First shoes?

[HeadFairy]

My ds is starting to walk, just a few steps at the moment but it won't be long.... it got me thinking I should buy him some shoes. I'm happy for him to be barefoot at home as it's easier for him to learn to walk like that but if we go out and he wants to walk in the park for example, with all the rain we're having he can't really go barefoot and his little suede softies don't really support his feet enough. Do I have to take him to a shoe shop to be fitted for his first shoes? Is that how it works? Or does it not matter at this stage?

Reading this thread with interest, as everything I've read says not to buy real shoes till they are confidently walking on their own but our almost 17MO isn?t confidently walking on her own, and yet she likes to walk outside with me holding one hand and I think her soft suede soled slipper things are not up to the job, especially on the gravel bridlepath which is also very muddy. She walks 2-4 steps by herself before reaching out for a hand or something to hold onto. She wont walk by herself more than 2-4 steps even indoors and yet she feels to be balanced etc when I have her hand, she isn?t leaning on me or anything. I think it?s a confidence thing but I could be wrong. She will walk a few steps to reach a favourite doll, but as soon as she notices she?s not holding onto something, she either sits down immediately, or reaches out to grab hold of my hand or the furniture. Does this mean she is ready for shoes or not? She wants to walk outside and be at the height of the farm animals and not in the back carrier all the time when we are out walking, but I?m always a bit reluctant to let her as she?s still in suede soled slippers. Is it OK to buy her some real shoes now, or is it best to let her walk in the suede soles on gravel etc (it won't hurt her feet?) even though it will obviously destroy the slippers pretty quickly?

Hi everyone, I was reading this thread and felt I had to comment, so have joined!
I used to work in a decent shoe shop which turned away lots of parents who were eager to buy shoes for their children too soon.
Remember, your young children do not have bones in their feet. The bones are cartilage until they are 16/18, and very mouldable. Even ill-fitting socks can damage a baby's feet.
A baby should be walking confidently around the house, without using its toes to grip when walking, and with some flexion in the foot before you even consider buying shoes. Usually five or six weeks from first independent steps.
This includes so-called 'cruiser' shoes.
Beware of Clarks. I was shocked when they tried to sell me cruisers for my justabout cruising baby. They work to targets and are on commission. Although they seemingly didn't seem desperate to sell Calsworld some shoes, the fact that they didn't take off the child's shoes is pretty poor.
We only get one pair of feet. Take care of them and always get shoes properly fitted.
My brother was given ill-fitting shoes when a teenager. Just one pair, and he still has problems with his feet. Not wishing to scare, but please take care!

CBH you are absolutely right.

I was given ill fitting shoe's throughout childhood because of the old 'grow into them' mentality. I had to have surgery on my feet as a teenager and will have to have more operations throughout my life. I have my second operation coming up next year in fact.

This is all because of ill fitting shoes in childhood. I always cringe when I see little girls with even the slightest hint of a heel that looks like it pushes their feet forward into the front of their shoe's.

I didn't know harm could be caused by ill fitting socks though, I will definitely be looking into that!

My parent's used to buy my shoe's from Clarks too.

I didn't know Clarks' staff worked on commission!

Where would people recommend buying shoes, if not there?

Hey AndMiffyWentToSleep and everyone else.

there's some very interesting comment in here.

I find that having to go to the shop is quite painful as DD wants to run around, we have to wait for a staff to be available and indeed, Clarks are expensive.

I've found Zulily recently, I don't know if any of you have used it and was hoping someone could tell me if it's trustable quality or not?

I was hoping (expecting?), since I'm a young mother who's worked in internet companies, that someone would find a way that I could measure my DD's feet on my own at home and just order online, what do you think, does this makes sense?

Thanks :)

Gigi