How to Make Shoes Fit Kids with Narrow Feet – The 2 Most Effective Steps!

Do you have a child with narrow feet and you always have the hardest time finding shoes that fit? Do you find yourself wasting a lot of time and money having to return all the shoes that you buy for your child? I will show you how to make shoes fit kids with narrow feet based on my many years of shoe fitting experience.

Finding a pair of shoes for a child with narrow feet can be a frustrating and time-consuming experience, especially if you don’t know what shoes fit narrower than others.

One of the main problems that children with narrow feet face is that their feet end up moving too much inside the shoes. Please keep in mind that if you provide your child with shoes that are too wide your child might end up developing several foot issues such as blisters, calluses, and corns.

My Insights on Narrow Fitting Shoes

Rest assure, I know exactly which shoes fit children with narrow feet as I have been working for a specialized children’s shoe store for over 10 years. This experience has afforded me many insights into children’s narrow fitting shoes. Thanks to my experience in fitting thousands of kids, I became familiar with the best shoe brands for children with narrow feet and the best styles among those brands.

The issue is that sometimes even the narrowest shoe style might be too wide for your child’s feet. In this case, there are two methods that I use to make the shoes fit and feel better.

How to Make Shoes Fit Kids with Narrow Feet

First Method: Tongue Pads

Tongue pads are adhesive-backed pads that if placed correctly on the tongue of the shoes they can be extremely effective in pushing the child’s heels back and securing them against the back of the shoes. This helps prevent the child’s heels from coming out of the shoes.

This is how a tongue pad looks like:

To place the tongue pad correctly inside your kids’ shoes, you need to place the wider part of the tongue pad on the top of the tongue of the shoe as shown in the image below:

I have put together a list of the 5 main advantages of using a tongue pad inside the shoes:

1️⃣ They can be applied in a matter of seconds.

2️⃣ They can be used in all enclosed shoes.

3️⃣ They eliminate heel slipping.

4️⃣ They prevent the feet from sliding forward.

5️⃣ They help reduce or eliminate the pain caused by the crease of a shoe.

The Best Tongue Pads for Shoes

There are a lot of different tongue pads available, but some of them are better than others in terms of quality and durability. Below you can find the best tongue pads that I have fitted before:


Second Method: Extra Insole

The second most popular method that I use for making shoes for a child with narrow feet fit better is placing an extra insole inside of the shoes. The insole needs to be placed on top of the original insoles.

The insole that I recommend fits from a toddler shoe size 4 up to a big kid shoe size 7. Just trim the insole to fit inside your kids’ shoes based on your child’s shoe size.

This method is effective in helping the shoes fit the shape of a child with narrow feet better since it will raise the child’s feet and fill any remaining gap inside the shoes.

The insole that I recommend is specifically designed to provide maximum comfort and softness.

The Best Insoles for Shoes

Below you can find a selection of the most affordable and durable insoles for kids:

If you happen to have any questions about how much to trim the insole or how to fit it inside your kids’ shoes, please do not hesitate to contact me directly via the comments section or via email.

If your child happens to be wearing a pair of shoes with laces I strongly suggest that you apply this shoe lacing technique.

Additional Resources for Children with Narrow Feet

I created several resources that describe the best shoes for children with narrow feet. You can find interesting articles on sneakers, running shoes, sandals, and dress shoes.

Have you been able to find a particular method that has worked well for your child with narrow feet? Please share your findings below so other families can benefit from your experiences.