Small, deep shoes to fit orthotics in?

[Jenkeywoo]

DD is getting her orthotics on Wednesday after a long wait and we have been told that we have to find some shoes to fit them in. She is 15 months and hasn't had shoes before as she can't crawl or walk. Everyone in my family have high insteps (tall feet we call them!) and I have heard that the orthotics take up quite a lot of the depth of the shoe so could make it quite hard to find something for DD. Also her feet are teeny still - no more than a size 2 or 3. The physio has been pretty unhelpful "just go to clarkes or something"...

Has anyone had any experience of finding tiny shoes to fit orthotics? Also she recommended boots if possible but I have no idea where to start in such a tiny size.

do you mean affos or daffos.
if so I just buy wide trainers with velcro. I don't think you need shoes as the orthotics are doing the work.

my dd has daffos and uses them with piedros. They can also be used with trainers or highish heeled back shoes iykwim

The usual advice is that cheap trainers often work, because you want something that opens up as far down to the front as possible. It might be best to wait until you have collected the splint, then take it to a couple of shops to try on.
Piedros (an orthopaedic line of shoes) do work - but unless the orthotics service is supplying them they are not very practical because of teh expense and the fact that they have to be ordered through a catalogue.

sorry, didn't explain myself very well. The orthotics are a specially shaped insole to stop her toes curling under and foot rolling. They look quite like the footbed of my birkenstocks actually so baby birkis would be great if they did them! It's hard because the physio said boots would be best to help support her ankle but I'm not sure we're going to find something sturdy enough in such a small size, I think we'll end up with those pre-walking shoes or something. They should be hear wednesday so we'll spend the afternoon looking for shoes to fit.

We have kickers. Cheaper than Piedros. I don't know how small they come, but pretty small. Helenas are a size 7 but I know they do "baby" ones. This site shows them but only in continental sizing, I don't know how it transfers. www.kickers.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_3_302_30068?categoryId=13787&top_category =13755

Issues:

• the insole doesn't come out. For an orthotic you really need a removable insole and put the orthotic in its place. We aren't using an orthotic: the ankle is supportive enough that the main problem (overpronation) is fixed without an insole. I don't know about toe-curling though, ie whether if you had a solid enough boot you wouldn't need an insole at all; it's not a prob for us.
• it doesn't undo all the way down to the toes. If you've got a toe-curler, then (especially if there isn't much room in the boot) apparently the lower it unlaces the better. That's one of the advantages of piedros.

OK - much easier to fit insoles in - DS has an orthotic insole, and it's pretty slim - as r3 says, a removable insole in the shoe should make it ok - especially if you find shoes that have a wide opening ofr the lace-up section. Go to a good shoe shop that stocks a range of makes and styles and you should be ok.

Do you have a community paed?

I ask because ours basically "referred" us to the shop we used, which is a "normal" but independant shoe shop with a small frontage but a big range of brands and they always stock boots, all year round. They aren't specifically SN, but it's where our local hospital send all their SN kids for shoes.

But they're in Farnborough which is a bit far up for you, so you'd have to ask what your local equivalent is.

Ours were very nice. The lady didn't mind DD1 knocking her glasses off (once) and eating her hair (twice) and generally screaming in a disgruntled fashion throughout.

Thanks for the advice, the baby kickers look really cute. We've found a little independant shoe shop in a town nearby that seems to stock a really wide range of shoes so we're going to give it a go. Also someone told me that Hush puppies all have removeable insoles as standard so might give them a go too. I'm secretly so excited - although dd is nowhere near crawling yet let alone walking she is really keen on shoes and I'm really looking forward to seeing her tiny little feet all shoed up!

We had this with DD2. She needed shoes to help her learn to weight bear even though she wasn't walking and had the tiniest feet. She had formed insoles for shoes created from a mould by the paediatric podiatrist.

We put them in Clarks' shoes at first - they do start at a size 2 but they had to order them specially in for us.

As she started crawling and then wobbly walking she needed more support so we bought boots. We go to French's in Southampton and they are FANTASTIC, regular shoes/boots but the staff are very experienced and knew exactly what she needed without us explaining everything. I make the trip there now as it is worth it, she gets good footwear well fitted and they check her insoles as well.

We need to go soon for summery shoes as the poor girl has been wearing her burgundy boots with shorts - so not a good look...