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| Shoes and Socks for the Clubfoot Baby |
If you're a new parent, one of the very first things you will notice is how
EVERYone has an opinion about everything, including shoes and socks for
the clubfoot baby.
I personally have a strong opinion about everything. So with that in mind, my
only point is to say you will get opinions from everyone about what is best for
your clubfoot baby when it comes to shoes and socks.
Dr. Ponseti recommends two things: First, use the Mitchell foot abduction
brace, also known as the Mitchell clubfoot shoe (among other things), and
second, when the brace can come off, barefoot is best.
Your baby can't always get away with going barefooted though. So what do
you do when shoes are required?
All my boys have grown up in this traditional style baby shoe or one just like it:
Typically available at major retail stores like Walmart and Kmart, it is marketed
under various names. At Walmart it is sold by Faded Glory, and is called a
"Walker".
I have never found a shoe for my children that held up as well as this shoe
did, and still does. Not only are they available in half sizes and wide widths if
necessary, these shoes come in sizes up to about a 5 or 6, potentially lasting
your child through all of his clubfoot treatment phase until he is an older,
confident walker with good feet that can then transfer on to other more
fashionable shoe styles.
For special occasions and holiday parties, sure, it is OK put your child in a
nice pair of dress-up shoes - but for every day wear, opt for sensible comfort
and reliability. However, no matter what set of baby shoes you buy, be sure
to let your baby break them in gradually to prevent any blisters or general
soreness of the feet. You know what new shoes feel like - and how good it
feels to take them off and put on your old soft broke-in shoes. It is no
different for a child.
Break in the new shoes gently, gradually. Never buy new shoes to take on a
major trip where the child will be in them for hours at a time, and never take
new shoes along to an amusement park or other such place where the baby
or child will be doing a lot of walking. Put your vanity aside.
I'm no different than you - I want to have "The cutest kid in the joint!" but cute
to us Mommas is often painful to our children. Be careful, that's all. You
wouldn't wear some stiff unreasonable pair of shoes to spend the day at
Disney World, so don't expect your baby to wear them either.
It's been my experience that baby sandals wear blisters on a baby's foot more
often than regular baby shoes. Also keep in mind that sandals can allow
parts of your baby's foot to sunburn! You don't want sunburn for many
obvious reasons, but a clubfoot baby will have a hard time wearing his foot
abduction brace (FAB) on a foot that is injured with sunburns or blisters.
SOCKS
Just like shoes, people have opinions about socks, too, including me. Some
parents in the clubfoot camp swear you will need the expensive socks from
Old Navy or Baby Gap that come with the no-skid bottoms.
I disagree. But then again, I am a tight wad who will squeeze every nickel till
the buffalo screams and paying that much for a sock is beyond my
comprehension.
However - let me add this to the mix: There have been times when the no skid
socks served the purpose of helping hold a baby's foot in his Mitchell or
Markell shoe (foot abduction braces), by not letting the foot slip inside the
shoe.
This is not the norm to need no-skid socks, but if you find your child slipping
out of his shoes it is worth a few dollars to buy a pair of these socks to try.
My only recommendation for baby socks is this: buy socks that do not
have seams in the toes, and socks that will reach up the leg higher than the
back of his brace. The Mitchell brace goes up the back side of a baby's leg
considerably higher than the Markell brace does.
I've bought discount socks at Dollar General Stores that worked as well as
socks bought elsewhere. Typically I buy them at Walmart - just little white run
of the mill baby socks, a miniature version of what older children and even
adults would wear.
I almost never buy colored socks - why? Because when you're doing laundry
for five people, that's a lot of silly socks to have to sort out and match up.
When all the socks match, it decreases the time doing laundry by a lot! And
for some reason, it seems I always lose one colored sock. If I lose one white
sock, well, sooner or later another pair will loose it's mate and then I have two
that I can pair back up with each other.
It decreases the time even more by being able to shove them all in the same
batch of wash in the machine - and since there is nothing especially tricky
about sorting them out to put away except size, the 3 year old and the 9 year
old can manage this small task on their own for me.
