Are you having a hard time finding a pair of shoes for your child with long toes? Do you feel like you try a whole bunch of different shoes but you always end up empty handed?
To accommodate your child’s long toes there are 2 key features that your kids’ shoes must provide:
✅ Extra Depth: This feature helps prevent you from having to buy shoes that are too large to prevent your kids’ toes from rubbing against the front of the shoes. Deep shoes will allow your kids’ feet to fit deeply inside the shoes and allow for extra space for your toes. Let me show you the difference between a shoe that provides extra depth and one that doesn’t:
✅ Rounder Toe-Boxes: This feature helps prevent your kids’ long toes from rubbing or overlapping against one another as well as preventing your kids’ toes from rubbing against the side or front of the shoes. Let me show you the difference between a shoe with a round toe-box and one with a pointier one:
I only review shoes that I have fitted before, as that is the only way for me to tell how well-made the shoes are, the amount of support that they provide, and how they fit.
Best Shoes for Middle Toe Longer than the Big Toe ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Below you can find a selection of the best shoes for children that have the middle toe longer than the big toe. These shoes are available in medium (M), wide (W), and extra wide (XW) widths. Disclosure: Keep in mind that we may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases.
Medium – WideCheck PriceMedium – Wide – Extra WideCheck PriceMedium – WideCheck PriceMedium – Wide – Extra WideCheck PriceMedium – Wide – Extra WideCheck PriceMedium – Wide – Extra WideCheck PriceMedium – WideCheck PriceMedium – Wide – Extra WideCheck Price
To allow for growing room, I highly recommend that parents order these shoes half a size larger than their child’s current foot size. This translates to 3/16 of an inch or 0.4 centimeters of space between your child’s longest toe and the end of the shoes.
How to Retrieve Your Child’s Exact Foot Length and Shape
To buy the correct shoe size online, you need to be 100% sure of your child’s foot size. If you don’t know your child’s exact foot size, refer to the article below:
How to Measure Your Kids’ Foot – 2 Simple Steps to Determine Foot Length and Foot Width
In that article I help parents determine their child’s exact foot size and whether the child has narrow, medium, wide, or extra wide feet. I also will be able to tell you whether your child has a high instep or not.
Keep in mind that socks play a key role in accommodating your kids’ long toes. There are certain types of socks that are seamless and won’t constrict your kids’ toes or make them rub against one another. You can find out which are the best seamless socks for children in the following two articles:
The Best Seamless Socks for Girls – End your Morning Battles with Seamless Socks
The Best Seamless Socks for Boys – End your Morning Dressing Battles with Seamless Socks!
Below you can find a conversation between myself and another parent who was dealing with a situation where her daughter had both her second and middle toe longer than her big toe.
Dear Juan,
I’m so glad I found your website as it is very helpful and informative.
My daughter’s feet both have the third toe or middle toe as the longest toe on her feet. As long or perhaps a tiny bit longer than the “big toe.” It has caused issues for her because the top of the shoe puts pressure on the third toe’s nail bed and is causing the nail to become extra thick and hard, and I don’t see this on any of her other toes.
I asked her pediatrician about it and her response was to simply don’t worry about it. But I am actually very worried!
I feel like my daughter stumbles and trips a lot and I think it’s because her shoes don’t fit right. She doesn’t often trip when she’s barefoot, and every time I try to put her shoes on she doesn’t want to wear them. She points to a spot on the bottom of her feet under her third toe to complain about it, but I can’t find anything wrong except for a blister once in a while.
The problem is how do you find a good fit for a toddler whose feet have the middle toe as the longest toe?
Any advice and any shoe brand recommendations to allow for extra room for her toes? I can’t be the only mom who has experienced this, but there is shockingly little info out there on the web. Many people have second toes longer or as long as the “big toe” but not the third one.
Please get back to me as soon as possible as I have been dealing with this issue for a while now.
Maggie Stokes
Hello Maggie,
Sorry for my late response. The key here is to find a pair of shoes with extra depth and rounder toe boxes. The toe-box is the front part of the shoe, and the rounder the toe-box is, the less likely your daughter’s toes will overlap and rub against each other – since it allows extra space for the toes to move.
