Outdoor shoes for tiny feet?

[Laurenjoy]

My daughter is a new walker and I need shoe help. I can't seem to find any good shoes for outside that will fit her. She has small feet, maybe a size 3? Most shoes I've found that fit are soft soled and don't seem like they would hold up out of doors well. Any suggestions? Thanks! 

[crunchy_mommy]

We use the Circo shoes at Target (not the best quality but if she JUST started walking they should hold up well enough... at 2yo now DS wore his last pair down much more quickly). They are the only ones that I found that go down to a size ~3... I'm sure there are others but we couldn't afford the ones a lot of people on here use. It's tough because all the small shoes have cloth soles... I am quite glad that DS has finally reached a size 5 so now we'll have more options!

[sunnygir1]

I used Robeez-style moccasin shoes for my dd until she was a size 5 or so.  Ds didn't start walking until after 15 months, and at 18 months he has long outgrown those shoes.  I found him some shoes at Target, but the soles aren't as flexible as I would like...they didn't have any boys Circo shoes in size 5 at the store I was in.  I used Circo for dd, though, after she was out of the moccasins -- they are really nice and flexible, but don't last forever.

[carmel23]

I have some size 4 soft star sandals for sale for 15 bucks on the trading post here on mdc if you are interested. 

[Jerlin]

Have you tried the Bobux brand shoes? I think you will like them. They make 3 different kinds, all eco-friendly. There's the soft leather shoes (indoor), there's the hard yet flexible soled shoes (outdoor), and then there's the cross between the two (indoor and on grass), http://www.bobuxusa.com/site/index.html

[Laurenjoy]

The Bobux are nice, but a little spendy for me at the moment. I have a tiny pair of converse I got at a thrift store. The soles are fairly flexible. I know the soft soles are best for their feet, does anyone know if converse are flexible enough? 

[crunchy_mommy]

Do they bend almost in half? That's kind of what I look for (the Circo ones do bend nearly in half and it looks like the Bobux do as well)...

[tzs]

i second the target shoes. they sell some that have the really flexible soles but with rubber on the bottom kind of like umis but way way cheaper. and they start in size 3. we are still in size 3 and have had a couple pairs from target. they seem to last forever for small kids as ours were handed down twice before we got them and still look brand new

http://www.target.com/Girls-Circo-Antonette-Flower-Shoes/dp/B001V87LWU/ref=br_1_24?ie=UTF8&id=Girls%20Circo%20Antonette%20Flower%20Shoes&node=1250316011&searchSize=90&searchView=grid3&searchPage=1&sr=1-24&qid=1299465937&rh=&searchBinNameList=target_com_category-bin%2Cstyle_name%2Ctarget_com_shoe_size-bin%2Clifestyle-bin%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1

we also have the fake uggs that they sell and they are also really flexible. i've checked out the sandals for spring too. funny, cause we have a pair of seekairun's which are supposed to be great but are pretty stiff compared to the target shoes and dd would trip over them alot.

livie and luca shoes are amazing for flexibility but super pricey. if you sign up for their mailing list they have 50% off sales every so often. their size 4 is like a target size 3.

also keep your eyes on the mom-bargain websites (zulily.co, totsy.com, theminisocial.com, lilluxe.com) any time they have squeeker shoes you can usually get smaller sizes and every pair i've ever seen has been flexible as well. you can often find them for $13 or so. watch for sizes though because i've gotten 3's that were more like 2's (same with seekai run)

finally, i don't know how you feel about walmart but hey, i don't have the $$$ to be choosy so dd has a pair of pink hightop fake converses (the real converses we had were pretty stiff) by granimals which are really comfy and easy to get on (they also have some fake converse low-tops) that she wears almost everyday. 

plus, i can't be hating on walmart when they were literally the only vendor that sold snow boots in size 3. anything else was soft soled...it's like small kids aren't allowed to go outside in the winter or something????

[hartfelt]

Check on eBay. That's where I get most of my dd's shoes. For under 10 shipped. You have to stalk, but the savings are worth it.

My favorite brand is primigi
Also look for:
Stride rite
See Kai run
Robeez tredz
Pedipeds
Pedoodles
Umi


GL!

Nak

[alegna]

We use soft soled shoes outside until kids are at least 18mo- 2yrs.  They work fine.

-Angela

[beebalmmama]

We use soft soled shoes until about 18 months too, sometimes longer. As long as it's not really wet out the soft soled shoes are fine outdoors.

[AKislandgirl]

Soft Star shoes are great and hold up amazingly well! Can't recommend them enough!

[chel]

i just bought the pair that tzs linked.  while dd2 has been walking since 11m, it has been too cold to do any outside walking.  she just walked outside yesterday at 14m for the first time.  the target brand held up well.  we still have several more weeks/atleast month of winter left, before dd will be out much, plus she still likes to be carried, so still not much of a need for an extremely sturdy shoe.

[belltree]

We've been using mostly softsoled shoes. Last summer he was walking mostly barefoot, during Ice and snow we had a pair of booties from softstarshoes.

The only problem with robeez and other suede bottom shoes is that they get very slippery in the rain. Softstarshoes has some trex soling that looks promising.