[Shoshana]

Xiomara will be 13 months old on the 17th. Tho' she's at the 75th percentile for height and weight, she still wears a size 3 shoe.

She's been barefoot all summer, and is now wearing socks but will need shoes for winter. She can get shoes off in a heartbeat - especially ones with velcro. She also curls her toes so that it makes it almost impossible to get the shoes on her feet.

I read that the soft soled shoes are best but I can't find them locally. I've seen lots of cute shoes on websites for robees, bobux, etc. but they're so expensive. I thought I'd look for feedback before I ordered them.

Also, if she's in a size 3 now, would it be okay to buy a size 4 and just let her wear heavier socks?

Oh - she's not walking, only crawling and pulling herself up to a kneeling position.

Thanks!

[rastachris]

Robeez really are great. I recommend trying some children's clothing resale shops in your area or try ebay for gently used pairs. Also, check out the one step ahead website They had some shoes in their catalog that are supposed to be the stay-on kind but for a bunch less than Robeez or other more pricey brands.

Good luck!

[DebCsMom]

Ahh, the shoe dilema. After having 5 children I've learned a few secrets about shoes. The best thing I can tell you is to just get a good pair of leather shoes. For an everyday shoe just a nice tennis shoe like Nike or Adidas. For a casual shoe, again look for a nice leather shoe. For dress up, it doesn't matter. They won't have them on long.

Alittle ankle support is good in the beginning. Of course being barefoot whenever possible is always the best for beginner walkers.

As far as that wonderful thing children like to do by curling their toes...I found that if you can get a shoe that zippers on the side, or laces on the side. That way you can get your finger in there & under the foot to push the toes straight. I have a pair of Nike's for our son who is also 13 months old. It's great!!!

Deb

[redhedded]

Just my two cents. Silly me read that early on one of the most important things you could do was buy your child a pair of really good shoes at the first sign of walking. Our pediatrician, say NO tennis shoes at first. (It came up in visit as part of general conversation; I am pretty sure that she does not make a habit of shoe recommendation to parents). She said they should be all leather, high ankle support like baby Stride Rite or such. Anyway, for some reason, I thought it important to purchase promptly when my daughter began to pull up (very late). By the time she was actually beginning to walk, post 18 months, she had long long outgrown the $50.00 baby shoes, and they were never worn. I kept them in her keepsake box. I say don't buy shoes until she is actually walking, and when you do have her feet measured by the professional.

On a sidenote, I love the robeez, but we opted for socks. Every one of my daughter's mates has/had them; more than three continue to refuse to wear anything else. By the way, our daughter at 26 months, who continues to be in the 95th percentile for height, still only wears a size 6.

[rastachris]

Aidan will be two the end of this month. He is over 100% for height (37" +/-) and weight (37# +/-) and is wearing a 10 or 10.5 shoe. He's been walking since his first birthday. He wears socks (the kind with the no-skid stuff on the bottom - Old Navy has good ones) around the house and sandals or tennies outdoors. When he was just walking, I bought him a good pair (I thought so, anyway) of shoes at Baby Gap - they were flexible-soled, velcro tennies that came in blue, red or white. They were also wide which was perfect for by big-footed lil' fella.

There is a Stride-Rite outlet in Carlsbad for all you So Cal gals. Prices were okay but not hugely below store prices.

Speaking of big babies, my other dilemma (if you don't mind) is strollers. He is nearing the weight max for most of our strollers, making them very hard to push. He's too heavy to sit in the front seat of our tandem stroller and he's too tall for the back seat (the canopy won't fit over his head), and it's not possible to take the double jogger shopping at the mall. It is getting nearly impossible to steer him around in a single stroller. We also have an 8-month-old so a double or tandem stroller is a must. I'm resisting buying a $$$$ Peg Perego or MacLaren stroller. Any suggestions?

[leastofthese]

Rasta Chris,

Try the Cosco Eddie Bauer Tandem stroller. It's bigger than other tandems and has a higher weight limit. Also, a big plus for us is that one of the seat is actually made a little bigger than the other.

Also, the seats can either face each other, or be turned the traditional "train" style.

The only down side is that it's bigger and heavier than the other tandems out there. Here's a link to see it ...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009934R/103-5255547-0124624?v=glance

Hope that helped.

Shoshanna, I don't have any good advice about the shoes. I put my babies all in Nike tennis shoes when I thought they would be standing or walking soon, because Nike's make some with really wide bottoms, making for a nice stable base for un-stable feet. But I think there are a thousand schools of thought on the subject of babies and shoes. Do what you think is best, the bottom line is that whether a child is put in shoes immediately or never, she will inevitably become very good at walking...Yes, even RUNNING--so fast you'll have a hard time catching her!!! Good luck!!!

[mj77]

I personally am a big Stride Rite fan. There is also a division of Stride Rite called Munchkin that is available at stores like Fred Meyers (if you have one in your area) for much cheaper. I think it's best to have your child's foot measured to make sure you are getting the exact width you need. I get my boys' shoes slightly longer (1/2 size) larger and put appropriate socks on acording to thier foot size. I too have been told of the importance of a good shoe when a baby is begining to walk. Like someone else posted, something with ankle support is good. I too would try ebay or a second hand store if you know the size you need but aren't able to put out the big buck for the shoes.

