Tips on Buying Your Baby's First Shoes

If new parents can save money on one thing solely, it would be baby shoes.

Adorable? Yes. Practical? Not really. Many Pediatricians do not share the same beliefs of parents that wearing shoes is a necessity. In fact, many recommend that baby first learn how to walk while barefoot. If the weather is cold or if you are concerned about hardwood floors and tumbles, soft, flexible booties or socks should be adequate protection for baby's tootsies. If you want a durable as well as adorable product, Robeez offers stand up quality leather footwear in assorted styles and designs available at Robeez.com and other specialty children's wear boutiques. If you like the designer leather style, but not the designer price, consider the applique leather slip-on shoes available in Target stores and at Target.com. Slipper or sleeper socks are also good choices. The variety of colors and designs are an inexpensive alternative that allows the fashion conscious parent to color coordinate their little one's entire wardrobe. Plus, the slip-resistant features offer peace of mind around those hard surfaces.

After baby is cruising around more steadily on his or her own, then shoes do become a bit more of a necessity. A few tips when shopping for shoes include the following:

Have your child's feet fitted by a knowledgeable sales associate.

A knowledgeable sales associate is not only one that can make your child feel at ease in the shoe department, but one that is familiar with the products that the store carries. Sales associates can tell you quickly which products are better choices for your child's feet, depending on your child's individual needs. Sales associates also tend to know which products or styles run smaller, narrower, and stand up better in comparison to others. If your child needs a wide width shoe, an associate can usually save you time and effort by letting you know upfront which styles will not work for you. This makes the selection process much less time consuming. Sometimes sales associates will even tell you when the shoes you are interested in will be on sale. A toddler cannot say, "Mommy, this shoe hurts my foot." For that reason alone, asking for assistance is crucial. In the long run, the cheapest pair is not always the best value for your child.

Do not stock up on the next size up.

Buy only the shoes that your child really needs. It is a good idea to invest in a pair of durable and washable play shoes for every day wear, and it's also nice to have a dressier pair of shoes for more formal occasions, photos, or family visits and outings. Even though it might be on sale now, try and resist the temptation to create a shoe fetish for your little one. Feet grow very fast and though they may be tiny, tiny shoes can get pretty expensive, particularly if you need to buy a new pair every few months as your child's outgrows them. By stocking up, you can easily end up with extra pairs that your little one will not be able to use. When you still have to go to the store, have their feet refitted, and purchase yet another pair, you will not have saved any money.

Choose shoes that stay put.

While slip-ons and Velcro might work great for some children, they are often not a good idea for others. A busy toddler who is fascinated with gadgets, buttons, and anything else that moves will almost certainly be equally as fascinated by the sound that Velcro makes as he fastens and unfastens his shoes. The shoe then tends to lose its convenience and functionality as it becomes a toy. You want your child to wear the shoes on his or her feet, not carry them around and play with them.

Consider comfort, lifestyle, and your child's preferences.

Your child's individual personality factors greatly into shoe selections. Toddlers have distinct preferences which they are eager to make known. Trying on the shoes in the store is always a good idea as you can better gauge your child's reaction. Your definition of comfortable and your child's definition of comfortable might also be two entirely different things. Frankly, though I might prefer my two-year-old wear a pair of tan leather shoes to match his khaki summer shorts, he is perfectly content with nothing less than a cheap, four dollar, knock-off pair of blue pastel crocs which he selected in a close-out store all by himself. I might have chosen the tan shoes but if I can't get him to put them on his feet, I wasted my time, not to mention my money. Sometimes you have to pick and choose your battles. Admittedly, I have some personal issues when pastel blue does not coordinate with my son's outfits. Yet, as I watch him running through the sprinkler in a garden filled with red clay I know that two minutes in the kitchen sink will have those cheap imitation crocs looking just like new. That four dollars was by far my best shoe investment yet.