very adept at cruising around the furniture and has a cart that he holds on to and pushes along. All the floors in our flat are either laminate or tiled and therefore slippery when only wearing socks. I know advice states that the best thing for babies learning to walk is to leave them barefoot but as it's -3 oC outside at the moment (I live in Austria) the floors indoors are not too warm either and I know I wouldn't like to be walking around barefoot all day. I bought some slippers today that have a hardish sole on them and am not sure whether to put them on him as I don't want to damage his feet or hinder his development. What do other mumsnetters think? I bought him some soft leather soled moccasin sock thingys the other day but the blasted things just don't stay on his feet when he starts crawling around!

Both of my girls had the cruising shoes that Clark's do (similar shoe shops sell them too). The sole is a lot softer than the walking shoes but should be fine for protecting their feet.

This sort of thing

Are these the kind of thing that you've already tried? They look quite sweet and the elastic round the ankles looks like it would help them stay on.

Cruisers are good. Most shoe shops do them and they're designed for not-yet-walkers.

we had little leather slipper booties for cruising then moved on to cruising shoes once ds was walking unaided. the leather slippers were elaticated at the ankle and had the added bonus of keeping his socks on

Our DS was like yours at this age (ish) and we also have laminate, we initially put down some play tiles, although he wasn't particularly confident and he also walked on the insides of both feet. We decided to try him in some proper toddler shoes and within a week he was running around the house (he's now 18mths). Xx

Thanks for all of your replies . I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for some socks with rubber pads on and hope they give him some grip.....I was a late walker as a child so I think he's taking after me! I'm going to try and give him a bit of each day time to "run" around barefoot too. He just seems to prefer crawling at the moment....he's not even bothered about walking around with me holding his hands anymore and he used to love it. Thanks again!

You need Bical Socks! have a Google, they are wonderful ( I have sleepy DD in one arm and am on my phone, don't know how to do links on phone). They are socks with a proper grippy rubber sole, and they are perfect for that not-walking-but-its-cold stage.