I know girls in particular probably want colored socks - so I just thank my lucky
stars I have three boys who don't care about socks one way or the other, and
if it weren't for wearing the Mitchell clubfoot brace, the two younger boys
wouldn't wear but maybe three pair of socks a month because that's about
how often I make them wear shoes (that aren't the brace-shoes).
I'm a firm believer in simplicity. Everett who is nearly four years old, and
Garrison who is only 18 months old have managed to share socks for the past
year - buying them plain white socks that I can pair up easily and just put all in
one drawer simplifies baby socks for me.
Buying Brian just plain white socks to wear to school simplifies pairing up his;
my socks are white with pink toes (Haines), so they are easy to pair up - and
my husband, well, if you have a man in your house you know their socks are
quite obvious!
In any event, when buying socks for your baby, if you are concerned he or
she will need a special sock to wear with the foot abduction brace, it would be
a rare event that you would. Just make sure there are not seams to bunch up
under the brace to cause discomfort, and that the socks are tall enough the
rubber backing of the Mitchell clubfoot shoe won't rub his calves, and you
should be pretty much set up.
Read More About:
EVERYone has an opinion about everything, including shoes and socks for
the clubfoot baby.
I personally have a strong opinion about everything. So with that in mind, my
only point is to say you will get opinions from everyone about what is best for
your clubfoot baby when it comes to shoes and socks.
Dr. Ponseti recommends two things: First, use the Mitchell foot abduction
brace, also known as the Mitchell clubfoot shoe (among other things), and
second, when the brace can come off, barefoot is best.
Your baby can't always get away with going barefooted though. So what do
you do when shoes are required?
All my boys have grown up in this traditional style baby shoe or one just like it:
Typically available at major retail stores like Walmart and Kmart, it is marketed
under various names. At Walmart it is sold by Faded Glory, and is called a
"Walker".
- These shoes are not only economical and easy to find, they are made
of leather with soft, yet safe, rubber soles.
- They hold up to babies who crawl and scratch the toes out of other
shoes;
- They hold up to washing machines;
- They polish back up pretty with white shoe polish;
- A wide opening allows for high insteps often common with clubfoot
children (especially those who had the ATTT surgery)
- They 'break in' quickly and easily - I've never had one of these shoes
put a blister on one of my children's feet, ever.
- They serve the purpose for little boys who need "Boots" to keep up with
daddy out in the woods, .....
- yet they spiff up fancy when you add special shoe strings and bows for
girls to wear with dresses.
I have never found a shoe for my children that held up as well as this shoe
did, and still does. Not only are they available in half sizes and wide widths if
necessary, these shoes come in sizes up to about a 5 or 6, potentially lasting
your child through all of his clubfoot treatment phase until he is an older,
confident walker with good feet that can then transfer on to other more
fashionable shoe styles.
- The worst thing you can do for your baby,
clubfooted or not, is put them in a shoe that will
rub sores on their feet. If your baby must wear a
foot abduction brace, however, preventing sores
on the feet is an absolute MUST - and parents
need to put aside their desire for fashion and think
in terms of solid common sense while choosing
baby shoes for their infant or toddler.
For special occasions and holiday parties, sure, it is OK put your child in a
nice pair of dress-up shoes - but for every day wear, opt for sensible comfort
and reliability. However, no matter what set of baby shoes you buy, be sure
to let your baby break them in gradually to prevent any blisters or general
soreness of the feet. You know what new shoes feel like - and how good it
feels to take them off and put on your old soft broke-in shoes. It is no
different for a child.
Break in the new shoes gently, gradually. Never buy new shoes to take on a
major trip where the child will be in them for hours at a time, and never take
new shoes along to an amusement park or other such place where the baby
or child will be doing a lot of walking. Put your vanity aside.
I'm no different than you - I want to have "The cutest kid in the joint!" but cute
to us Mommas is often painful to our children. Be careful, that's all. You
wouldn't wear some stiff unreasonable pair of shoes to spend the day at
Disney World, so don't expect your baby to wear them either.
