Foot Health
Foot health in little ones is very important, in fact right up until late teens it is a good idea to get feet measured and fitted properly by qualified shoe fitters. All bones tend to have fully ossified by the age of 25.
Take a look at some key advice from our Stampede team:
When to buy his/her first pair of shoes
Shoes for a little one are required usually when he/she is walking all day long unaided and wants to venture outside. It is only at this point that shoes are required to protect the feet and keep them warm.
On entering Stampede shoe shop a series of questions will be asking by the sales assistant to correctly gauge at what stage the child is at, as follows:
- Does your child walk unaided/without hand-holding?
- Does your child walk confidently, all day long, without reverting to crawling for long periods of time?
- What has she been wearing on his/her feet up until now?
- Can we see the child have a little walk around the shop now please.
The above questions allow the fitter to really ascertain whether or not a ‘new walker’ is ready for shoes. Often parents will be encouraging their children to walk and cannot wait to buy new shoes. We do sometimes find that the child is still ‘cruising’ and hanging on to furniture to assist walking and will therefore offer a soft pram shoe or pre-walker until they are 100% confident.
How often should I replace his/her shoes?
It is wise to check the fit of your child’s shoes every six to eight weeks. On average feet grow two whole sizes every year up until the age of four or five. Reputable shoe shops will offer to check for free on a regular basis. Please feel free to drop into the shop any time to let one of our trained staff check the fit for you. It only takes a few minutes.
Trainers and children
Sports shoes are designed for sports and should be worn for such activities. Trainers are often not supplied with width fittings and therefore do not always resulting in a snug fit. More importantly the foot has 250,000 sweat glands releasing roughly a quarter of pint of perspiration a day. A foot in a trainer cannot always breathe properly and can bring on complaints such as hyperhipdrosis and bromidrosis if the shoes are not allowed to dry out.
The correct socks
Correctly fitting, quality socks are also an important part of a child’s foot health. They must not be too small; causing toes to curl otherwise this could cause permanent damage to growing bones. They should also ideally be made of cotton rather than synthetic, once again, to allow the foot to breathe. Poor quality socks may also have badly cast-off seams which can cause skin irritation and blisters.
In summary foot growth should not be hindered in any way by ill fitting shoes or socks, or any kind of pressure put on the foot such as shoes being too small which so often results in deformed feet in children