Extra toe shoes

[maw86]

Hi - wondering if anyone else has a child with an extra toe and can recommend any shoes / custom shoe places in London? My 14 mo has 6 toes on his right foot, his feet are already extra wide (H in Clarks) and quite chunky, he's recently started walking and seems quite bothered by his shoes and I can see in sandals it doesn't look too comfy. Any pointers appreciated, thanks!

Barefoot shoes might work? They're made to be much wider in the toe box than regular shoes, which might provide the extra space that he needs. Hobibear sell smarter shoes in a wide fit, they sell through Amazon which is who I'd buy from as the returns are a bit of a nightmare direct through their website (but easy through Amazon!). Hobibear Smart Shoes. They also do trainers: Hobibear trainers

Zara also do a barefoot range, and have some sandals in, which are wide and adjustable width LEATHER BAREFOOT SANDALS - Sand Brown | ZARA United Kingdom
LEATHER BAREFOOT CAGE SANDALS - Green | ZARA United Kingdom

should he not get that removed?

i have 6 toes on my right foot and since i fully grown i just bought 3 sizes up and stuffed that shoe up with a tea-towels - this was MY SOLUTION

Can your orthotist or physio advise ?

i don’t think that is a solution that’s awful

thats quite rude. it works for me. i thought this was non-judge mental area for people to speak truth and help each other. why you judge me

No extra toes but son has very wide feet, Clarks did nothing wide enough. I was told to buy a German brand as apparently they are wider. It did work but I can't remember the brand name. I'll see if I can find it. Think it was elefanten but they seem to have been taken over by Deichman so don't know if they are the same.

most of my shoes are Deichmann because they are quality shoes and also because they feel safer for me. hopefully i not get judged for brand choice as well

I read the previous posters response as it being awful that you have to resort to that because there’s no alternative for you, rather than being judgey.
I imagine going up a size is unfortunately the option unless something can be found online.

because it’s totally uncomfortable and damaging for a child with growing feet

What? Where have I judged Deichman? I know elefanten were great for children with wide feet, they have changed owner so might or might not have changed. Your response seems very OTT. Can you confirm if there isnt any difference to 30 years ago? I doubt it.

No extra toes, but extremely wide feet with short toes (so they can't compress in shoes). So do both my kids.

Obviously my most comfortable shoes are crocs, which my feet pretty much fit perfectly - but NOT the crocs trainers which are very narrow. Sheepskin boots (from Costco) are my other comfy shoe.

In the way of real shoes, we recently bought New Balance trainers in their widest fitting (pretty much no choice of style) which are the first real shoes my youngest has worn in the past decade that he hasn't complained hurt his toes.

I also rate Vivo barefoot - but they did take some stretching to fit my toes, so I bought leather ones and a shoe stretcher and now they're lovely.

Also Rocket Dog plimsolls - although watch out, they seem to have 2 lines - one lot are nice and wide, one lot are narrower.

Oh! Sorry! 14 months - wow. My eldest had these kinda socks with full plastic soles on them at that age that were very wide, but I have no idea of the brand. Then we moved onto leather clarks in the widest side, which stretched out.

Before we found the wide fitting trainers, he'd actually wear a hole in the side of the trainers and his little toe would poke out, so the New Balance ones are definitely much wider.

My son had an extra, joined little toe on one foot, but we had it removed just before he turned one. He's a teen now and has narrow E width feet, so a very wide shoe to accommodate the extra toe would have been quite ill-fitting otherwise. Good luck, I hope you can find the solution.

Echoing a previous poster with barefoot shoes. They’re not cheap for children but if you got barefoot + size up, they could work?

not you

why do you hate me - it helped me

i go up 3 sizes somethimes 4 and use a tea-towels or old tshrt to fil the gap - but only on one shoe. why is that awful? sometimes i dont pay for the shoes as i can take a 5 in one shoe and maybe an 8 or 9 from display for the other foot

This is all super helpful, thank you for your suggestions! We're waiting on appointments to advise on what he needs and whether he needs it removed (I'd like to understand the implications both ways and it's helpful to hear from an adult with 6 toes) and in the meantime need to put him in something comfy now that he's up and about!

You may find something useful here:

https://fittingchildrenshoes.com/shoes-for-kids-with-six-toes-extra-deep-and-rounder-toe-boxes/

Do lots of adult keep the extra toe? I have seen people with a joined little extra toe on the smallest toe (and same for fingers actually). I imagine that is easier to remove than a non-attached toe. Hope you find some suitable footwear, OP.

No hate here! But I recently saw a post on Facebook illustrating that the issue with sizing up is that you get so much more length than width when sizing up that it causes issues - hence the toe-stuffing (something I used to do when I was younger too and pixie boots were in, which my feet absolutely didn't fit!)

So it is definitely better to get something with a good wide toe-box rather than size up if you can. I really think the options have improved recently with the whole bare-foot movement.

https://images.app.goo.gl/BxaqZw1ypxRFF81V7 images.app.goo.gl/BxaqZw1ypxRFF81V7]]]]

this has got to be a wind up

I didn't have an extra toe, but terrible tailors bunions developed on both my little toes when I was about 11. No shoes fitted, and the pain of the bone digging into the floor just got worse and worse. Had both feet operated on aged 15. Wasn't pleasant at the time, but have had pretty much pain free feet for 30 years since, although I still need orthotics. I'd walked for so long on the insides of my feet to avoid the bones touching the floor I totally flattened my arches and overpronate massively. My parents and I both really fretted about the operation but I'm now very glad it was done. I know this doesn't help the shoe problem now, but I hope it might help for thinking about going forward. At the time people laughed and thought I was having it done for cosmetic reasons, they really didn't understand the pain of not being able to find any shoes that didn't push on the bone, and then also walking badly putting pain though my feet and knees.

Crikey @maw86 that sounds tough. Start-rite are wider than Clarks. Will sandals work better for the summer?

Hopefully they will remove it for him.

DD was very wide - just off a start-rite H. She is still very wide at 27 and buys very expensive shoes from Sargasso and Grey.