So what's all the fuss about soft sole shoes? Why are they the best shoe for babies and toddlers?
Believe it or not, those tiny feet do an enormous amount of development in the first few years, they’re quite complex! Bear with us for a second, let’s nerd out about feet for a bit, they have:
- 26 bones– 1 quarter of all of the bones in the human body
- More than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments
- 200 000 nerve endings
At 6 months old, a babies foot is made mostly of cartilage and the bone structure will begin to form. By 2, the bone structure has developed, however there are still large gaps between the bones. The arch will develop at about 6 years old and the bones will still continue to fuse together and strengthen until about 10.
This means that an ill fitting shoe early on, can do serious damage to a foot long term. A firm, thick sole with minimal flexibility can interfere with all the hard work little feet need to do to establish their crawling or walking. If they can’t really feel the ground, they struggle to use their toes to grip and they can’t quite distribute their weight evenly, hence the robot dance you may have seen a toddler do before when wearing a clunky shoe!
There are some stylish toddler shoes out there inspired by adult styles. But baby and toddler feet are so different to yours or mine, hence they need a totally different type of shoe.
Keeping your babe barefoot or in a super flexible, light weight shoe that doesn’t restrict movement or growth is the best thing parents can do to allow the feet to do their thing. And that’s why Gertrude and the King shoes have you covered.