Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and therefore cannot prescribe, treat, or diagnose. I’m a mom and holistic health coach sharing my knowledge and experiences for educational purposes. This does not take the place of any professional medical advice.
Baby, toddler, and kid feet are still developing, with bones, muscles, and ligaments that are not fully formed. Shoes that allow for natural foot movement and don’t constrict the feet are essential for proper development.
There is SO much that could be said about this. For today, I’ll stick with what to do about it. What shoes I recommend!
Before my baby was walking, I didn’t spend money on shoes. It felt wasteful to me and I wanted him to be barefoot as much as possible for the best foot health and sensory development anyway.
Baby Feet – Starry Knight Design
Once he started walking, I was all about Starry Knight Design (pictured below!) because I loved the moccasin look, and more importantly – they’re soft sole, handmade shoes. He had three different pairs/styles of these (as his feet grew and seasons changed) until he started moving at a higher speed and needed more traction.
Toddler Feet – Stride Rite annddd… Little Love Bug!
This is when I took him into a shoe store to get him “professionally sized” — and good thing because he measured as an EXTRA WIDE 😂 I bought Stride Rite that day because he needed shoes, they had them in stock, and I wasn’t sure where else to buy extra wide toddler shoes at the time. Plus I’ve always heard great things about the brand.
Stride Rite is fine, and I did buy him a second pair as he sized up, but I found Little Love Bug this last time around. They don’t actually have an official wide size BUT the design of the shoe overall is much unlike any shoe you’ll find in a store, and some of their styles do accommodate an extra wide foot.
Little Love Bug shoes are designed to be as close to “barefoot” as possible – which I love. The Low Tops are the only style I currently recommend for an extra wide foot, and be sure of what you want to buy before placing your order because as a small business they do have to charge you to ship returns (which I had to end up doing for a pair of sandals we tried).
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xo, Mary
