Types Of Baby Shoes

To pull together this infant and baby shoe buying guide, we conducted hands-on reviews of over a dozen baby and toddler shoes, and gathered feedback from new moms and dads.

When picking baby shoes, the primary considerations are closure designs, toe durability, support and stability, comfort

When babies are crawling, look for a tight fit with good toe durability. When your toddler is first learning how to walk, look for shoes with high support and lateral stability. Because these are slightly different goals, we’ve separated this article into two sections: the best baby shoes for crawlers, and then for walkers.

Here are the Best Baby Shoes for Crawlers

1. Pediped Originals for Boys and Pediped Originals for Girls.

The Pediped line of shoes got a lot of votes from our moms because they are very cute and stylish, made from quality materials, comfortable, and many of the options use a velcro strap to keep them on. For those reasons, these are #1 according to the moms in our focus group. Here are some of the most popular Pediped options for girls and boys:

2. Stride Rite Infant Shoes for Boys and for Girls.

The Stride Rite line of shoes is very well known for their quality, comfort, and support. They don’t have as big of a variety in terms of style and cuteness, since they tend to focus on shoes for babies who are walking. But here are a couple cute options for crawlers:

3. Robeez Infant Slip-on Baby Shoes for Boys and for Girls.

Sometimes we’re all suckers for style and cuteness. So let’s ignore all the advice about buying a pair of shoes that will actually stay on the feet, and acknowledge the fact that Robeez baby shoes are some of the most popular on the market. Not because they are supportive or won’t fall off, but because they’re cute and comfortable. They are also well made, with high quality materials. They are less expensive than the Stride Rite, but tend to be a few dollars more than the Pediped.

4. BirdRock Baby Moccasins – Soft Leather Baby Shoes for Boys and Girls.

These are very high quality, genuine leather, and truly adorable moccasins that are made by a small business in San Diego, CA. These slip-on shoes come in a ton of cute styles and colors, with the confetti polka dots and Emoji being some of our favorites. We love the soft sole that promotes a nice natural walking feel, the high quality stitching, the moccasin frills, and the adorable canvas reusable gift bag them come in (just in case you’re planning on gifting them). They are about $25 online per pair, and we suggest buying a couple different styles. These are quickly becoming very popular for good reason, and we suspect these will keep climbing our best-of list over the next few years!

Here are the Best Toddler Shoes for New Walkers

1. Stride Rite First Walker Shoes for Boys and Girls.

The Stride Rite line of shoes is at the top of our list for good reason. Starting with the first walker shoes and continuing into their toddler lines, these shoes are well made, stylish, comfortable, come in wide and extra wide sizes, and provide excellent support for the growing foot. Though Stride Rite shoes tend to be a bit more expensive than other options, the moms we interviewed thought the shoes were well worth the cost.

2. Puma new walker Shoes for Boys and for Girls.

Puma does a nice job making stylish, well constructed, and comfortable shoes for new walkers. They also tend to be a bit less expensive than the Stride Rite options, but they are not quite as well made or have quite as much arch support or lateral stability. They also tend to be a bit narrower and do not come in wide or extra wide sizes like the Stride Rite shoes do.

How to Pick the Perfect Baby Shoes

If your baby isn’t walking yet, most people think the only concern is style, like with most other clothing. However, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Here is a list of considerations to make when shopping for newborn and infant shoes. We also provide a list of popular, stylish, and durable shoe options. Here are some things to consider when shopping for baby shoes:

Slip-on versus Lace-up versus Velcro

Nobody likes trying to shove a chubby baby foot into a shoe, only finding that the shoe falls off 3 minutes later. Once your baby starts crawling, slip-on shoes become more and more likely to fall off. Of course it’s a nuisance to keep putting the shoes back on, and nobody likes getting home and only then realizing the baby has only one shoe on! So this leads to our suggestion to use the lace-up or velcro options, rather than the slip on, at least once the baby begins crawling.

Of course, while the the lace-up shoes can be really cute, they are also time-consuming to put on and take off; at this age, diaper changes require a lot of shoe removal! So the best baby shoes once your little one starts crawling, mostly for convenience sake, are the ones with the fake elastic laces (like these cute Baby Shoes) or a little velcro strap (like these Pediped Infant Shoes) that you can use to quickly take the shoes on and off, and quickly adjust how tight they are to accommodate a growing foot.

Durability of the Toe

This is something that you don’t realize until you’re spending way too much money on shoes: with a crawling baby, the top of the toe is the primary point of contact with the ground. If your baby is anything like mine, he or she will be crawling all over the place, everywhere you go: indoors, outdoors, hard surfaces, soft surfaces, rough surfaces, smooth surfaces, wet and dry surfaces, etc. What happens over a few weeks is that the toe of the shoe becomes dragged across so many surfaces that it gets pretty badly ripped apart.

Support and Stability

Once your baby begins crawling it won’t be long until they’re pulling up on things to stand. At this point, pediatricians suggest purchasing baby shoes with a bit more support. No more thin-bottom Robeez or Momo Baby shoes at this point, you need to be providing a wide firm base with adequate arch support. Stride Rite, Tsukihoshi, Puma, New Balance, and some other brands provide excellent lateral stability and arch support.

The little bones in your baby’s feet are developing very quickly at this age, so give them the support they need to develop a well-formed arch, and the better stance, gait, cadence and stability that go along with it. Seems silly to think about these things at such a young age, but some studies show that babies walk sooner and better with supportive footwear. 

Comfort

OK this one is difficult to assess when your baby is too little to really tell you how things feel. If they’re screaming while you try to squeeze their fat foot into the shoe, it’s probably too small. If you’re taking more than a minute putting on the shoes, they are probably too small. If you feel the toes hitting the front of the shoe when you feel from the outside, they are probably too small.

If they’re falling off every few minutes, they’re either to big or not well-secured. A baby who is uncomfortable in their shoes will only become more uncomfortable when he or she begins to pull up to stand and even more weight is put on the shoe. So use your best judgment. In our experience, the most comfortable baby shoes are made by Robeez, Momo Baby, Stride Rite, and New Balance. Pumas tend to run narrow and can be too tight for a fat baby foot.