Toddler Walking Shoes with Ankle Support – Align, Support, and Strengthen your Toddler’s Ankles

Has your pediatrician, physical, or occupational therapist diagnosed your toddler with a foot condition such as weak ankles? Are you looking for a pair of shoes that provides good ankle support? It has been proven that the correct type of shoes can help strengthen and align your toddler’s ankles. I am going to show you which are the best toddler walking shoes with ankle support based on my many years of shoe fitting experience.

Throughout the years I have fitted toddlers with different types of foot issues such as flat feet, overpronation, low muscle, and weak ankles, just to name a few.

Have You Noticed Something Different with Your Toddler’s Feet or Walking Gait?

Parents are pretty good at noticing when there is something wrong with their toddler’s feet or when their toddlers start walking or running differently. If your toddler’s ankles are rolling inwards or outwards, you need to treat this condition immediately because it can lead to serious issues in the future such as foot, leg, or back pain.

Image of a child with flat feet standing barefoot.

The good news is that, unlike flat feet, weak ankles is a condition that can be treated and is fully correctable. If you provide your toddler with the correct pair of shoes, you will strengthen and straighten the ankles. To accomplish this you need to provide your toddler with shoes that provide a firm heel counter.

The Importance of Finding Shoes with Firm Heel Counters

Do you know what the heel counter of the shoe is? The heel counter is the back part of the shoe that provides ankle support. Take a look at the picture below to see where the heel counter is located:

To check whether the shoes provide a firm heel counter or not, you must press firmly around this area of the shoe and check whether it feels firm or soft. Let’s take a look at the difference between a shoe with a soft heel counter versus a shoe with a firm heel counter:

children's-shoes-with-heel-support

The issue is that shoes don’t come labeled with a “firm heel counter”. The good news is that I know exactly which toddler shoes provide that important feature and I will show them to you shortly.

Something so simple such as providing your toddler with a shoe with a firm heel counter can make a tremendous difference in the way your toddler walks and runs, as well as in improving your toddler’s overall posture.

Toddler with flat feet standing barefoot vs toddler with flat feet wearing supportive shoes.

Before I provide you with a selection of the best toddler shoes with ankle support, I want to show you what other features the shoes I describe below provide that will help keep your toddler’s feet healthy.

Are you 100% Sure of Your Toddler’s Foot Size? – Let’s Find Out!

I always recommend parents take their toddlers to be properly fitted for shoes at their local children’s shoe store that they trust. The issue is that most of these stores have been closing down, and parents need to buy their children’s shoes online.

I created a virtual shoe fitting service that will help you retrieve your child’s shoe size from home. In that article I help parents determine their child’s exact foot length 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.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at a selection of the best toddler walking shoes with ankle support. Disclosure: Some links in this post may be affiliate links and we may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you click our links and make purchases.

Best Toddler Walking Shoes with Ankle Support – Firm Heel Counters

These shoes are capable of fitting toddlers with medium (M), wide (W), and extra wide (XW) feet.

Keep in mind that if your toddler is experiencing ankle pain, I always recommend a pair of shoes with shoelaces instead of velcro closure as shoelaces will hug your toddler’s ankles better, securing them against the back of the shoes and providing them with better support.

Get a Personalized Shoe Suggestion

If none of these shoes are available in your child’s shoe size or if you need the shoes to be made of a specific color don’t hesitate to email me at:

fittingchildrensshoes@gmail.com

Orthotics for Toddlers that Need Extra Ankle Support

Sometimes a pair of good supportive shoes won’t be enough to help strengthen and align your toddler’s ankles. If that is the case with your toddler, then the next step is to try a pair of orthotics inside the shoes.

There is a particular orthotic that provides maximum shock-absorbing protection to the ankles. The reason why I recommend this specific orthotic is that it provides excellent support but it’s not as invasive, meanings that it allows the foot muscles to develop on their own. I have seen how this orthotic has significantly reduced or fully eliminated the foot pain that toddlers were experiencing. 

Keep in mind that orthotics won’t fit in any pair of shoes. The shoes must be supportive and deep. The good news is that the shoes I recommended above are all capable to accommodate an orthotic inside of them.

Have you found a particular shoe style for your toddler that has helped reduce his/her ankle pain? Please share your findings in the comments section below so other parents can benefit from your experiences.