How important are good baby shoes? How much do you spend?

[interwebmum]

I'm having a bit of a dilemma about what shoes to buy for my DD (9months). She's a keen walker and wants to be on her feet all the time. She can't walk without help yet and she's still quite wobbly, but it won't be long before she's running around.
I live in France and the good quality shoes are as expensive as adult shoes which is crazy considering the amount of time she'll be in them.
I'm thinking about ordering some shoes online from a British company. Can anyone recommend a good one? Should the shoes have soft leather soles?
Am I being pfb, or are good shoes at this age really important?

Oh, meh > Mocc Ons

Generally I use clarks for my son's shoes (although I do buy 'poor mans crocs' for him from supermarkets and run of the mill wellies and slippers (he rarely wears slippers). Clarks shoes for him are about 30 quid (although got a pair for a bargain 9 quid the other day).

However, I didn't put him in any kind of shoes (cruisers or first walkers) until he was about 13 months (he was walking (tottering style) from 10 months old).

Until then, we had him in the buggy when travelling about outside (so he didn't need shoes) but we'd let him out in gardens/parks/other people's houses to walk barefoot and of course he was always barefoot in the house (never did socks/slippers). The more barefoot time they get as infants the better for their development, but it's not always possible depends on the time of year and nature of your child (not every child will be happy in a buggy if they're desperate to walk!)

Some brilliant suggestions. Thanks all. I love the sheep skin lined slippers rednellie. It gets very cold here in winter and they look really cosy.
I'm seriously regretting ever starting the walking around actually. It's going to be hard to stop now that it's all she wants to do. Oh we'll, I'll know better for number two! (I'm not pregnant BTW, just keen, if I survive the first one)

Who would have thought that shoes were so bad for us lagoon? It's crazy. I'll forward that article to brother who is a keen runner and just spent a fortune on a swanky pair of trainers [evil grin].
Love the name zola. Very apt for this conversation.

Indeed.

Barefoot?

And nude.

They do those slippers for adults too...just saying. Evil

zola! The mind boggles.

rednellie I know what's going on my Xmas list.

Hi OP, you might find this article interesting: 9 reasons not to walk babies: www.janetlansbury.com/2011/03/9-reasons-not-to-walk-babies/
Your baby will walk when she's ready. Let her crawl around for now, learn how to cruise, climb etc for herself. Shoes are a long way off!

Hello rattle, interesting reading. It's confirmed what I was starting to suspect. I started yesterday, making an effort to distract DD with toys and games each time she whines and wants to be walked around. I actually thought that walking babies around was how they learned to walk . I've got very little experience of babies and have been living somewhere without mother and baby groups so I'm really learning on the job. Poor baby.

Oh don't worry, she'll walk when she's ready! I never walked DD, and also didn't have those walker where the baby sits inside. (Only the push along ones, but they can't be used until the baby is fairly steady). She's just interested in getting mobile and will bum shuffle, crawl, pull herself up, cruise etc. Be ready for the phase where she pulled herself up and then couldn't sit back down. I'd never thought it's possible but DD was stuck for a week not being able to get back down. It's actually tricky because they have to collapse back to sitting for a while before being able to bend back down!

I mean with those push along walkers, baby has to be able to pull themselves up to the walker and then push. DD just loves pushing things around. She still does at 2yo, with toy wheelbarrows, a shopping trolley and the good old vtech walker.

www.inch-blue.com/uk/category/whats-new

I love these.

rattle very interesting article. Maybe that's why DD didn't go through the reckless run out to middle of room and collapse phase. I never walked her, but I know plenty others do. When she finally left the safety of furniture, she was very steady on her feet already, and never fell from walking. I think it must be because she's got a good sense of her own balance.

I think that French culture is much more insistent on younger children wearing hard 'proper' shoes much earlier than in the UK. I didn't have a child when I lived in France, but I remember an American friend living n Paris getting very frustrated with her daughter's crèche assistants, who kept telling her her little girl needed 'proper' shoes long before she thought it was appropriate.

Agreeing that there is no need for shoes too young. I bought my son's first pair when he was only nine months or so, because there didn't seem anything suitable for him to wear out on his little sledge in the snow last winter. A complete waste of £28, as he wore them three times!

A brand I like, and which he has had for his two pairs of summer sandals this summer (he is now 17 months) is Pablosky, a Spanish brand. Nice and soft and light.

My ds is at tge walking with help stage, mostly he is barefoot but I have soft leather shoes for when we are somewhere with sharp stones, they cost about 7 pounds ( in Sweden)

A walk along trolley is ds's favorite toy at the momen, you can tighten tge wheels to stop them going so fast to start with.

I agree that it's best to let them go barefoot or, at a push, in those soft leather soled slippers (not just Bobux - there are loads of brands - have a look on Amazon). In fact I probably have a couple of spare pairs kicking around - PM me if you want and I'll send them to you!

When your daughter is properly walking and does need real outdoor shoes, then I wouldn't recommend buying online. I think it's really important to get the right fit when their wee feet are still soft and developing. In fact the one time that we did splurge a bit on kids' shoes was for the first pair (we live in Belgium so kids' shoes are similarly expensive here - but good quality).

I agree that it's best to let them go barefoot or, at a push, in those soft leather soled slippers (not just Bobux - there are loads of brands - have a look on Amazon). In fact I probably have a couple of spare pairs kicking around - PM me if you want and I'll send them to you!

When your daughter is properly walking and does need real outdoor shoes, then I wouldn't recommend buying online. I think it's really important to get the right fit when their wee feet are still soft and developing. In fact the one time that we did splurge a bit on kids' shoes was for the first pair (we live in Belgium so kids' shoes are similarly expensive here - but good quality).

I used snuggle feet shoes, they were great.

It's pretty pointless to get them "real" shoes unless you literally are willing to hold their hands for long periods of time because until they get confident, it's quicker to crawl and they will just drop down and crawl for longer periods. Also, hate to break it to you but DS could cruise/walk holding hands at 8 months but didn't walk unaided until 16 months!

It's nearly 4pm here and so far I have avoided walking LO around and it's been fine. She did complain a few times, but it's forced her to make more of an effort to get around on her own. She fell over a couple of times and even took a few shaky steps on her own. I think she could crawl if she wanted to but it's just more fun to be walked around by mum all day. So I won't be starting again.
That's so sweet of you gastrognome! Cheers, but I've already ordered some inchblue shoes on the web. Very cute, with elephants on them.
I don't know how much we'll need them now I'm on walking strike but it'll be good to have them when it gets cold.

No worries - and the offer still stands if you ever need any spares :-)