Toddler with Flat Feet – The Best Shoes for Toddlers with Flat Feet

Has your toddler been diagnosed with flat feet? Has your physical or occupational therapist recommended a pair of shoes with arch support and that you fit a pair of orthotics inside your toddler’s shoes? I am going to show you a list of shoes that provide supportive outsoles, firm heel counters, and straight lasts that will help your toddler with flat feet.

The main issue with flat feet is that it leads to walking and running differently, putting pressure on parts of our bodies where we are not supposed to, which can lead to foot, leg, and back pain. If your toddler has been diagnosed with flat feet, don’t panic! This is more common than you think, and I have helped hundreds of toddlers with flat feet walk and run straighter.

Your kids’ feet are an essential part of their body, but this part of the body is usually underestimated by most parents.

When children are growing up, they start to experience changes in their feet faster than other parts of their bodies. As kids start learning how to walk, most parents will notice variations in their kids’ feet. It’s important that at this stage you keep your kids’ feet healthy by providing them with the correct pair of shoes to protect and support their feet.

If you’re pressed for time, you can go straight to the selection of the best toddler shoes for flat feet.

Does the Image Below Look Familiar?

If your child is flat-footed you will notice that your child’s feet collapse when they are standing, turning their feet and legs inwards. Does this picture look familiar to you?

Providing your children with a pair of shoes with supportive outsoles will allow them to walk and run straighter, and prevent them from developing foot issues.

When parents come to the shoe store with children that have flat feet, I always explain to them that the first step is to find shoes that provide the correct amount of arch and ankle support. Something so simple as providing your child with the correct type of shoe will have a tremendous difference in the way your child walks and runs. Let me prove it to you…

What a Difference These Shoes Can Make!

Let’s take a look at a picture of a toddler with flat feet standing barefoot. Do you notice how the toddler’s feet are collapsing and turning inwards?

Before Image

Now let’s take a look at a picture of the same toddler wearing a pair of the supportive shoes that I recommend. Do you notice how straighter the feet are?

After Image

Please keep in mind that there will be cases where a pair of supportive shoes will not be enough to correct your kids’ posture, and that’s when you will need to fit an orthotic inside the shoes (for extra support).

If your child has been diagnosed with flat feet, I will describe in this post the best shoes for a toddler with flat feet.

Caring for Your Toddler’s Feet – Keep an Eye on Their Feet!

Parents should take care of their toddler’s feet as they are a susceptible and soft part of their bodies.

Our feet are regarded as the foundation for our entire body, and parents should start monitoring their kids’ feet right from when they start taking their first steps.

If you pay close attention to your toddler’s feet, you would have noticed that they are often flat as their arches have not developed yet. As your child starts growing up, you will notice how the arch develops under the feet of your child (keep in mind that children can develop an arch until the age of 5). This is because the feet go through an ossification process where the feet develop arch support and bone tissues for proper development of the feet.

Now, if your child has not developed an arch by the age of 5, it’s most likely that your child will remain flat-footed. Please keep in that from the age of 2 and 5 I recommend providing your child with a pair of substantial shoes instead of orthotics. I recommend providing children with orthotics if they are 5 years old or older.

Providing your children with the correct type of shoes is the first step in keeping their feet healthy.

What Are the Best Type of Shoes for a Flat-Footed Toddler?

It’s important to choose the correct type of shoes for your toddler, which involves a substantial and supportive outsole, a firm heel counter, and lightweight materials.

As your kids grow, you must keep their feet healthy by providing them with supportive shoes that will support and assist in the healthy development of their feet. If your toddler has flat feet, you need to look for shoe styles that provide the following features:

1️⃣ Substantial and Supportive Outsoles: This feature will help reduce the impact that your kids’ feet and legs take every time they become in contact with the ground.

2️⃣ Straight Lasts: This feature helps prevent the forefoot from pushing out.

3️⃣ Firm Heel Counters: This will protect and support your toddler’s ankles as well as strengthen and straighten them. If the shoe that you provide for your child has a heel counter that is too soft and flimsy, your child won’t get any of the benefits that the shoe has to offer.

As I mentioned before, the heel counter of the shoes can be firm or soft. Always make sure that you press on the heel counter of your kids’ shoes before you buy them. Let me show you the difference between a shoe with a soft heel counter versus a shoe with a firm heel counter:

4️⃣ Lightweight and Flexible: While the shoes must be supportive, they also need to be lightweight and flexible at the same time to prevent your toddler’s feet and legs from easily getting tired.

