Nice for tender feet: let’s chat about soft shoes for babies and toddlers

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Robeez = my current obsession. Photo by LizaWasHere, used under Creative Commons license.

Every so often I can’t resist the urge to gawk at material cuteness, and right now I am totally in love with little baby and toddler feet wrapped up in Robeez. I (foolishly! FOOLISHLY!) spent my son’s infancy under the impression that it would be silly to put him in shoes. I distinctly remember being told once that he should be in shoes because it was cold out, and I remember looking the person in question in the eye and pointing out that my child had on two layers of socks.

And now, two years later, I wonder: why did my child have two layers of socks on when he could have had his toes tucked into THE CUTEST SHOES EVER?! Example A (and trust me, we’re going to get dangerously close to Example Z before I’m finished):





Of course, Robeez isn’t the only biz that creates serious adorableness for your tot’s feet. One quick glance/multi-hour-long scour through Etsy yields many a positive result:





Comments on Nice for tender feet: let’s chat about soft shoes for babies and toddlers

  1. Soft shoes are cute but neither of my babies tolerate(d) shoes, or socks for that matter. I can’t tell you how many older women have grabbed their bare feet in the winter, and said, “Oh your poor little toes! They must be frozen” while giving me the side eye. Somehow it’s my fault that the socks I put on the baby in question are crammed in his mouth cheerfully being sucked on.

    • ha, totally. My daughters favorite food is socks. She crawls around the house with her socks in her mouth. She steals her brothers off his feet as fast as i put them on. Their is no keeping socks on that girl. (we get the side eye from plp all the time too for her naked feet)

      • We had a dog that used to need a pair of socks to hold before he would go to sleep at night…

        Not that I am calling your daughter a dog. Your story just sparked a memory. 😉

        Once my Mom was packing a suitcase, and left it to do something else. When she came back, the dog had managed to take all the socks out of the suitcase, while leaving the pants that were on top of the socks looking undisturbed.

  2. Robeez are great!! I had them for my son and bought some for the new baby on the way. Where I work we sell them. I bought the Yoda ones and R2D2.

  3. Target used to sell their own brand of these shoes (still might, my kid had moved on to chucks), they were awesome and my daughter had too many pairs!

  4. Our daughter has a no shoes or socks in the car or as soon as we’re indoors policy that she enforces. Sometimes it’s just too cold for her to do this so we have stocked up on cotton tights to wear under her pants. They’re the same weight as socks, give her whole lower half a boost of warmth and she can’t rip them off while happily crying “UH-OH!” in the back seat. We loved Simple’s baby shoes when she was in the soft shoe age range. Now she’s a New Balance or Saucony girl it seems. I love the Etsy shoes by the way!!

  5. LOVE our 2 pairs of soft-soled shoes.
    My daughter picks those out even now as the weather is warmer and she is walking outside….I don’t think her “fur” lined softies are the best idea.

  6. My son had the yoda ones and ones with a rino. He still wears his yoda ones on his lazy days and people smile and think they are awesome. Totally wish they had adult ones too!

  7. The best part about these soft soled shoes is that they aren’t a cast on your child’s feet like other shoes. Hard soles can be damaging to foot development — bare feet are best.

    My son is just now too big for the Robeez type shoes, so I’ve ordered him a pair of Soft Star Shoes which DO have adult shoes, just so you know.

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