The Great Arch Support Myth and Stride Rite Baby Shoes

Tom
2026-04-07T05:21:42+02:00

The lady in the shoe shop was looking at me with a mixture of pity and mild alarm. I was kneeling on the carpet, wrestling with Twin A's left foot, trying to compress what looked like a perfectly round, dimpled Cornish pasty into a miniature leather brogue. Twin A was completely rigid, screaming in a pitch that made the shop windows vibrate, while Twin B systematically pulled every display sock off its peg behind me.

I looked up at the assistant, desperate for validation, and asked if the tiny, immovable leather prisons had adequate arch support. She blinked slowly, entirely unfazed by the chaos, and informed me that babies don't have arches. They have fat pads. At that exact moment, I realized everything I thought I knew about baby shoes was complete rubbish.

If you've ever found yourself scrolling through an obscure e baby forum at two in the morning, panicked because your ten-month-old appears to have entirely flat, shapeless feet, let me save you a significant amount of stress. The miniature adult shoes we're sold—the tiny wingtip oxfords, the miniature hiking boots, the impossibly heavy basketball trainers—are a scam. They're designed for our aesthetic amusement, not for human physiology. Putting a heavy, rigid shoe on a baby who's just learning to balance is like asking a drunk adult to walk a tightrope in ski boots. They just stand there, anchored to the floor, looking utterly betrayed by the universe.

What our GP actually told me about foot bones

After the shoe shop disaster, I brought up my concerns with our GP. She is a remarkably patient woman who has to deal with my hyper-specific, sleep-deprived questions on a weekly basis. I asked her if my daughters were destined for a life of orthopaedic inserts because their feet looked like little unbaked dinner rolls.

She sketched out a foot on the back of a prescription pad and explained something that absolutely blew my mind. A baby’s foot has 26 bones, but at this stage, they aren't even really bones. They're mostly squishy, malleable cartilage. This means that if you shove their feet into stiff, unyielding shoes, you can literally mold their feet into the wrong shape. The arch support myth is just that—a myth. The chubby fat pad on the bottom of a baby's foot provides all the natural support they need, and their actual arches likely won't fully develop until they're around six or seven years old.

Our GP essentially told me that barefoot is best for as long as possible. The sensory feedback they get from the floor helps them figure out balance and coordination. But obviously, you can't let a toddler walk barefoot through a damp London park in November. You need something that acts like a second skin, which is how I tumbled down the rabbit hole of podiatrist-approved footwear.

The pragmatic world of proper footwear

This brings us to the brand that every veteran parent eventually whispers to you about at the playground. Stride Rite toddler kicks have essentially monopolized the early walker market for good reason. They're one of the few brands that seem to acknowledge what a baby foot actually looks like. Instead of shrinking down an adult shoe, they build their shoes around a 3D mold of an actual toddler's foot, which is why the toe boxes are so comically wide.

When you're wrangling a distressed child in a shop, temperature control is surprisingly key. I was sweating heavily during our first fitting, and Twin A was furious in a terrible polyester blend someone had gifted us. We have since aggressively purged their wardrobe and switched almost entirely to the Organic Cotton Baby Bodysuit Sleeveless Infant Onesie. I'm weirdly passionate about this specific garment. The envelope shoulders actually stretch, meaning when your child goes completely rigid to protest a shoe fitting, you can slide the onesie down over their hips instead of dragging a sweaty collar over their head. The organic cotton breathes beautifully, which prevents those nasty little heat rashes they get when they work themselves into a state.

The beauty of a proper first-walker shoe is the sole. The Soft Motion line features multidirectional flexible grooves, meaning you can basically fold the shoe in half with one hand. When my girls first wore them, they didn't do the Frankenstein walk. They just carried on as if they were wearing socks, albeit slightly thicker, rubbery socks that prevented them from slipping on our kitchen tiles and concussing themselves.

The contact sport of foot measurement

Knowing what shoe to buy is only half the battle; knowing when and how to buy them is the real test of endurance. A baby's foot grows rapidly—about a half size every two to four months. This is a devastating financial reality. You will buy a perfectly fitted, beautifully constructed shoe, and approximately twelve weeks later, your child’s toes will be curling against the edge.

