When choosing shoes in winter, five criteria are indispensable! Choosing the wrong one can cause your child to have flat feet and O-shaped legs.
The temperature has dropped sharply recently, and it’s time to put on warm gear for the kids. As soon as I took out last year’s winter shoes, I found that they were already small.
According to the monitors installed in your homes, it’s time to replace your winter shoes!
Winter shoes for babies are far from enough to keep them warm. Choosing the wrong shoes will seriously affect the development of your child’s feet and legs.
Many friends’ good winter companions, snow boots, have been criticized for being “disabling”.
Although it has been confirmed that this is a rumor, orthopedic surgeons also point out that it is best not for children to wear snow boots. Snow boots are especially not suitable for long-term walking or outdoor sports.
In addition, there are some shoes that are not suitable for children. You should pay special attention when buying shoes for your children in winter.
Very thick snow boots
Snow boots are generally wide and cannot protect and support the baby's ankles.
After being worn for a long time, the hair inside the shoes will be squashed, making the space inside the shoes larger and making it impossible to fix the little feet in the shoes.
The toe and heel are also very soft and cannot protect and support the baby's ankle well, which can easily cause ankle joint and ligament damage.
Moreover, the soles of snow boots are very flat, which over time can cause babies to develop flat feet or even "buckets."
In addition, babies are active and sweat a lot on their feet. The fluff inside the snow boots is soaked with sweat for a long time, which increases the probability of fungal growth.
At this point, most friends from the north are already shivering. It is recommended to prepare a pair of lightweight thin velvet sneakers and put them on when your children play sports.
In short, it is not recommended for babies to wear snow boots for a lot of activities in winter, as there is no benefit.
Thick-soled cotton shoes
The soles are too thick, making it difficult to bend. The child's body's control over the ankle joint is weakened, and it is difficult to maintain stability of the ankle joint.
Not only will it be more difficult to walk, but it will also make your feet sprained.
The soles of thick-soled shoes tend to be hard, which puts more pressure on the soles of the feet, making children more likely to feel tired during exercise.
Generally, when choosing shoes for children, the heel should not exceed 2 centimeters and should not be too flat.
High-top boots
The baby’s skeletal development has not yet been finalized, and high-top boots are not conducive to the baby’s ankle activities and bone development.
High-cut boots like the ones below that just hit the ankles are not only detrimental to ankle development, but also risk wearing the ankle skin.
Cotton slippers
Slippers do not have a heel. Even if they do have a heel, the shoe body is generally too wide to secure the child's feet.
The baby's toes must be hooked all the time to grasp the slippers. If this continues, the development of the toes and arches will be affected.
Therefore, it is not suitable for toddlers to wear cotton slippers. Only the baby knows whether they are tired or not.
You have to wait until your child is at least five years old and the bones in his feet have grown before you can try wearing slippers.
Second-hand shoes
Everyone must be familiar with the topic of second-hand shoes. I asked our class representative to summarize his speech:
Yes, every The insteps, arches, and width of each baby's feet are all very different!
Second-hand shoes will have some wear and tear, and these wear and tear will carry the memory of the previous owner. The baby will have to work hard to adapt. Wearing second-hand shoes for a long time will also affect the development of the arch of the foot.
Although we encourage the best use of everything, second-hand shoes really don’t matter.
When the child can stand with his own support, it is time to put on shoes for the child.
When a child learns to stand, it is difficult for the five toes to be separated, which is not conducive to walking in the future.
After putting on shoes for the child, keeping the five toes together is more conducive to the child's learning to walk in the future.
Before your baby learns to walk, he does not need to wear thick shoes at home.
You can put warm, non-slip floor socks on your baby, or floor shoes that combine shoes and socks.
So, how should we choose shoes for children who have just learned to walk and have entered the stable period?
How should we choose shoes for babies who have just learned to walk?
