The Best Shoes for Babies Reviewed – Lightweight, Flexible, and Affordable!
Have you been looking for the perfect pair of shoes for your baby that is learning how to walk? Did you know that the shoes that you choose for your baby play a key role in keeping your baby’s feet healthy? Babies should go barefoot as often as possible to promote good balance, posture coordination, and overall healthy foot development. However, shoes play a key role in keeping their feet and legs healthy when you start taking them outside to play in the playground or the shopping mall.
The shoes that you provide for your baby must provide important sensory information from the soles and they must also be the correct shoe size.
I am going to provide you with a selection of the best baby shoes that will help your baby walk with confidence. However, I am always emphasizing to parents that it doesn’t matter how many features a particular shoe style provides, if the shoes are not the correct size, you will end up creating all sorts of foot issues such as blisters, calluses, and corns. What’s even worse, you might also compromise your baby’s stability and make it harder for your baby to learn how to walk.
Do you have a good children’s shoe store in your area where you can take your baby to be properly fitted for shoes? I actually created a resource of the United States where I describe the best children’s shoe stores by state.
How to Retrieve Your Child’s Exact Foot Length and Shape
If you don’t have a good fitting children’s shoe store in your area you should start by reading an article I wrote where I describe the simplest, yet most effective way to figure out your baby’s foot size from home. 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.
What I have noticed throughout the years from fitting babies’ shoes is that most babies have wide or extra wide feet. Most parents will come to the store complaining about how their babies’ shoes won’t even go on their feet.
What Makes the Babies Shoes I Recommend Ideal for Learning How to Walk?
The babies’ shoes I recommend provide extra depth and rounder toe-boxes in addition to being labeled as wide (W) and extra wide (XW).
1️⃣ Extra Depth: Shoes that provide extra depth allow your baby’s feet to sit deeply inside the shoes and prevent the top part of the feet (instep) from rubbing against the top part of the shoes. This feature also prevents blisters by preventing the top part of your baby’s toes from rubbing against the top front part of the shoes. Let me show you the difference between a shoe that provides extra depth versus one that doesn’t:
2️⃣ Rounder Toe-Boxes: This feature helps prevent your babies’ toes from overlapping against one another or rubbing against the side of the shoes. Let me show you the difference between a pair of baby shoes that provides a round toe-box versus one that doesn’t:
Once you decide to provide your baby with a pair of shoes, there is something important that you need to know:
Babies who are learning how to walk use their toes to grasp the floor and feel more confident every time they talk a step. When we fit a shoe in your babies’ feet, they lose that sense that they had to the ground, but they do receive important sensory information from the soles of the shoes.
There are a few baby shoe styles that provide sensory pods, which allows babies to get a better feeling of the ground. In addition, you must stay away from shoes with hard and inflexible soles, as they will make the whole process of learning how to walk more difficult.