[Colorbind love]

I've shoed 3 children in Robeez now. I absolutely LOVE Robeez. They are wonderful and they last for a long time. My kids have never outworn their Robeez but outgrown them. Dd actually just outgrew her Robeez that she had worn for a year just 2 months ago. At 2, I went ahead and finally bougt her hard soled shoes for this winter, since she insists on walking on her own. My only complaint to Robeez would be that if they are old enough to insist on walking in public, then the Robeez are not water tight. But, my ds never cared. He wore nothing but Robeez until he was 3, even tramping through the snow.

Best shoes I've ever purchased for the children, and well worth the price. Though, if you are looking at Stride Rite versus Robeez, Stride Rite are going to be WAY more expensive than Robeez, which cost $25 no matter what style you want.

[79nic]

Shoshana,

I am having the same dilemma. Elise is cruising now.

She went barefoot all summer. Now that it's colder we keep her in just socks. If it's really chilly we put shoes on for the car ride and then just take the shoes off when we get to Grandma's house (or wherever).

I've been thinking about Robeez, too, but am also not thrilled about spending so much for one pair of shoes. This came up on another forum and someone mentioned this: If you do decide to go with them, Nordstrom's has them for about $1.50 less than the Robeez site and also has free shipping right now. Here is the link:

http://store.nordstrom.com/category/cat_boutique-medium.asp?category=2376778~2372811~2384292~238446 8&cm_re=Shoes_Fall_2004*Free_Shipping*Robeez

[79nic]

Oh yes, one other thing... I just did an ebay search for Robeez and there are quite a few listings. Many of them are NIB (new in box).

[jodybird511]

Some people might call me cheap...I prefer "bargain shopper." Anyway, I'm all about Payless. They have good flexible-soled leather hightop baby shoes that are pretty much exactly the same thing as Stride Rite for about $15.

[Kelli]

Shoshana, I'm another Stride Rite fan. When our daughter was first getting her walking feet those were the only shoes I would put on her. Now that's she three, we've been buying her a variety of brand shoes, but I continue to take her to Stride Rite every so often to be sized. And then I ultimately walk out carrying another expensive box of their shoes.

Peace and blessings,

Kelli

[MrsSmith]

Ah, shoes.... we just bought our DD a pair of Stride Rites last month, now that she is actually walking. I have to say they have helped her immensely; guess it is that $43 worth of ankle support LOL. When we had her feet measured, it turns out she is a 4.5 EXTRA wide, criminy! And here I'd had her wearing size 3 sandals over the summer......

Before she started walking, we had a pair of Robeez that had been a baby gift and we loved them. Other than those, she mainly went in just socks or in cheapo, soft shoes from Burlington Coat Factory (I don't think I spent more than $4 a pair on any of those). The brand I bought there was called Goldbug and they were great - they wore well, were wide enough to get over Em's "extra wide" feet even when she did the toe-curling thing (which she was fond of for a long while) and we also got a cute pair of bunny slippers from BCF for $2 or $3 bucks. They also carry Keds at a pretty decent price too. They have a website if you don't have one in your area: www.bcfdirect.com.

Our pediatrician also said no hard-soled shoes 'til she was walking (which didn't happen until she was almost 16 months old) which is why we went with the nice, soft cheap shoes!

Now that we're into the ridiculously expensive Stride Rites (as much as I love them, I can't fathom buying her a new pair for retail price every few months for more than I pay for my own shoes) I have discovered a few things: Stride Rite outlet stores carry the same stock as the retail shops for about half the price and also other discount stores like Marshalls, DSW and TJ Maxx carry Stride Rite shoes at much lower prices than the SR retail stores.

Cheers!
Heather

[wanttobeparents]

I had Matthew in Keds, not exactly cheap shoes at $19 a pop. I had just had him measured at Stride Rite and didn't want to pay $43 for a pair of shoes that would be worn a few months at most. The day after I bought the Keds, Matthew had blisters in 3 places. I bought the Stride Rites and haven't seen a blister since. Since he has an extra wide foot, I can't find shoes to fit him in most places. It seems he's about to outgrow the wide foot thing, so I should be able to move him to cheaper shoes soon.

With Michael, I tried a pair of size 5 shoes on him when he started to walk. It seemed to fit fine, but he couldn't walk in them. I figured I'd go back to Stride Rite figuring that the shoes were too big. I measured his foot as a 4. They measured his foot as a 5 wide. I bought a pair of high top walkers and he's running around just fine in them. Oh well, at least they both have wide feet so the dress shoes that weren't worn often will fit.

My point is to find someone that can actually measure a child's foot. Sears couldn't do it right, self service stores don't help, and I obviously had no clue what I was doing.

Peggy

[Sledge]

Call me cheap but with my kids we bought good socks and average priced shoes and they all turned out fine. When our kids were not walking we bought 1 or two sizes big, once they started walking we bought 1 to 1 1/2 sizes big till age 3 or 4 we bought them one size too big because about ever 3 to 4 months they kept growing out of their shoes. Once my kids got to be in school we bought better shoes and they were only about 1/2 size big because in school they do a lot more running on asphalt and in gym.