Throughout our lives we have been trained that shoes are a necessity of daily life. No shirt, no shoes, no service, right? Shoes offer many benefits and they are important for us to wear, but are they right for infants? So many babies I’ve seen, who can’t even crawl or walk yet, already wearing expensive shoes. When someone isn’t even able to walk, it seems unnecessary that they wear shoes. This got me wondering when a child should start wearing shoes, and if wearing shoes earlier than that was harmless. I did the research, and here’s what I found out.
Why should an infant wear shoes?
Shoes exist to protect feet. A child’s foot is soft and weak and, because they will stick their foot anywhere, often in need of protection. If a child is walking in the backyard or a park, there are many dangers. You wouldn’t walk your child to walk through animal poo or something smart that might be hiding in the grass.
Often at daycares, shoes are a requirement as soon as the child is mobile and regularly taken outside. This can protect both the child and daycare from all threats against your child’s foot that exist at a daycare.
Protection from injury
There are many things out there, such as small stones or pieces of metal, that could cut or bruise your child’s foot that could be laying anywhere outside. Perhaps an animal or the wind carried it along, or someone accidentally spilled something and didn’t clean it all up.
If there are many children, especially older children, running near your child in the playground, then there’s also the fear of feet being stepped on. Shoes can help your child’s foot from being crushed by another child’s foot or from being cut by toenails that have grown a little too long and haven’t been cut yet.
Protection from infection
Because of a child’s fearless nature, it’s likely that at some point your child will have a cut or scrape on their foot. It’s also likely that there are many areas out there your child will want to walk through but are likely covered in germs. Yards are a common dumping ground for all sorts of animal waste or discarded fluids of any type. If your child has a scrape or cut, you wouldn’t want to risk an infection due to your child walking through this barefoot.
Protection from hot and cold
A child’s foot also needs to be protected from extreme temperatures. If a child is playing in a daycare playground on a nice summer day, that ground might be hot and could burn your child’s foot.
If you live in a place with a cold climate, you’ll also need to use shoes to help protect your child’s foot from heat loss. Socks can protect feet from the cold air, but you’ll likely need shoes if your child is walking around on the cold ground.
Why shouldn’t an infant wear shoes?
Allows their feet to grow naturally
When a child is born, their foot is very different from ours. It has no bones. Instead it’s a mass of cartilage, muscles, and fat.
That cartilage will slowly, over the next thirteen years or so, turn into bone. However until that thirteen or so years are over, a child’s foot is much more fragile than an adult’s. If shoes push on the foot, it could force the cartilage in an unnatural shape and cause permanent harm that will last your child’s entire life.
One common foot issue that is believed to be often caused by shoe usage early in life is flat feet. This is a condition when the foot’s arch is lower than normal. When this happens it can cause pain when standing or walking for long periods of time.
Helps to strengthen all parts of the foot
Another reason you should avoid shoes is that initially the muscles and ligaments in your child’s feet are very weak. They’ve never used their feet before, so your child has never exercised and built up strength in them. Walking barefoot helps feet become much stronger than if they wear shoes, since shoes often provide a lot of support. All parts of the foot must work together to maintain balance and support the weight of your child.
Best for teaching a baby how to walk
While your child is learning to walk, they need to process a lot of information. One part of this information is the texture and orientation of the ground. When barefoot, your child gets this information from their feet. When wearing shoes, your child cannot feel the changes in the ground and therefore must look down while walking a lot. Anyone who tries walking and looking at their cell phone knows just how difficult this can be. Once your child is walking and balancing well, then the need to feel the ground with their feet will become less and less important.
When do babies need shoes?
Typically you should ensure your baby has shoes once they are starting to stand up and trying to take steps. Your child doesn’t yet know how to identify dangers on the ground, so they don’t know where their fragile little feet are safe.
Keep in mind though that it’s best for your baby to remain barefoot as much as possible. Only place the shoes on your child if you are unable to ensure their play area is free from dangers.
Certain situations might also affect when to buy your baby’s first pair of shoes. Often daycares and other businesses will place requirements on when your child should start wearing shoes.
How to choose a good shoe for infants?
Considering that the infants are encouraged to be barefoot as much as possible, and they should only use shoes for protection, look for shoes that are as close to barefoot as possible.
When choosing the best shoe for your child, you’ll need to carefully consider the environment that the shoe will be used in. It’s quite likely that your child will need more than one pair of shoes that you swap out depending on where your child is going.
Always remember though that you want a shoe as soft, open, and barefoot-like as possible. Choose a shoe that is only hard and rigid enough to provide sufficient protection in that environment. More is definitely not better in this situation.
Will your child be in a cold environment?
If so, you’ll probably want a closed shoe that can help retain the heat in your child’s foot. However if your child will be wearing thick socks, then perhaps an open shoe, like sandals, would still be ok.
Will your child’s feet likely be getting wet?
If so, will the air be cold? When your child’s feet might get cold and wet, then you’ll want a pair of closed shoes that can resist the water so that their feet stay warm and dry. If the air won’t be cold, then perhaps some sandals or other open shoe that can dry quickly.
Will the ground be hot?
You will want some shoes with a thick enough sole that will protect the foot from burns.
Might your child’s foot be stepped on or harmed by falling objects?
Look for shoes that provide good protection over the foot to help absorb impact and reduce strain on the foot. Be careful though that this top of the foot protection does not cause constant pressure on the foot.
Find the right shoe size
When sizing a shoe, you need to remember that your child’s foot will be growing a lot. Unless you want to buy them new shoes every other month, you’ll want to make sure that those little feet have room to grow without being compressed by the shoe. Be sure to always try the shoe on your child’s foot before you buy them, or make sure that the store has a very good return policy.
To size the shoe, place the shoe on your child and have them stand up. Remember that children who cannot stand and walk generally don’t need shoes. While your child is standing, their heel should fit snugly in the shoe and there should be 1.25cm of open space in front of the toes (unless the shoe is an open toe sandal). Always be sure to measure from the longest toe. I know that in many shoes you won’t be able to see the toes and easily measure. However the top of the shoe should be soft enough for you to feel where the toes end.
Your child keeps their shoes on
Often children will initially be comfortable with their shoes and will try to take them off. Shoes are only effective when they are on the feet, so shoes that a child can remove easily will not be very effective.
Be sure to buy shoes that fit your child’s foot well. A shoe that doesn’t fit well won’t be comfortable, which will encourage your child to remove it.
Look for shoes that have laces, velcro, snaps, or some other way to secure the shoe to the foot. Eventually your child will figure out how to work around this, but by then hopefully they are familiar and comfortable with shoes on their feet.