The Best Shoes for Babies Reviewed
Boys
- Shoe style SRT SM Artie by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- Rounded edges to decrease stumbles and falls
- APMA approved and built for first-time walkers
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style 2510 Racer by Tsukihoshi
- Fits medium and wide feet
- Heel stabilizer provides lateral stability
- Removable insoles
- Machine washable
- Order this shoe the same size as your baby’s foot size (shoe fits long)
- Shoe style Wes by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- Seamless construction cradle the baby’s natural shape
- Flexible, rounded, slip-resistant soles
- APMA approved
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style SM Adamby Stride Rite
- Available in medium and wide widths
- Seamless construction cradle the baby’s natural shape
- Flexible, rounded, slip-resistant soles
- Foam padding placed around the ankle collar and under the tongue for an incredibly comfortable fit and feel
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Stevie II by See Kai Run
- Fits medium and wide feet
- Rubber outsole is flexible yet durable and provides the needed traction for first steps
- Padded heel and tongue keeps the baby’s feet comfortable
- Wide openings make on and off quick and easy
- Order this shoe half a size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Martin by Stride Rite
- Available in medium and wide widths
- Seamless construction cradle the baby’s natural shape
- Flexible, rounded, slip-resistant soles
- Oversized opening and pull tab on the back offer easy on and off
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Kennedy by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- Seamless construction that cradles the foot’s natural shape
- APMA approved
- Oversized opening for easy-on
- Order this shoe half a size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style SM Zip Runner by Stride Rite
- Available in medium and wide widths
- Oversized opening for easy on and off
- Flexible, rounded, slip-resistant soles encourage natural motion and help improve balance
- Machine washable
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style SRT Elliot by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- 100% leather made
- Sensory pods to feel the ground beneath for better traction and grip
- Lace-up closure
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
Girls
- Shoe style SM Adalyn by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- Oversized opening for easy on and off
- Flexible, rounded, slip-resistant soles encourage natural motion and help improve balance
- APMA approved
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Zips Runner by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- Oversized opening for easy on and off
- Padded tongue and collar
- APMA approved
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Susie Mary Jane by See Kai Run
- Fits medium and wide feet
- Black patent leather upper with full leather lining and insole
- Awarded the Seal of Acceptance from the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA)
- Order this shoe half a size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Soft Motion Baby by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- Oversized opening for easy on and off
- Flexible, rounded, slip-resistant soles encourage natural motion and help improve balance
- APMA approved
- Order this shoe half a size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Stevie II by See Kai Run
- Fits medium and wide feet
- Rubber outsole is flexible yet durable and provides the needed traction for first steps
- Padded heel and tongue keeps the baby’s feet comfortable
- Wide openings make on and off quick and easy
- Order this shoe half a size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Thompson by Stride Rite
- Available in medium and wide widths
- Oversized opening for easy on and off
- Flexible, rounded, slip-resistant soles encourage natural motion and help improve balance
- APMA approved
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style SRT Elliot by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- 100% leather made
- Sensory pods to feel the ground beneath for better traction and grip
- Lace-up closure
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style Soft Motion Baby by Stride Rite
- Available in medium, wide, and extra wide widths
- Over-sized opening for easy on/off
- APMA approved and built for first-time walkers
- Order this shoe a whole size larger than your baby’s current foot size
- Shoe style StevieII by See Kai Run
- Fits medium and wide feet
- Rubber outsole is flexible yet durable and provides the needed traction for first steps
- Padded heel and tongue keeps the baby’s feet comfortable
- Wide openings make on and off quick and easy
- Order this shoe half a size larger than your baby’s current foot size
Please remember that most babies tend to have wide or extra wide feet. The good news is that all of the shoe styles that I recommend are capable of fitting babies with wide or extra wide feet.
These are the deepest baby shoes that I have fitted before that also come with a very round toe-box and remember that they are available in different widths so they will fit your babies’ feet no matter how wide they are. These shoe styles will also fit babies with a high instep.
The Best Shoes for Babies – 6 Key Features!
These are the 6 features that the shoes I recommended provide:
1️⃣ Rounded edges to decrease stumbles and falls: This feature allows babies’ toes to freely move inside the shoes and help them balance.
2️⃣ Soft heel counter: This is especially important for babies as most of the time they are performing lateral movements — when they grab into furniture and move side to side.
3️⃣ Lightweight: The shoes must be lightweight for your babies’ feet and legs to not become tired easily.
4️⃣ Deep flex grooves: This feature enables your baby’s natural movement.
5️⃣ Traction: This is also really important as we don’t want your baby slipping and falling, especially when walking around slippery surfaces.
6️⃣ Breathable: To prevent the build of bacteria and prevent foot odor, the shoes must be breathable.
Looking for Other Shoe Recommendations?
Do not hesitate to contact me directly at my e-mail if you have any further questions or if you need a different pair of shoes for your child. My e-mail address is:
fittingchildrensshoes@gmail.com
Have you found a particular baby shoe that has worked well for your baby’s feet? Please share your findings below so other parents can benefit from your experiences.
