When should I buy proper shoes for my LO?

Girl_least_likely_to

missk_ensington wrote:

I got my son proper shoes from Clarks when he started walking across furniture (but couldn't balance unaided) He's been walking for a few weeks holding onto things but when he let go, fell over.

I bought some hard sole shoes, and within 10 minutes he was walking unaided. I think it helped balance him by having something sturdy attached to his feet. This was a couple of weeks before his 1st birthday. My friend bought the 'Clarks Cruiser' shoes mentioned on here, and they were pretty good as they adapted for walking and crawling.

Ooh! You've got me thinking now Miss K! Should I go and buy some proper shoes now ?!!! It may help her walk sooner but I'll need to get additional eyes in the back of my head too. Do these come free with purchases of toddler shoes? :rotfl: .

missk_ensington

lol, yeah I'd definately recommend buying her some. Just use them in the house for 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there. If she doesn't take to it, put them in the cupboard and try again a few days later. Obviously don't strap them to her feet from 7am to 7pm, but a little try in the mornings and before bed will probably bring her on leaps and bounds!

Crispy_Ambulance

Girl_least_likely_to wrote:

Ooh! You've got me thinking now Miss K! Should I go and buy some proper shoes now ?!!! It may help her walk sooner but I'll need to get additional eyes in the back of my head too. Do these come free with purchases of toddler shoes? :rotfl: .

No - don't. Sorry MissK, but this is quite bad advice. children's bones are very soft and no shoe shop should sell you shoes until your child can walk well unaided and they are putting their feet flat on the floor. You are risking serious damage to them in later life if you put them in hard shoes too early.

If they can't balance unaided then their muscles and co-ordination are not ready yet.

Shoes will not help them walk quicker - why be in such a hurry anyway? There are no prizes for being an "early walker" - normal walking is 10 to 18 months/

Let your little one have socks or bare feet until she is regularly walking outside.

missk_ensington

Crispy Ambulance- Oh please, this is absolutely ridiculous and nannying and a little neurotic. My son was walking unaided within 20 minutes of wearing shoes, as were my friends children who saw what I'd done and copied me.
This is pathetic, you're damaging a childs feet because they've put shoes on for 20 minutes? Do you see how ridiculous that sounds????

I dread to think what the concencus will be in 10 years time; I was slated a while back for saying I would give a child some crushed up antibiotic. When I was a child my Mum phoned the doctor in despair cos I was screaming and he told her to crush up a Codeine tablet and sprinkle it on a tablespoon of milk!

I've always been very laid back with my son, I've given him adult medicine at 3am when shops are all shut, I've put shoes on him "early" etc etc, and guess what? My laid back approach obviously did no harm he was out of nappies at 18 months, walking confidently in the street aged 12 months and has now been moved into the aged 3-4 group at nursery (he is 2 and a half) because he is far more advanced than the 2 and 3 year olds in the younger group, his speech is that of the 3-4 year old, his maturity and capabilities.

I am in no doubt that this is partly due to the fact I haven't wrapped him in cotton wool, I never laden the house with radiator covers and door wedgers- he touched the fire, it hurt, he cried, he didn't go near it again. My Mum brought me up the same, I'm now 20 and doing a degree and property developing, with a top notch job that I got beating 50 other applicants with 10 years experience.

I don't buy into all this 'softly softly' crap, God only knows how our grandparents survived with their smoking and drinking parents, 4 kids sleeping in a bed, potty trained at 12 months old (how awfully cruel?) Bit of brandy in the babies bottle, its a wonder civilisation still exists!

morg_monster

Missk, why are you always so quick to retaliate to every little thing. even when people aren't being rude to you, still seem to react with such venom. you always seem to feel the need to justify yourself to everyone. obviously you are bringing your son up well the way you want to and most other people do pretty well too. i just don't see the point of being so forceful about such little things.

anyway... maybe the reason we do some things differently now is because we know more now, or feel differently. Like - if we use disposables, we don't need to have the hassle of washing cloth nappies anymore, so why not wait a while to potty train the baby. Nowadays - pretty much everyone can afford a buggy for their kids, unlike say 50 years ago, so why not keep them in that for a bit longer if they're happy and let them practise walking at home. personally i think the message about letting kids learn to walk properly in bare feet does make sense, even if for no other reason than they can feel the floor better. Also the muscles & arches in their feet don't really start to develop until they actually start walking, so if they are in shoes for most of the day then the muscles and arch will be influenced partly by the shoes they are wearing which doesn't seem a great idea. Of course as you say 20 minutes isn't going to matter but all day every day will. Do you think people make up these things just for fun?!

missk_ensington

morg_monster wrote:

Do you think people make up these things just for fun?!

