Hi Moms,
Which BRANDS of all leather shoes & soled shoes run the widest and tallest (my little one has wide and tall from bottom to top of the feet) that do NOT have elastic such as Robeez. I just purchased a pair of Pediped 'Ethan' all leather shoes for my 13 month old. I personally didn't like the 'Ethan' style but they were the only ones that fit the rounder feet. For now I really like the crib shoes but am sure we will be moving into soled shoes very soon which is why I am looking for a recommendation for both. Thanks! :o)
Hi Jennifer-
I took my 17 month old to the Stride Rite in Washington Square and they were very helpful. His feet are very wide top to bottom, and they had good selections with velcro for easy closing. Kind of pricey, but I'd definitely recommend taking him/her to get fitted. Good luck!
Hi Jennifer:
Is there a stride right shoe store near you i use to get my childrens shoes thers but where i am now there isn't one. at thst store they fit the shoes not like shopko and other stores where parents have to fit the shoes
Paula
My son has chunky feet and thick ankles (all thanks to me) and we had great luck with See Kai Run. They're cute, sort of funky, and my son loved them. They aren't cheap, but you can usually find last season's styles discounted if you look online. Good luck!
I have to agree with the people who said See Kai Run. They are soooo cute, but my daughter could never wear them because they are really wide and her feet are really narrow!
Ditto on the stride rite! Also try See Kai Run, robeez tredz. Good luck!
See Kai Run and their Smaller brand are both great for chunkier feet. I have a pair of the Gavin "Smaller" shoes for my 6 month old and love them. My older son wore See Kai Run for 3 years. (He has outgrown them now) I personally like the Smaller shoes more than the Pediped but both are great. Pediped also has a larger shoe called Pediped Flex which are good too. They are my second favorite after the See Kai Run. The Smaller brand also is less slippery for early walkers. They have little rubber grips on the bottom so they would be better for that transitional age than the pediped which are a little slippery.
We had to purchse "wide" shoes at Nordstrom, for my son. We couldn't find any elsewhere.
My experience is that See Kai Runs are wide. Infact, two friends of mine buy them for their sons who have big chunky feet. They just fall off of my son's foot as they're too wide for him. Good luck!
We used Bobux, rather than Robeez with our son because the elastic on the Robeez hurt. We stuck with those for a long time, even though he was walking at 9 months and we lived in a winter climate. Nothing else was comfortable for him. The next thing we used were extra wide stride rite shoes. We found that the outlet stores had an excellent selection of extra wide stride rite, that we could not find at the malls. We found that the stride rites that had laces, rather than velcro, worked the best. We honestly had much more luck from extra wides at outlets. We could find wide, but not extra wide in the malls and when their feet are really wide, they definitely need the extra wide. So every time we go to an outlet mall we find one pair he likes and then buy at least one in the next size up.
They actually have wide sizes at Payless Shoes too.
My son got super wide feet from somewhere, and high arches from me (I can still fit two fingers under my arch, used to be 3-4, before being pregnant. I swear to god I had "Barbie" feet most of my life)...so we had the exact same problem. We could never do the cute little leather soleless ones because they either
a) didn't fit
b) cut off circulation after "appearing" to fit
c) would just fall off
The ONLY toddler shoe that came in extra wide, is fortunately the best on the market for foot development/walking skills/leg bone and joint growth:
StrideRite
The Velcro ones especially have a lot of room in the top, so his tall arches had space, and the cushioning is better then my cross trainers, so within a week or so they had molded to his feet on the inside. The also have what they call "toddler-tech". Essentially, the shoes bend in four directons...allowing young kids to do that sideways stability thing they do without toppling them over or stressing their ankles. Great great great shoes.
Crocs will also fit wide feet: but beware. They create either a flip-swing-hobble-skip-jump kind of stride in kids or the flop-n-stomp. The flippy bouncy stride is cute as all get out, but it's really hard on developing joints and muscles...The flop-n-stomp as far as I can tell is merely annoying.
Teva's are a better bet in warmer weather, since they come in wide and the tops are 100% size to fit.
For any kid's shoe, I'd recommend Nordstroms or the Shoe Zoo, Seattle.
Cheers to Pitter Patter
Take a look at Soft Star Shoes. They are made in the USA in Corvallis OR. I've been to the factory and they do an incredible job. I just saw that Whole Foods is starting to carry some styles, but start with www.softstarshoes.com to get started. They have a ton of styles and you can even customize colors if you would like. They do have an elastic band, but not the same "tight" gathered band the Robeez have.
Good Luck.
K.
Hi Jennifer-
Try Keen. Spendy but wide toe box. A.
Definitely See Kai Run. For a cheap option, i bought tennis shoes w/ two velcro straps and cut the tongues out of the widest Target shoes i could find- gives a lot more room in there for a thicker foot.
Toddler University. They were carried by Nordstroms. If you go to Nordy's their children's shoe department folks are experts at fitting baby/toddler feet and will only sell the right shoe for your child's foot, with appropriate grow room, so you're not back every 2 weeks. Check them out. They never failed me through 3 kids!!! Southcenter and Bellevue store staff were the tops!!!
See Kai Run brand have been great for my daughter who also has "thick" wide feet. They have very soft leather so they don't pinch as much as other shoes and they have a wide toe box/ball of the foot. Keens are also great for a very wide/thick foot.
Also try Pedipeds - they are leather bottom shoes and they are wonderful. No elastic and they fit chunky little feet: www.pediped.com
They are about $30 per shoe, but well worth it! Plus they have flexible toddler shoes too!
HI! Just wanted to say that I agree with one of the other women that Nordstom does the BEST job in fitting kids shoes. They have different price points in shoes and you can tell them what you're looking to pay. Their sales people are excellent in fitting kids. My first child had really wide, pudgy feet and they were always able to get him into the best shoes. This is so important so they don't end up with any foot problems later on.
