Need some "Walking" Advice :)

Dani123

So DD is officially WALKING!!!! YAY!!!  So crazy she went from a few steps to HELLO WE'RE WALKING!!

Anyway I was told that putting shoes on your kid while theyre learnign to walk can be a hinderance because they cant grip the floor with their feet...something like that.....ANYWAY....

Now that shes walking obviously she needs shoes but when I put them on she wont walk and if she does, not very well....Should I just let her keep trying with the shoes? Should I have put them on before when she was learning??  PLUS she is CONSTANTLY taking them off....

So double knots till she learns to walk with them and cant take em' off?

MrsDR1015

When DD started walking, we didn't put shoes on her at all unless she was walking outside. We didn't even put socks on her (we were living in FL at the time) when she was inside, so that she could learn how to balance.

GL

jessicada76

My friend is an OT.  Paige was the same as your DD.  She walked really well, but whenever I would put shoes on her then she would trip constantly and fall.  She said as long as she is walking really well barefoot to put the shoes on her because it just teaches her how to walk in them.  So she mastered barefoot walking now it is time to challenge her with shoe walking.  Sure enough within two weeks she was walking in shoes.  Now she wears shoes everywhere - even inside.  If she gets tired of them we take them off but sometimes she will bring them to me to put them on.  We got her stride rite shoes.  They are "hard sole" but really flexible - so it still feels like barefoot walking.  GL!  Oh BTW - we still double knot :-)

Dani123

Thanks!! I just feel bad I guess.  She looks awful with shoes, lol.

Shes tripping over herself and then she'll give up and crawl and I'm like "Awww dont give up!" lol lol

so ok, we'll try the shoes!!

FaeryStarGazer

No shoes on kids who are walkers. They learn balance better when they can feel the floor under their feet.It also ensures that their arches form properly, their toes can spread, etc.  She only needs shoes/ should have shoes if she is walking out doors.

jessicada76

That is one reason we have Paige's shoes sized every 3 months and buy her GOOD shoes!  She gets one pair of shoes at a time and we don't buy her cheap shoes.  My OT friend says it is ok to have shoes on AS LONG AS they are sized properly!!! 

JulieandBen

I've put shoes on Jack since he was three weeks old. We had Jack wear shoes like we do. No shoes in the house normally, but always when we were leaving the house or playing outside. I'd keep at the shoes. Since she is off and walking, I'd try having her wear shoes inside so she gets used to the feeling. She'll learn to get used to them.

ginanjason

Once DD started walking I seemed to have shoes on her a lot.  She has a lot of different kinds.  Soft sole hard sole I even bought her uggs.  She walks fine in them on the floor and rug.  She gets a little unbalanced when we are outside on the grass, but otherwise she got used to it very quickly.

beb4beb

What helped DD was using the very soft soled shoes at first not the kind with rubber bottoms.  Then we did them outside so she was distracted by all the things she could see and do and get in to she didn't even notice.  DD still doesn't like shoes a lot and will try to pull them off but when we're outside she's at least tolerable to them.

acppa

MrsDR1015:

When DD started walking, we didn't put shoes on her at all unless she was walking outside. We didn't even put socks on her (we were living in FL at the time) when she was inside, so that she could learn how to balance.

GL

Same for us. ?DS actually learned to walk in shoes out in the grass. ?At the time he didn't like the feel of grass so it kind of forced him to learn to ?walk in the shoes.?

If it were me I would wait until your DDs walking gets a little better and then try the shoes a little at a time. ?Kind of like a practice time for shoes about 5-10 minutes a day.

jeffs_baker

I've always heard (from our pedi and many other places) that the best thing for babies learning to walk is to be barefoot or wear as soft-soled shoes as possible. Dd only wears Robeez when we leave, other than that, she is barefoot around our house.