When did you start shoes?

[Edensmum]

I have been told to wait until they are walking. That shoes too early is bad for their foot development. So dd is nearly 8 months and shoeless still. Recently she has started crusing. Her favorite thing ever is to walk with us holdingher hands. I don't want to put her down out side and let her do this in just socks though.
I had tried a couple of soft shoes early on since baby stocking shave not feet and look bad on their own, but her feet seem really long. None of the baby ones ever fit lol. What do you do at this in between stage? I don't want to spend too much now, and wind up replacing them right away.

[ellies mom]

Have you tried Robeez? I know whenever we size up the next size is way too big for a while, if the 6-12mo size doesn't work the 12-18mo size should. DD is 18mo and she still wears her Robeez quite often.

HTH

[AbbieF]

I second the vote for Robeezs. MY dd started cruising between 8-9 mths and I thought for sure she was going to walk early. But she surprised us and walked the week of her first birthday. Even now I give her a trade off since she's still not walking 100% of the time ( I think it takes most a few months to do that)and put her Robeezs on every other day. I will say even though I'm not encouraging shoes early, it was funny that I think her shoes helped her develop her understanding of balance. I think the support was just enough to give her a little help in that direction.

Abbie
Mom to Maddie 4/04

[DebbieJ]

Robeez, ShooShoos, Bobux, Jack and Lily, Prschoolians "Cover My Feet" line....

~ deb
DS 12/03

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[brittone2]

I worked as a pediatric physical therapist before DS was born. You are correct, barefoot is best early on, until a child is walking well. Being barefoot allows the child to feel the floor better, which provides enhanced sensory input, helping the child to balance better. There are other benefits to being barefoot as well.

HOwever, when the child is outside it is important to protect their feet...you are correct in your thinking. As the PPs mentioned, a soft soled shoe like Robeez will still allow DC to feel the ground better than he/she would with a firm-soled shoe, but still offers some degree of protection for the foot. So, there is nothing wrong with using Robeez or similar soft soled shoes when you are outside as it is only a small part of your day.

HTH :)

[vdrake71]

My son never wore any shoes until he was 15 months old. He always wore homemade botties or went barefoot. We just bought him his first pair of ShooShoos. They are great and he doesn't seem to mind them.

[amp]

We also used Robeez at that stage. We did not buy a real pair of shoes until right around his 1st birthday (bwtn 10-12 mths). We took him to Stride Rite and had his feet measured and bought a pair of the recommended Natural Motion System baby shoes. Even then, he still wore his Robeez a lot, for times when we were in our own yard and it was safe to wear soft soled shoes. I'll use them again with the next baby in a heartbeat!