Well I'm starting to wonder! Not saying profesionals are wrong, but just because you did a psychology experiment with 50 kids doesn't mean the outcome is right. Having studied psychology, most experiements are fundamentally flawed or have flaws reducing their accuracy.

I do not retalliate with venom, I am just SO SO SO SO sick of this culture, don't do this you may causes psychological harm, this may make your child feel abused yadda yadda. Thing is many less confident Mums take it all in and are !!!!!! scared of doing anything because of all the data/research/advice/warnings they hear on just about every area of child rearing, on just about every day.

No wonder Mum's come on here stressed and worried about MMR, about eating, about shoes about this and that and the other. It shouldn't be like that, bringing up children should not be done by a 'rule book'. It wasn't when I was a child and my Mum was a child.... I bet your parents didn't sterilise until 1 year, mine didn't and I'm perfectly healthy. In Africa women stop in the paddy fields during a days work, give birth and carry on ploughing the crops.

Its time to stop being mindless zombies, its like a !!!!!!! cult with all this 'advice' aka dictatorial bull about how to bring up our kids, what happened to making our own choices?

inkie

I would (and did) wait. Both DDs got their first shoes 6 weeks after begining to walk - and even now at 7 & 10 prefer to be barefoot. Selling shoes for a baby who is not ywet walking is just ripping people off.

I was slated a while back for saying I would give a child some crushed up antibiotic. When I was a child my Mum phoned the doctor in despair cos I was screaming and he told her to crush up a Codeine tablet and sprinkle it on a tablespoon of milk!

Thats fine if you can live with any potential consequences of administering a prescription only drug intended for someone else to a child! Same for the advice for the dr - that doesn;t mean to say he was right!

finc

Putting shoes on a child won't make them walk. They *feel* with their feet to help them walk and do this so much better without shoes.

Crispy_Ambulance

Maybe you should take a moment to read your posts before you hit the send button and you wouldn't come across as quite so rude quite so often.

This is a discussion forum. You can disagree with my point of view, but please learn how to have a discussion rather than a rant.

I agree that over protecting children is a bad thing. However, there is a difference between being laid back and being downright irresponsible. Adult medicine is not designed for children. The dosage and side effects are unknown. It is not "bucking the system" or standing up to a nanny state to give it to them - it is foolish and very dangerous.

The advice I gave the OP was not neurotic or ridiculous. It was based on the information and evidence out there. For more information try

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/toddler/caringfor/feet/

or have a look at the society of chiropodists and podiatrists website. Or chat to a physiotherapist.

Lots of things our grandparents did have now been shown to be against a child's best interests. Some survived, some children didn't - it doesn't mean that newer information should be dismissed because "we didn't do it like that and you turned out all right." People used to think smoking was good for you.

missk_ensington wrote:

Crispy Ambulance- Oh please, this is absolutely ridiculous and nannying and a little neurotic. My son was walking unaided within 20 minutes of wearing shoes, as were my friends children who saw what I'd done and copied me.
This is pathetic, you're damaging a childs feet because they've put shoes on for 20 minutes? Do you see how ridiculous that sounds????


I don't buy into all this 'softly softly' crap, God only knows how our grandparents survived with their smoking and drinking parents, 4 kids sleeping in a bed, potty trained at 12 months old (how awfully cruel?) Bit of brandy in the babies bottle, its a wonder civilisation still exists!

Quackers

Crispy_Ambulance wrote:

No - don't. Sorry MissK, but this is quite bad advice. children's bones are very soft and no shoe shop should sell you shoes until your child can walk well unaided and they are putting their feet flat on the floor. You are risking serious damage to them in later life if you put them in hard shoes too early.

If they can't balance unaided then their muscles and co-ordination are not ready yet.

Shoes will not help them walk quicker - why be in such a hurry anyway? There are no prizes for being an "early walker" - normal walking is 10 to 18 months/

Let your little one have socks or bare feet until she is regularly walking outside.

Your right Crispy Ambulance. A babies foot contains NO bones at all. It is just soft squidgy cartlidge - the foot will have 26 bones eventually so there are lots there to become mishapen. Even putting tight pram shoes/tight socks can damage the shape of childrens feet so a hard pair of shoes could potentially do lots of damage. Not noticable now, but noticable in 10 years time when children have sticky out joints which shouldnt be there. I've seen lots of really badly shaped childrens feet where this has happened.

Clarks sell cruisers/crawling shoes because there is a demand for them. Children do not need to be in anything until they are walking confidently unaided.

Some children may feel more confident in a pair of shoes and 'seem' to learn quicker. For other children it will hinder them. They're all different and there is no 'rule'.

Just get them when you feel your child is ready.

Have a look on the Clarks wesite - I'm sure they give some info on this.