I was just wondering if I am the only one that is anal about what goes on my daughters feet........  I only put her in soft sole for now..  I think we will go to hard sol after she is two....  I've read several articles saying the hard sole shoes can damage your childs feet becaues they have arch support and the don't grow arches until the age 2..  What are your feelings on shoes?

Mine never wore shoes. I find it better for them not to wear shoes so they can feel the floor when they are learning to walk.

ok   I used ALL shoes that fit and no shoes  depending on where we were , what were we doing , temperature etc    Still do   we were raised on hard soles  soooo good nuff for my babes too lol

I was told that they dont really need shoes.  My kids had shoes, but more for look rather than function.  When its cold they had the socks with the grippies on the bottom.  When they started walking outside then they had tennis shoes.

Luckily my kids learned to walk in the summer so no shoes outside I cleaned alot of dirty socks- my dd18 months won't wear shoes now though

Joshua is almost 11 months and has been walking for over 2 months and the only time he wears shoes is to church when it is cold.

My daughter wasn't able to wear shoes do to a problem she had with foot placement when she walked, but before she started walking I always had shoes on her.  And no that is not why she had placement problems.

 

My boys I have always had shoes on them hard and soft and they are just fine.

simon wore the robeez soft shoes for awhile since thats all we could find that would fit and he only wore them when we went out. the soft shoes ended up giving him athletes foot so we went to stride rite and got him sandals that fit his fat feet. he can finally fit in to normal shoes so he has a pair of vans right now. he has only worn shoes since he started walking not before that and i didnt want him walking around with nothing on his feet in parking lots in summer for car club meetings.

I used hard soles because with my last she started walking at 7 months & we were outside alot so I used hard soles but inside the house no shoes. My boys I used what I could find because their little feet were fat!!

My little one isn't old enough yet for shoes (she hasn't even rolled over yet), however, my parents let me go barefoot all the time - and I am thankful for it!  I can withstand just about anything now...hot sidewalk, bumpy rocks, cold street, kids toys...you name it!  Also, I learned to do soooo much with my feet - I have "monkey-toes"!  It's like having two more hands.  OK, I don't eat or write with them or anything, but I can pick things up, carry things from room to room...and when trying to rock a baby to sleep, it sure helps having a spare "hand".  I don't know if it really was that I never wore shoes that made my feet like this, but I like to think so!

I have used both kinds. I love Robeez, they're so cute and great for fat feet. I think the hard soles must be harder for them to walk in when they're first learning because they just kind of plop their feet down, but I know I put my oldest in hard sole shoes as soon as she could take a step (maybe even before).

There are these great shoes that you can order from a website called angelcovers.org

These shoes are inexpensive (relatively) and I think all the proceeds go to help orphanages. The soles of these shoes are rubber and super flexible, and the upper part is a pretty durable leather. I cannot believe how well they held up.

The coolest part is that they have squeakers in the soles, so every time your child takes a step they squeak. It was real incentive for my middle child to start walking. Also, it's a dream come true on those occassions where you MUST take all your children with you to the grocery store. I can let the girls walk and I don't have to keep a constant visual because I can HEAR them two steps behind me. If the squeaking stops, I know trouble's afoot (like an apple being pulled out from the bottom of the bin, and the entire case rolling to the ground).

The good news is the  squeakers do come out.  They're great shoes.

 

I have an 8 month old, I hardly ever have shoes on her, she hates the way they feel I think, plus, they just fall off. I think once she starts walking I will start making her wear shoes, until then, she just wears warm socks. I also get really confused with the sizes. I am not even sure what size she should be wearing.

At this point I don't put shoes on our son.  the dr told us and I did additional research on that they did not need to wear shoes until they begin to stand on their own and start the "learning to walk" process.  We were told that the babies feet need to form naturally and that with shoes they would not be allowed to do that.