Early walkers and shoes

[Dreamsunshine]

Hi. Just after some advice. My wee boy took his first steps at 8.5months so about 3.5weeks ago. He is has really taken off now and walking very well. He can easily walk in and out of rooms in the house and up and down the hallway etc completely independently. I read to keep him out of shoes as long as possible for their feet to strengthen. He starts day care in 2 weeks and im just wondering should he have a pair for outside incase? Anybody any advice? Thank you.

I agree with keep barefoot as long as possible but daycare may well want something on hois feet whilst he's outside at least. I can recommend www.happylittlesoles.co.uk for a great selection of barefoot feel shoes. Their fitting can be a little confusing but I've had nothing but good quality fr there and they're very helpful if you need support . It's fab he's walking so early but I'd still encourage crawling games etc as well. There's some evidence that crawling is beneficial for their co-ordination. He will do what he does though I'm sure x

@Jannt86 that's great. Thank you. Now that he's on his feet thats all he wants to do but at 9 months he does show very good co ordination so hopefully he won't miss out. Thanks again

We've sent our wee one to nursery with the soft leather slipper-type shoes, plus wellies for when it's properly wet outside (which every child at the nursery is supposed to have), and nursery have been fine with that. Lots of online shops do them, Dotty Fish, Mini Feet, Inch Blue, Little Shoos, etc. Inch Blue also do them with a very bendy rubber sole that I'm thinking we might try now that there are likely to be more damp days.

Yes i did see wellies on the list and wondered if that was just for older children. Oops. So I will probably need to find a pay of those, can 9 month olds wear wellies lol the bendy rubber soles sound good. Will see if I can find them. How did you figure out sizing?

Happy little souls sell a foot measure for only a couple of quid and have good advice on measuring. I wouldn't bother with too many pairs of alternative shoes or anything coz I'm afraid he will probably be popping out of them every couple of months at first lol. You can buy puddle suits for that age which also have feet so you might get away with just a little pair of pre walkers for now and just use the puddle suit if it's wet x

Thank you @Jannt86

Definitely worth asking nursery if you need wellies when he's so young – they'll only fit for five minutes.

I agree with Jannt that Happy Little Soles have great info. A lot of the soft leather shoes seem to size in mm, so you can trace their foot and measure with a ruler – my little girl needed her first pair during lockdown when everything was still closed, so it was measure at home or nothing. And nothing was not really an option if we wanted to use the garden...

Inch Blue with the rubber soles are at www.inchblue.com/uk/. I haven't bought from them before, but they're the only ones I've seen with the rubber sole option.