soft or hard sole shoes?

Hello,

I read that it is advised not to let babies wear hard sole shoes when they start walking. They should wear the prewalkers soft sole shoes.

However, when today I went shopping new shoes for my twins, the good shops for baby shoes had ONLY the hard sole shoes and they told me that a baby should wear hard sole shoes even in his walker. So I thought, if all the good brands for baby shoes are manufacturing baby shoes with hard sole then this means that a baby should wear these types of shoes! right?

What do you think?

Thanks a bunch for your input.

 

My girls pedi also suggested soft soled shoes for the first few months of walking. I bought my girls Pediped's. They worked great! They wore those for the first 3-4 months of walking, until they were much more stable walking, and then we went to hard soled shoes.

 

My boys wore the Target Robeez knockoff for a while. They ended up seeing an Early Intervention Specialist at 14 months (for speech) and she told me they weren't walking yet because they needed hard soled shoes with good ankle support. I did it and they were walking two months later. Did the shoes do it? I doubt it. I only put them on the boys when we were out b/c I have a no shoes rule in my house. I hope someone can give you a better answer, but I think it's one of those "noone is sure" questions.

 

Everything I've read and heard is soft soled is best. I'm a believer in none at all I probably still wouldn't put shoes on either of the boys (one walking since 10.5 months the other just a couple weeks) but my MIL made a huge deal out of wanting to buy them these really expensive "first walker" shoes for Christmas. I let her buy and when we went to get the boys sized they are sort of an in between. They aren't soft soft like the Robeez but definitley aren't hard soled either.

Good luck!

 

I have heard only soft soled and only for outside from our pedi. I will say though that we wear soft-soled here in the house because we have hardwoods and in the winter it is too cold to go barefoot for too long. We use the Robeez but I am wanting to try the Target knockoffs - half the price and we are buying them this time...LOL. I still try to put them in shoes as little as possible though.

 

Soft soled or barefeet!

 

I'm a PT - soft soled or bare feet are best. They need the sensation of their feet on the ground to give them sensory feedback to help their balance. I was also a children's shoe fitter as my job through high school and college, & while I do really like and appreciate the quality of the "good" shoe brands, there is no need for hard soles or arch support in an infant. Babies are meant to have flat feet - they have extra fat that fills out their arches. Once they are walking well (like, running!) I would go for hard soled shoes, more because of the risk of injury since they are so much more active. And then you could go for the "good" shoes with arch support, although there is debate as to whether they are really necessary (probably not in kids before 3). But a well fitted pair of shoes is essential - you can do quite a bit of damage to a childs growing feet with shoes that are too short or too narrow.

Hope that helps, rather than confuses!

 

My doctors have always said that the very closest you can get to bare feet is the best. We went through lots of Robeez when they were really young & for outside shoes I tried to find shoes that were as flexible as possible. Pedipeds makes some great ones and so do Preschoolians (they give a good twin discount if you email them a picture of your babies).

 

:thanks: all for your kind reply. I think I made up my mind. However, since today we're taking the kids to their pedi, I'll ask her the same question to see her reply. I need her to convince DH

 

I don't put shoes on my kids unless we are going out in the winter, they rarely walk around when we are out so it's mainly just to protect their tootsies from the elements. I just buy cheap walmart/target shoes (which are always hard soled) because, as I said, they aren't actually walking in them, just using them to cover their feet up.

It's barefeet or socked feet only at home, they hate the robeez knockoffs I bought, and refuse to leave slippers on! :lol:

 

The pedi told me today that once they start to walk outside we have to buy them hard sole shoes because they will not be able to walk with the soft sole one.

However, for the time being, even in their walker, it's ok to let them wear the soft sole ones.