For babies who are entering the toddler stage in winter and are not suitable for bare feet, you can choose to wear toddler shoes with soft soles and soft surfaces.
Put the toddler shoes on the floor and touch the floor through the insole. If you can feel the ground with your fingers, it means that the soft sole standard has been met.
Soft-soled toddler shoes can allow your baby's toes to grip the ground, promote the development of plantar nerves, and help them stand better and learn to walk stably.
Of course, soft-soled shoes can only be worn indoors on smooth surfaces and are not suitable for outdoor wear.
How should children who can already walk steadily choose shoes?
Children who can walk steadily enter the stable period. At this time, the baby's foot shape should be controlled, and some toddler stable shoes with a harder shoe body can be selected.
In general, the shoes chosen for children at this stage need to have a solid heel cup to prevent the rear foot from everting (i.e. heel deviation).
The soles should be easy to bend and elastic, and can support the arch of the foot well.
The specific choice can be judged according to a simple formula:
One fold, two pinches, three twists, four presses, five smells——
The shape of the shoe should conform to the shape of the baby's foot, and the upper should be as low as possible to prevent the higher upper from hurting the baby's ankle;
The curved part of the shoe should be stuck in the front 1/3 of the shoe to ensure that the sole Only when the flex line matches the flex line of the baby's feet can the child be guided to walk correctly.
Pinch the heel of the shoe and the front toe box with both hands. If there is no hardness, the shoe is not qualified.
The heel of the shoe must be hard enough to protect the baby's soft ankle joint and prevent the ankle joint from tilting due to force, resulting in O-shaped legs or X-shaped legs. The front toe cap of the shoe also needs to be hard enough to prevent bruises, kicks, and toes from being bruised.
The upper material should be soft, breathable and odor-free.
Baby’s feet are delicate and prone to sweating. Excessive materials will not only abrade the skin, but some hard materials have poor air permeability.
Cow and sheepskin, canvas, and velvet are all good choices. It is best not to choose plastic or synthetic leather.
Children grow up quickly, and the older generation’s shopping philosophy for children’s shoes, hats, and clothing has always been to buy older ones.
However, shoes that are too large can easily affect the baby's skeletal development and may cause foot deformities such as O-shaped legs, X-shaped legs, and varus feet.
Generally speaking, it is appropriate for the inner length of the shoes to be 0.5-1 cm longer than the baby's feet.
To determine whether the shoe size is appropriate, you can let the baby wear socks and try on the shoes while standing, so that the shoes chosen are the most suitable.
Parents can also use their little finger to measure. If the little finger can be inserted between the heel and the upper of the shoe, it means it is more suitable.
1. Soles that are too soft
Soles that are too soft are not suitable for babies who have learned to walk. They are not conducive to stable foot shape and can easily cause damage to ankle joints and ligaments.
2. Shoes that are too big or too small
Wearing shoes that are too big will force the baby’s feet to grip, which may cause the baby’s feet to turn in or out. At the same time, it is easy to lean forward when walking like this, which not only affects the bone development of the feet but also affects the development of the spine.
Shoes that are too small squeeze the feet, and the toes are squeezed, which can easily cause deformation and deformity, and can easily lead to paronychia
Therefore, it is not advisable to buy shoes that are too large for your children. Those that are too small must be eliminated in time.
3. Shoes that are too thin or have too pointed toes
will cause deformation of the feet and walking posture, causing damage to the growing bones.
4. Don’t pay attention to changing shoes regularly
Generally speaking, the baby’s shoes should be changed every 3-4 months.
Every other month, parents should check the comfort of their baby's shoes. If after putting it on, the space left at the toes is less than half the width of an adult’s little finger, or there are marks on the heels and insteps, it means that the baby’s feet have grown and the shoes are no longer suitable and need to be replaced as soon as possible.
Finally, I’ll leave you with a little question to think about!
Is it better to wear fleece shoes + thin socks for children in winter?
Or ordinary sneakers + fleece socks?