Extra Wide Shoes - baby just broke the mama bank!!!

[JulieL]

So I have been to Target, Wal-Mart, Payless, Supermarket of Shoes, JcPennys, Sears, Gymboree, Baby Gap, Childrens Place and finally had to give up and buy StrideRite's for my DS. My little guy just has the puggiest feet, ever!!! I went to Lauries Shoes and they carry StrideRite. They measured him and I as expected he has wide feet, but I didn't think extra wide!!! I just ordered the cotton sandels by Babyshoos and I hope they will fit him as well. They were cheaper. To the mom's who know better out there have you found a company cheaper than StrideRite that carries extra wide. I like his new tennies, and so does Anthony. The other ones I got from Wal-mart that the velcro was hardly holding on, he cried when I put them on, :-( . Well he doesn't quite walk yet, cruises though, but so many mom's told me that keeping him in slippers as I was, wasn't good for his feet. So any hidden treasures out there???

-JulieL
mama to Anthony 3/23/02

[Tondi G]

Bare foot is best!!!! My Ds spent a lot of time barefoot and I always got the comments "oh barefoot again" or "don't you think he should be wearing shoes???". My ped said to buy the cheapest lightest shoes I could find!!!!

Do you have a Stride Rite Outlet near you???? same shoes at half the price!

~Tondi and Mason 7/8/01!

[parkersmama]

Here's my 2 cents:

When you're at home, keep him barefoot in the summer and in grippy-type socks (non-slippery) in the winter. When you're going somewhere where he'll want to walk (just about everywhere once they really start walking!) put him in shoes. It has always been my philosophy that their little feet are too important to take lightly so I've always taken my kids to a specialty shop where they actually know how to measure them. My experience has been that department stores don't have a clue how to measure kid's feet and 90% of the time they don't even offer to do it! Our specialty store here measures every time we go in even when I already know the size (guess they're just making sure!). When my kids were first walking we either bought Stride Rites or Elefantens (my favorite but man are they expensive!! I have some of their sandals that BOTH my boys wore all summer long and you can hardly tell they've been worn.) I think it's totally worth the money to buy the more expensive every day shoes but you can buy cheaper (WalMart, Target) shoes for occasional wear (sundays, dress-up, Christmas). I usually buy a good pair of sandals and tennis shoes in the summer and a good pair of boots and tennis shoes in the winter. Here is a Stride Rite coupon if you can use it! http://www.striderite.com/pages/email/20030320/spring_sale.html
HTH!

Denise
mom to:
Parker, 9/1/1997
Wesley, 3/9/2000
and #3 (a girl!) due 4/29/2003

[sarsah]

See if there is a Stride Rite outlet store near you. They are still expensive, but often run specials. That's mostly where I buy all DS's shoes. He has very wide, thick feet and is very hard to fit.

I've also found some wide shoes at Kohl's, but their selection is fairly limited.

Sarah......

[JulieL]

I agree with you that little ones feet are soooo important to take care of. I do let him go bare foot as well. But as far as shoes go, only sandels from Target fit him. No other shoe other than the Stride Rites in tennis shoe will fit him. His feet are just to fat, but cute! Knowing that he was fitted makes me feel better about spending so much. Thanks for you insite.

-JulieL
mamam to Anthony 3/23/02