Hellobee Boards

I might change my mind once S is properly walking (at the mo she walks holding on to us and cruised etc.) but we've just got shoes from Mothercare and Next, size 3 for walkers and probably won't bother with getting fitted...at least for a while.

@Cherrybee: I JUST posted a thread about this. People are going to tell you that even after walking, the soft soled shoes are fine. But there are SO MANY soft soled shoe brands. Also, we live in a place with frequent wet weather in the fall/winter/spring (rain, ice, snow) so I wouldn't put my LO outside in just leather-bottomed shoes so I knew I also wanted a pair of flexible-rubber soled shoes.

Kemma recently suggested the Bobux brand (a NZ brand, you probably have them too--there's a US site as well), and they are ADORABLE. I just ordered 1 pair as a trial.

Here in the U.S. the popular brands are See Kai Run, Pedipeds, Robeez, Stride Rite, and Livvie and Luca. They all have printable foot measuring charts. Just print the chart, measure your LOs foot, and order a way. You can always return or exchange if they don't fit

Robeez suited us well. Early walkers in harder soles always seem to trip more- at least in the group of toddlers I've seen grow up! I wouldn't do any type of fitting until they're older.

I think you really need to go to a shop to get them measured. We did and I was surprised at what size he needed. I would have ordered much smaller and that wouldn't have been good.

When we got her first pair I took her to go get fitted then shopped online.

C isn't quite walking yet and so far I mostly put her in soft soles robeez- they are pretty loose and have just the leather sole, which I like since she isn't walking in anything yet. Once she is properly walking in thinking of taking her to the fancy expensive baby boutique and getting her fitted, buy one pair there, then buy the rest online.

We also have a pair of see Kai run smallers that we bought on the classifieds and I really like them- very flexible but with a little more structure and protection, so I will probably go with them once she is walking.

Also yay for E walking!!

I just looked at the size guide on the brand's website and measured her feet myself. I ordered see kai run for her first walkers.

I'm a bad mom who never got LO soft soled shoes. He has a pair of Stride Rite, a pair of TOMS, a pair of Vans, and a pair of Converse and he walks fine in all of them. He's barefoot 95% of the time so I doubt his shoes are going to hinder his development.

@Anagram: I think SR rips off parents with the half sizes. There isn't that much difference in the shoe size. I love SKR. Pretty much all I buy for R for everyday shoes.

I went ahead and had DD properly fitted when she first started walking. I don't think it'll always be worth the cash for fancier shoes, but I think it's worth it now. Then again, I got remeasured for a new pair of Clark's every year while growing up in the UK, so maybe I've been conditioned to think it's important