You have to measure their feet constantly. The halfway point of every season requires a check. If you're ever between sizes, always size up, because forcing a tiny foot into a restrictive toe box is a recipe for disaster. You will know the fit is wrong if they're constantly trying to rip the shoe off the moment you turn your back.

We do a lot of our walking practice indoors first. I highly think clearing a safe space and letting them figure out their centre of gravity. We throw down the Colorful Dinosaur Bamboo Baby Blanket in the lounge because it gives me a soft place to sit while I act as a human crash mat. The bamboo blend is incredibly soft, but honestly, the main benefit is that the contrasting dinosaur patterns give the girls something to stare at and aim for as they dramatically lurch across the room.

Explore our full collection of sustainable, soft baby blankets to create a safe practice space for your little walker.

When the footwear becomes a chew toy

Because the universe is fundamentally absurd, the moment you invest in a scientifically engineered, APMA-approved flexible shoe, your child will immediately try to eat it. It's just a fact of life. They view their toes as a snack, and putting a shoe over those toes just adds flavor.

Twin B managed to get the entire toe box of a brand new sneaker into her mouth while we were waiting for a bus. I had to pry it from her jaws and quickly substitute it with the Bear Teething Rattle Wooden Ring Sensory Toy. Look, it's a perfectly fine teether. The untreated beechwood is safe, it doesn't look like cheap neon plastic, and the crochet bear is objectively charming. But if I'm being brutally honest, she drops it constantly. It's useful when she's strapped into the pram and I need to distract her from unlacing her shoes, but when she's loose on the floor, she still prefers to chew on the cardboard shoe box it came in.

The reality of footwear stages

If you want to maintain your sanity, you need to understand the distinct stages of toddler footwear. Prewalkers are basically just robust socks for crawlers. They stop the top of the foot from scraping against the floor. First walkers are for those terrifying few weeks when they're pulling up on the coffee table and letting go for two seconds at a time. Independent walkers are for when they seriously start navigating the garden and need sensory pods on the soles to feel the uneven ground.

The financial aspect can be grim, as good shoes aren't cheap. My best advice is to hunt down the washable lines—like the Made2Play range—because a toddler in a London park will inevitably step in fox poo within four minutes of arriving. Being able to throw the entire shoe into the washing machine on a cold cycle is a genuinely life-altering feature.

If someone gifts you a pair of miniature high-top basketball trainers for a nine-month-old, immediately put them on a shelf as a decoration and never speak of them again.

Rather than stressing about flat feet, wrestling with rigid boots, and spending a fortune on arch support that your child physically doesn't need, just let them roam barefoot indoors and invest in something completely bendable when you finally brave the pavement.

Ready to upgrade your baby’s wardrobe with breathable, flexible essentials? Shop our organic cotton collection today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I buy walking shoes for a crawling baby?

Honestly, save your money. When they're just crawling, barefoot or simple grip socks are entirely fine. If you put structured shoes on a crawler, the toe box just catches on the carpet and trips them up, which usually ends in tears for everyone involved.

How often do their feet honestly grow?

In my experience, roughly every time you feel like you finally have your finances in order. Medically speaking, it’s about a half size every two to four months during the toddler years. I try to check the fit every eight weeks by pressing down on the toe to make sure there's still a thumb's width of space.

What if one foot is bigger than the other?

This terrified me initially, but our pediatrician laughed and said it's incredibly common. Twin A's left foot is a solid half-size larger than her right. You always, always buy shoes to fit the larger foot. The smaller foot will be fine, but a shoe that's too tight on the big foot will cause immense grief.

Can I use hand-me-down shoes for my second twin?

I really wanted the answer to this to be yes, but unfortunately, it's a hard no for everyday walking shoes. Because a baby's foot is mostly cartilage, the shoe really molds to the specific shape of the first wearer's foot. Putting Twin B into Twin A's old shoes would force her feet into an unnatural pattern.

Why are wide toe boxes so necessary?

When babies learn to walk, they don't step heel-to-toe like we do. They stomp flat-footed and splay their toes out wide to grip the floor for balance. If the shoe narrows at the top like an adult trainer, they can't spread their toes, and they just tip over like little felled trees.