It's been my experience that baby sandals wear blisters on a baby's foot more
often than regular baby shoes. Also keep in mind that sandals can allow
parts of your baby's foot to sunburn! You don't want sunburn for many
obvious reasons, but a clubfoot baby will have a hard time wearing his foot
abduction brace (FAB) on a foot that is injured with sunburns or blisters.
SOCKS
Just like shoes, people have opinions about socks, too, including me. Some
parents in the clubfoot camp swear you will need the expensive socks from
Old Navy or Baby Gap that come with the no-skid bottoms.
I disagree. But then again, I am a tight wad who will squeeze every nickel till
the buffalo screams and paying that much for a sock is beyond my
comprehension.
However - let me add this to the mix: There have been times when the no skid
socks served the purpose of helping hold a baby's foot in his Mitchell or
Markell shoe (foot abduction braces), by not letting the foot slip inside the
shoe.
This is not the norm to need no-skid socks, but if you find your child slipping
out of his shoes it is worth a few dollars to buy a pair of these socks to try.
My only recommendation for baby socks is this: buy socks that do not
have seams in the toes, and socks that will reach up the leg higher than the
back of his brace. The Mitchell brace goes up the back side of a baby's leg
considerably higher than the Markell brace does.
I've bought discount socks at Dollar General Stores that worked as well as
socks bought elsewhere. Typically I buy them at Walmart - just little white run
of the mill baby socks, a miniature version of what older children and even
adults would wear.
I almost never buy colored socks - why? Because when you're doing laundry
for five people, that's a lot of silly socks to have to sort out and match up.
When all the socks match, it decreases the time doing laundry by a lot! And
for some reason, it seems I always lose one colored sock. If I lose one white
sock, well, sooner or later another pair will loose it's mate and then I have two
that I can pair back up with each other.
It decreases the time even more by being able to shove them all in the same
batch of wash in the machine - and since there is nothing especially tricky
about sorting them out to put away except size, the 3 year old and the 9 year
old can manage this small task on their own for me.
I know girls in particular probably want colored socks - so I just thank my lucky
stars I have three boys who don't care about socks one way or the other, and
if it weren't for wearing the Mitchell clubfoot brace, the two younger boys
wouldn't wear but maybe three pair of socks a month because that's about
how often I make them wear shoes (that aren't the brace-shoes).
I'm a firm believer in simplicity. Everett who is nearly four years old, and
Garrison who is only 18 months old have managed to share socks for the past
year - buying them plain white socks that I can pair up easily and just put all in
one drawer simplifies baby socks for me.
Buying Brian just plain white socks to wear to school simplifies pairing up his;
my socks are white with pink toes (Haines), so they are easy to pair up - and
my husband, well, if you have a man in your house you know their socks are
quite obvious!
In any event, when buying socks for your baby, if you are concerned he or
she will need a special sock to wear with the foot abduction brace, it would be
a rare event that you would. Just make sure there are not seams to bunch up
under the brace to cause discomfort, and that the socks are tall enough the
rubber backing of the Mitchell clubfoot shoe won't rub his calves, and you
should be pretty much set up.
Read More About:
| Here 15 month old Garrison is walking the Nature Trails at the Devil's Millhopper State Park in Gainesville, Florida wearing his standard pair of Faded Glory "Walker" baby shoes. |
| Here Garrison is wearing a rare pair of blue socks (that quickly got mixed up in the whites and bleached out!) If you look close, you will see a silver bell on his shoe. Putting bells on your baby's shoes is a wonderful safety measure you should always do - you can always hear your baby and know where he is. "But wait!" you say. "You should know by looking!" Of course, but it is not always possible to have your eyes on two different places at the same time. If I go to a clinic for example and have to fill out paper work, I can hear where my baby is, and catch him before he wanders too far away. |
| I admit with you, they are cute - but shoes such as these really have no place on a baby's foot unless your child enjoys wearing the equivalent of a brick. Adult style shoes scaled down to fit a baby's tiny foot are almost always extremely stiff and uncomfortable, making a baby toddle around as if he has blocks of wood for feet. |