I need some advice.?? Tori is walking enough that I need to consider her first pair of “real” shoes now.?? I almost never put shoes on her.?? It is better for babies to walk barefoot in the house but when we go out, she needs shoes now.?? The problem is, she is an early walker with small feet.?? I would probably buy her a size 3 to be safe but realistically, she is a 2 I think.?? Her size 3 boots fall of her constantly unless I double sock them.?? When I am looking for shoes I can’t find good new walker shoes in small sizes.?? I noticed that stride rite has an early walker collection but it is going to kill me to pay 45.00 for a pair of shoes that she will grow out of so quick.?? Plus, it’s much harder for girls because boys can just have a pair of tenny’s but girls….they need different colors to match their outfits.?? I’d probably go with white/pink and that would match most of what she wears.??
So my question is…anyone have any best recommendations for first shoes that come in size 2 and 3??? I want shoes that offer support and have a protected sole.
10 responses to “Shoe Question”
All my babies had SR’s. You can’t beat em’, hands down they rock! Because Tori’s trying to run already,little stinker,you aren’t going to want some stiff clunky sole (compared to S-rite) only enhancing her tripping/falling. SR’s are perfect fits..and yes you might go through a couple of them but I would buy her true size,easier for her to walk and get used to them. As they get older you can get away with buying them a little bigger. JMHO.
Robeez shoes are soft with a sole for walkers. It is not much support but it is better than bare feet when kids are outside.
I take that back about the support. They have ones that are not soft soled. But as I am sure you remember you want something that bends, my poor boys had stiff shoes in the beginning and all they did was trip until I figured out that they needed something hard and soft soled something that let their toes bend, if you know what I mean.
Pedipeds are great but unfortunately are in that $35 – $40 range. If you want to order some pedipeds look on Zappos.com they are $1 cheeper and have free shipping both ways. The pediped website waives shipping if you buy more than one pair. Nordstroms also carries them.
Does AZ Mills have a stride rite store? if so good to look there for cheeper striderites. Also Nordstroms carries a wide range of good quality baby shoes maybe you could find some on clearance – I’m sure that is true for the other department stores as well. Also check Target, Mervyn’s/Kohls. My friend found a pair of stride rite like shoes at Target and I found a couple of pairs of soft soles shoes for Devin for $10/ea I believe they were Carters at Kohls. but they were in the baby section not the shoe section.
I like Robeez too and Target carries them for $12 (I think) but much more affordable thant the $29 ones I saw at Gap.
Good luck… the process of spending money on shoes begins it will last for a lifetime!
I recommend Preschoolians! (www.preschoolians.com)
They are not much cheaper, but for the early walkers they have a lot more to choose from and you can even design your own!
It is important that we start her off right in the shoe department. I love you dearly, but this may be the only area that you are going to need a little bit of assitance with! 🙂 With any luck we will have Tori picking out your shoes in no time!
I love you!
Heehee, Sarah made me laugh!
Robeez (or Target knock-offs) or Shoo Shoos! Pricey, but good for new walkers and just fine for our mild climate.
i was gonna mention robeez or target knockoffs – but for more outdoor protection (rocks, etc) we LOVED the flexible sole of stride rites… there’s an outlet near you. that’s where we bought seth’s first pair when visiting arizona. isn’t it north on the freeway? i think more like $20-25 is what we paid then.
Oh yeah I forgot about the outlets up north! perfect!
I always used Nike form a deparment store, they are very soft and bendy with good support. My boys loved them. Braxtyn was barefoot or in Robeez the whole time. Most Dr’s will tell you barefoots best when you can.
In recent years, they have been found to be dangerous and to actually delay a baby’s development. A baby needs nothing but floor time, adult supervision, and his own muscles to learn to walk.