Baby walking shoes...
By ctryhnny
@ctryhnny (3460)
United States
February 11, 2013 4:23am CST
When my kids were learning to walk we would take them to a Stride Right store and have their first pair of shoes fitted to them. They were always make of leather and had hard soles. They were like high tops and came just above the ankle giving them the strength needed to walk. They had laces and not velcro which was really never heard of in shoes. As with everything else that has changed. I can't even find a stride right store! It seems that now sneakers/tennis shoes are ok to put on the baby while learning to walk. Their so low cut I don't see how they give the baby the support they need in their ankles to learn how to walk. Does anyone remember buying stride right shoes for their baby? Do you think sneakers are a good shoe to learn to walk in?
2 people like this
6 responses
@ShyBear88 (59347)
• Sterling, Virginia
12 Feb 13
I haven't bought stride right shoes at all. My daughter is 2 years old and her first pair of shoes she got when she was born. She didn't wear them till she was 3 months old in a picture of her and the Easter bunny. But after that she didn't wear any shoes till she was about 10 months old. which is when she started walking but she would only wear them outside of the house and it was soft bottoms ones because doctors have found that wearing hard shoes is not good for there little feet till they are year if they are walking as much as possible let them walk bear food to let there feet learn to walk better. My son is now 5 months old and no shoes yet. It might be a while because he has inward feet so he can't wear shoes very much at all till they are straight.
@ctryhnny (3460)
• United States
13 Feb 13
As long as you keep socks on the baby's feet that's fine. But I learned from experience with a podiatrist that there are all kinds of things to be picked up from the floor that can harm you. I got plantars warts from going barefoot and after I had the dr take care of them you will never see me barefoot again....and i hate it.
@ShyBear88 (59347)
• Sterling, Virginia
13 Feb 13
Shoes, boots, and surgey's are for case where it's really bad. What he has is positional feet from being in the womb in all case baby's feet straighen on there own over time and get better. He's feet are a lot better then they where at birth. It's hard for me and my husband to see changes because we see him all of the time but for other people they see it more. It's just something he'll out grown and when he straights walking and crawling they will get better. No special shoes and in some case it makes it worse when wearing shoes or boots.
Really why would a child that isn't walking need shoes?
To me that is just a wast of money.
@jenny1015 (13366)
• Philippines
12 Feb 13
My eldest son started walking a month over his first year. And as far as I can remember, he would usually use either sandals, rubber shoes or those light-weight shoes. I was worried he would trip over if he uses those hard soled leather shoes.
@jenny1015 (13366)
• Philippines
13 Feb 13
Oh! I didn't know there weren't sandals for babies during those times....I thought every kind of baby shoes were available even before bit just differs int he design.
Anyway, I just let my kids use whatever comfortable shoes they can wear. I even thought that making them used heavy shoes might damage some fragile nerves coz they might twist their legs while trying to walk.
@Kashmeresmycat (6369)
• United States
11 Feb 13
I remember going to a particular store which only sold shoes for my kids when they were growing up. They weren't cheap so I'm guessing it might have been Stride Right, can't remember anymore.
I don't know about the tennis shoes today..I never really checked them out to see how supportive they are. Who knows, maybe we were doing more harm with the high tops than they are today with the low cut one's.
@wilsongoddard (7291)
• United States
12 Feb 13
It has been shown that soft-soled shoes are better for early walkers. I am glad that the barbaric practice of sticking children in something akin to casts has been pushed aside in favor of what is actually good for the child.
As an article on LiveStrong (http://www.livestrong.com/article/557194-what-are-the-benefits-of-soft-sole-shoes-for-babies/) states: "Hard, restrictive shoes might affect foot development in babies... All of the wiggling, kicking and other movements your baby does with his feet help him develop the foot muscles that he needs for walking. Tight, hard-soled shoes limit the amount of movement in your child's feet. Soft-soled shoes with plenty of space in them allow your baby to move his feet to avoid interruptions in development."
Hard-soled shoes... Utterly barbaric... 
@ctryhnny (3460)
• United States
12 Feb 13
So many things regarding babies have changed over the years. I had 3 kids who wore the stride right shoes and none of them have ever had problems with their feet and their all over their 30's now so I would think if they had a problem they would know it by now.
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
15 Feb 13
I remember when my little sister was learning to walk that these walking shoes were something that she had. Then when my daughter came along sixteen years later, these were something that she never had at all. In fact, I actually have to admit that my daughter learned to walk with bare feet. This was surprisingly something that my pediatrician told me was what I should do because that way she would be able to have more control over where her feet went.
