First walker question--nothing to do with Hanna but please help!!!

[mary b]

Hi, my second DD has started walking and I am headed to the Stride Rite Outlet this weekend but I need a couple of opinions please.

I took her today to a Payless down the street since i don't have time to take her to our regular Stride Ride by Saturday. (Currently, she is pretty much barefoot or in size 4 sandels)

Her toe was right on the 4, so they said get a 5 Regular (which seem really big).

Does that seem right to you guys? I would like her to be able to wear them for a few months so I need them to fit NOW too.

Does anyone have experience with Payless measuring? It was actually the manager there and she seemed to do a decent job.

My first DD's walkers were a 5 1/2 W (which I just tried and they are HUGE on Lindsey).

Now I am thinking, if she really is a 5R, I can get them at Target since they are Stride Rite and $15.

I am thinking I should get a 4 1/2 from the outlet?
what do you think?
Is anyone still reading?

Thanks!!! Why am I obsessing over this! You guys have converted me to Naarjie so I figure, someone owes me!! ha!

Mary
Mom to Noelle and Lindsey

[amp]

My biggest question would be do they actually check for width at Payless? I ask because, as far as I know, SR is the only brand that carries wide/extra wide. Payless does not. So would they even check for it? My son is an XW, so I have to buy SR at this time, although I am sure this will change as his feet grow. That would be my only concern, because width of shoe is very important.

When we got fitted, I believe they said they go with a size that is 1/2 or 1 size larger than they measure, so that they have room to grow. The reason I can't remember is that they go up a 1/2 size for a certain age group and a whole size for another. I can't remember if that's now or later. Anyway, it has to do with giving room for growth without tripping them up more than necessary. It wouldn't hurt to get sized at a SR or at the outlet if you can, just to see if they confirm. You can also print out a size chart from the stride rite website, which is not perfect since it's just a piece of paper, but we were able to accurately measure DS's feet and then confirmed it at the store.

Good luck!

[parkersmama]

I agree with Andrea...they usually tell you to go up 1/2 to a whole size from what they measure. Although that seems like a lot, in 3 months she'll probably be needing new ones again! I don't know about widths. I've never been able to tell from looking if my kids were wide or not. I would go with the 5R, probably. Also, you could get her measured at SR even if you're not going to buy there.

[annex]

I was in the same position as you early last month, and decided to spend the extra $ to get the 4.5 from SR. For this early walking, I felt like it was important to get something that really fit well. Although you may find in some brands that the 5 fits just fine. I found one size 5 that fit okay (sorry don't remember the brand, maybe the Gap's velcro sneaker?) but I wanted a sandal, so I decided not to go with it. So far, it's worked out okay (no feet growth spurts), so it's looking like the 4.5 will last me for the rest of the summer...

Anne

[mary b]

Thanks everyone!

I wasn't planning on taking her with me to the outlet, that was the problem! It's an hour away so if they aren't right, it will be a problem. THey did check Width and said she was a regular at Payless.

Thanks Andrea for the tip about printing out the chart, I will do that and check her width again to be sure.


Mary

[nitaghei]

Mary,

Do you have any other children's store or a Nordstrom that you can take your DD to? I would not trust the people at the SR outlet to measure correctly. When I got DS's shoes, I had him measured at Olly, Nordstrom and the SR outlet. Olly and Nordstrom came up with the same size (4M) but the SR outlet person claimed he was a 5.5W!! Both the Olly and Nordstrom salesclerks suggested going up half a size - so we ended up with 4.5M. I did the same thing for his summer shoes - went up half a size. There's no way he could have been comfortable with a shoe that was a full size larger.

Nita
mom to Neel, January 2003
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[August Mom]

Since you are not planning to take her with you, this really won't be an issue, but I just wanted to warn you about the SR outlet that I assume you are visiting on I-71. I have found their sales clerks to be worthless about measuring and any style/sizing questions. They told me that they don't fit shoes there. And I had a very specific question based on what I was told at the regular SR store and the clerks knew nothing about the issue.

Truthfully, I would find the time to take her to a regular SR or local children's shoe store before I trekked to the outlet. You only have 30 days to return to the outlet.

What I was told at SR is that their sizing equipment is set up so that you buy the size that your child's foot measures at. However, other stores (like Nordstrom, for example), generally go up 1/2 to 1 size. We have never been to Payless because DS has a wide foot. The general rule is that there should be a thumb width between the end of the toes and the shoe.

HTH

[votre_ami03]

I found the same problem w/a SR regular store vs. a SR outlet. The outlet clerk measured Nolan at a 7 in shoes & a 6 in sandals. A 7 would of been huge on him, she was kookoo. The regular store said a 5 1/2 to 6. Much better!


Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03