The Advantages of Supportive Shoes – Keep your Toddler’s Feet Healthy!

We all know how kids tend to be very active and they like to run and play rough; that is the reason why the shoes that you provide for your children must have the correct type of support and durability.

The best type of shoes for your kids are those that will fit the shape of their feet perfectly, provide arch support and a firm heel counter for ankle support and are also flexible enough to allow free movement of the feet. These are the must-have features your kids’ shoes must provide to keep their feet healthy.

The advantages of providing your child with a pair of shoes that provide all of the features mentioned above are:

➡️ Promote healthy foot development

➡️ Improve your kids’ posture

➡️ Provide stability

➡️ Minimize the impact on your kids’ feet when they hit the ground

➡️ Prevent foot injuries

Now that you know the key role that good supportive shoes provide for a toddler with flat feet, below you can find a selection of the most supportive and better made shoes for toddlers with flat feet. 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. This allows us to create free content and resources for many families around the world. 

The Best Shoes for Toddlers with Flat Feet

Keep in mind that if your toddler is pronating severely, you should go for the shoe styles that come with shoelaces, since they provide more support and more stability for the feet. All of these shoe styles will be able to accommodate an orthotic for extra support.

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The Importance of Getting the Correct Shoe Size – Get It Right!

When it comes to providing their children with the correct shoe size, parents tend to make the mistake of leaving extra room in the front of the shoe thinking that their kids will be able to wear the shoes for a longer period of time. A certain amount of growing room is okay, the issue comes when parents decide to leave extra growing room and end up compromising their children’s stability.

Getting the correct shoe size for your child goes far beyond just getting the correct shoe length, since getting the correct shoe width size has the same importance as getting the correct length size.

Why is it so important to get the correct shoe width? If the shoe that you provide for your child is too narrow, it will impair the growth of the feet especially the small toe (pinky toe). This might lead to deformation in the growth of the feet, especially in cases of flat foot condition.

A shoe that is too narrow will also lead to all sorts of foot issues such as blisters, calluses, and corns. Thus getting the correct shoe size for your kids is essential for the health and proper development of the feet.

How to Retrieve Your Child’s Exact Foot Length and Shape

I always recommend parents take their children to their local shoe store, where a shoe fitter can properly measure their feet and find shoes that fit. However, several parents don’t have a local shoe store in their area that they trust, and they must buy their shoes online.

There is nothing wrong with this, but you must make sure you are providing your child with the correct type of shoes and the correct shoe size.

In that article I help parents determine their toddler’s exact foot size and whether the toddler has narrow, medium, wide, or extra wide feet. I also will be able to tell you whether your toddler has a high instep or not.

The Best Orthotics for Toddlers – Help Them Walk and Run Straighter!

Sometimes a pair of supportive shoes might not be enough to improve and correct the way your toddler walks. If you have tried a pair of supportive shoes for your toddler and he or she is still having foot pain or walking differently, you might want to try a pair of orthotics.

A pair of orthotics will help redistribute your toddler’s body weight, correct the abnormal placement of the foot, and make their gait balanced and efficient. Below you can find the most effective orthotics for toddlers with flat feet:

While I can’t discuss the importance of providing your toddler with orthotics in as much detail in this article, I have written another article that describes the best orthotics for toddlers with foot and leg pain.

Is It Normal for Toddlers to Have Flat Feet?

It is a fact that most toddlers are flat-footed, but this doesn’t mean that this condition should be left untreated. Most medical professionals advise parents to be patient and just wait for their toddlers to develop an arch or to “outgrow” the condition, but the fact is that several of these toddlers don’t develop an arch, and parents end up regretting not having taken action sooner.

Flat feet can lead to foot and leg pain, muscle tightness, muscle weakness, or your toddler having trouble keeping up with peers in performing age-appropriate activities.

Get in Touch With Us for a Personalized Suggestion

Without a doubt, children’s shoe needs can vary depending on their age, activity level, and any specific foot conditions they may have. If you have any questions or need any further assistance, you can also contact us via e-mail and we will get back to you as soon as possible. We are happy to help you find a different pair of shoes for your toddler so don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Do you have a toddler that is flat-footed? Have you found a particular shoe style that has helped him or her walk and run straighter? Please share your thoughts and experiences below so we can all benefit from them!

Finally, if you would like to show your support of Fitting Children’s Shoes, you have the option to make a donation. Your support helps ensure that families around the world can find the correct shoes for their children, regardless of their foot shape or condition.