Introducing shoes

[purplemurple1]

I know they don't need real shoes until they have been walking a few weks, but I tried a shoe on my 10month old to see what he made of it and he was not happy. Tbh I think he would have prefered it if I'd poked him in the eye. So give he is likley to start walking in the winter and needs to be in fairly heavy linned winter boots (as I'm in Sweden) how do you get them used to / accepting of shoes on their feet?

Just wait until he's walking. There's no point putting shoes on them until then. In fact, you shouldn't as it's bad for their feet.

There is a slightly awkward stage when they're 'cruising' outside and will probably need something to protect their feet. We just used those soft leather moccasin type shoes to protect DD's feet (or something like Stonz booties might be an option if you need something more weather-resistant). Once she was taking independent steps outside, as well as inside, I got her fitted for soft-soled 'first walker' shoes.

Read up on barefoot shoes for children - there's a strong argument against 'heavy' shoes for anyone, let alone little ones whose feet are still forming. The happylittlesoles.co.uk has lots of good info and the woman who runs it is really helpful if you email her questions directly.

Take a look at 'barts' booties. He can wear them in the winter and walk/ sit/ crawl in snow in them if needed