Don’t Correct Your Baby’s Feet – Protect Them Instead

Once upon a time, parents thought they should select rigid shoes with flat, hard soles in order to help correct problems with their children's feet. The reality is that these shoes actually cause more problems than they help and, in fact, shoes should really be chosen for their ability to provide protection rather than in hope of providing correction.

Keeping Your Baby's Feet Healthy

According to the Community Paediatrics Committee, it is actually best to keep your baby barefoot as often as possible. This way, your baby's feet can develop muscular strength and proper toe griping. Therefore, when in warm and dry conditions, the Committee recommends going without shoes at all. When shoes are necessary in order to keep your baby's feet protected, however, the shoes should be soft and flexible. This way, they do not impede the development of the feet and they can form a normal longitudinal arch.

Changing with Your Baby's Foot

In healthy children, there is no need to wear hard rubber soled shoes that force your toddler's feet to stay flat. Rather, the shoes should flex and move with your child's feet. With soft soled shoes, the shoes actually move with your child's feet and fit them perfectly all the time. In this way, they provide your child's feet with the protection they need while still allowing them to develop properly.

Keeping Them on Their Feet

Additional research conducted by the University of Vermont demonstrated that toddlers wearing thick shoes with rubber soles actually stumble and fall more often than those wearing shoes with soft and flexible soles. The researchers also found that children wearing shoes with soft soles were able to walk in a more natural manner, while those wearing sneakers fell three times more often when walking on tile and five times more often when walking on carpeting. Therefore, when selecting shoes for your child, be certain to stay away from those that are thick and stiff and choose ones that are soft and flexible instead.

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