If you pay close attention you will notice how most shoes are nice and round where the big toe is, but the toe box gets narrower as it gets closer to the small toe. We also want the shoes to be deep, so your daughter’s feet can sit deeply inside the shoes and this will prevent the toes from rubbing against the top of the shoe.
Does this make sense to you?
It’s really important to keep an eye on your kids’ feet especially when they are developing foot issues such as blisters. The issue with blisters is that they are uncomfortable, and children might change their walking pattern and put pressure on parts of their bodies where they are not supposed to. The other issue with blisters is that they can develop into corns, which are extremely hard to get rid of.
If you know your daughter’s shoe size – I will need her correct foot length and width I will show you a selection of shoes that I recommend for her.
For example, New Balance is the shoe brand that manufactures most shoe styles that are deeper with a round toe box, but other shoe brands might work as well.
Let me know her foot size so I can send you specific shoe recommendations. In the meantime, allow her to go barefoot around the house for the blister to heal faster.
Hello Juan,
Thank you so much for your response and help. I got my daughter’s feet measured at our local shoe store and they told me she needs a size 6.5 (if I want to allow for growing room).
Maggie
Maggie,
In my last email, I asked you the length of your daughter’s feet and also the width. The width has the same importance as the length when trying to find the correct type of shoes. Are your daughter’s feet narrow, medium, wide or extra wide?
That will help me find the correct type of shoes for her feet. Once you send me her foot width I can start sending you the best shoe styles that will prevent her toes from rubbing against each other or the side of the shoes.
Thank you.
Hello Juan,
Sorry this has taken so long but we are in the middle of a military move.
The length from heel to the longest toe is 5 inches. The width across the widest part of her foot is two and a quarter inch.
In centimeters…length 12.7 cm
Width…5.7 cm.
Thank you!
Hello Maggie,
Based on what you told me, your daughter should be wearing a shoe size 6.5 extra wide (XW). That size will allow room for her to grow into the shoes.
Please refer to this article to find the correct type of shoes for your daughter:
Middle Toe Longer Than The Big Toe – The Best Shoes To Keep Your Kids’ Feet Healthy!
One factor that I haven’t mentioned and that plays a key role in keeping children’s feet healthy is the type of socks that they wear.
The types of socks that your daughter should wear are seamless socks. We don’t want the seam of the socks constricting toe movement or making your daughter’s toes overlap and rub against each other.
Most parents are not aware that socks do so much more than act as a barrier between your kids’ feet and the shoes, they also help prevent the formation of bacteria inside the shoes and the formation of blisters.
In addition to providing your daughter with the correct pair of shoes, you also need to provide her with a pair of seamless socks, and if you want to learn more about which are the best seamless socks for children, you can do it in an article I wrote called:
The Best Seamless Socks for Girls – End your Morning Battles with Seamless Socks
Remember that the correct type of shoes with the correct type of socks will help keep her feet healthy and prevent the formation of blisters. Don’t forget to allow your daughter to walk barefoot around the house and to dry her feet thoroughly after she showers for the blister to heal faster.
Dear Juan,
I got my daughter the New Balance shoe style (680V5) that you recommended with a pair of seamless socks and she loves them! No more fuss every time I have to put her shoes on and the blister has healed.
I am extremely grateful for all the time you took responding to every single question I had and all the back and forth emails that I am sure seemed endless to you.
Now I can have the peace of mind that her feet are healthy and I will be sticking with the same shoe style and the same socks that you recommended as long as they are available in her size.
Hello Maggie,
My pleasure. I am glad that the shoes and the socks worked out and the blister has healed. It’s important that you keep an eye on her feet and make sure the shoes and socks are always fitting her properly.
I always recommend parents to take their children to be properly fitted for shoes at their local children’s shoe store that they trust. The issue is that most specialized children’s shoe stores have closed down.
I created a map that showcases the best fitting children’s shoe stores by state, so I suggest you start by taking a look at that map:
The Best Kids’ Shoe Stores In The United States – Where To Go For Proper Fittings
If you happen to have a children’s shoe store in your area that you trust, please let us know in the comments section below, as other parents that live in the same area might not be aware of that shoe store.
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