The first pair of walking shoes....?

I took my son to Stride Rite and they say he needs EXTRA wide. These shoes are hard to find...They had one pair, they were 55 dollars. They did seem to fit him better, but I'm thinking if I am spending 55 bucks on a pair of shoes that are special for my 11 month olds feet I want the Doctor to tell me what to buy!! Of coarse everyone has told me what was best for their child, but that doesn't mean that his best for his foot. My insurance will pay 100 % of the Doctors visit so I set up an appointment to have is feet looked at. In the Foot Doctors office they also sell shoes. I am going to take the one's that I bought and ask his opinion on them. I'm also goinin to ask what I should be looking for in a shoe for his foot type. It sucks because he can't tell me if they hurt his little feet!! And nothing is worse than having shoes that don't fit. What do you think? Tell me about your childs first pair of WALKING shoes?

The first pair of walking shoes....?
Okay, I'm trying NOT to laugh, but be glad he's a boy. My daughter is now four and she's just now THINNED down to a wide size. I've spent more $$$ on shoes than I could even think of. Elephaten is the best that I've found. Any European brand in 22 or 23 is better than any American shoe.





Good luck. Frankly, the last couple of years I've just been buying her shoes that are a couple of sizes too big since we live where she can wear thongs 90% of the year.





My son is just as bad, but I've learned my lesson and basically stalk the Stride Rite outlet until I find a 8 1/2WWW. It's a sickness!!
Reply:My son has a strange foot shape too, but its almost the opposite of your sons. My son has very long, narrow feet, but has a very high instep. So if a shoe fits him lengthwise its usually too wide, if it fits the height, its too long...its hard.





His first pair of walking shoes were stride rite, and they were fitted. The place i took him to was a little privately owned shoe store thats been in business like 50 yrs. They really helped me out and were very knowledgable. If im not mistaken his shoes were white with little fire trucks on the sides...maybe not though, that was like 4 yrs ago now! Good luck!
Reply:my son also has an EXTRA wide, size 5...did we get the same ones?? we got him sneakers that have the velco...they seem to be comfy on him but i also have a pair of sandles that hold his feet in from Target for $7.99...97% of the time, since it is the summer our 15 month is barefoot....pretty soon we have to go to Stride Rite again and get shoes for the fall....i guess any new walking shoe is going to feel a bit ackward to a baby who never had to wear shoes before!! Good luck!! if you find something bette.....please let me know too!!
Reply:Lilac Clark's they were. Soft sole is really important. So they can feel the ground they walk on. They fit them in the shop. Clarks do wide fittings. Think they cost me £22.00 at the time.
Reply:All of my kids that are walking have very wide feet. For each one their first pair of shoes was a white pair with flexible bottoms from Payless. Payless actually has wide shoes in baby sizes and they are much cheaper than Stride Rite. Also Payless carries the "Airwalks" brand in toddler sizes. I've found that "Airwalks" are generally a wide even if they don't say so on the box.
Reply:My friends son was in a triple wide! The shoes at Stride Rite are expensive, but they are made well.





Good luck!
Reply:Try getting little boys skate shoes. You can get them at Zappos.com or a place like that. Skate shoes are wide width, extremely light weight, and have flat soles good for walking toddlers. I like the Vans or DC shoes and they are only 30 to 35 dollars. Zappos has free shipping and free returns.
Reply:i bought all three of my kids first shoes at stride rite. i was just very unsure about the sizing and was afraid i would buy the wrong size. my daughter was a wide width for about a year or so, my 4 year old is still a wide width and my 2 year old is a double wide width! you can find some wide width shoe here and there, but they don't seem to fit as well to me. what i did was buy my own foot measure from one step ahead. i think it was about $11. now i can check and see for myself when his/her foot is close to outgrowing shoes. as for the price, it just pains me to pay that much for shoes, but i don't have much of a choice. needless to say, my kids don't have a closet full of shoes!



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