Toddler hating wearing shoes

[Witchypoo]

My DS is 14 months and not yet walking. He has never worn shoes up till now but as he is close to walking and will be spending more time outdoors due to the nicer weather I want to get him wearing some shoes. I bought him a pair of sandals but when I put them on him he cries and hits at his feet like I've encased them in cement blocks or something. It gets so bad I end up giving in and taking them off. Has anyone else had this problem? Should I just persist until he gets used to it? Are there any good 'first' shoes I could get him?

[TimTamsandTea]

I had the same problem with ds. He hated shoes!

To be honest, I didn't persist too much pre-walking stage. They were mainly for aesthetic rather than practial purposes and not worth the struggle to put and keep on, IMO.

When he started to pull himself up and cruise, I bought a pair of Baby Paws. Really soft pre-walking shoes. These were my 'intro to shoes' shoes. He still resisted but I tried to put them on while he was distracted. Once they were on, he barely noticed them. They got terribly scuffed very quickly, so I bought a second pair for going out.

When ds began walking, I let him get around as much as possible without shoes (outside included). By then he was used to the Baby Paws so I introduced a pair of proper shoes. It was a process. On and off several times a day. Put them on to walk to the letterbox. Off again. Put them on to show nanny. Off again. Eventually he got used to them.

Ds also responded better to shoes with pictures of things he liked (especially cars). He also when through a period of only wearing his gumboots ...

Now, at 21 months, he's just fine ... but still prefers to be barefoot where possible.

Good luck!

[MissSteph]

I couldve written the same post about 4 months ago but DD was walking. She HATED shoes with a passion.. Now she can't get enough of them! As soon as She wakes up she goes to her shoe cupboard and grabs a pair of shoes.. After a bath she grabs shoes.. I think it's safe to say she is addicted to shoes now.
The story how we got her to wear shoes:
DD loves running away from us at the shops etc so one day we took her to the shops and said if she wanted to walk around she had to wear shoes. We put her shoes on and she hasn't looked back since!

I wouldn't force it upon him, especially if he isn't walking yet. Start with socks so he's use to having something on his feet then go from there.

Good luck :)

EDIT: There are shoes called squeaky shoes. They squeak whenever bub walks and you can take the squeak out if you'd like. Maybe if you show him it makes noises he might think it's a toy? So when you put them on his feet and make it squeak he might like them more than ordinary shoes? Just an idea

[Californication]

Yep, my DS was the same. I only ever put shoes on him once he started walking and then only for outside. He wasn't so keen on soft soled shoes, but when summer hit and I got him some sturdy sandals, he suddenly LOVED wearing shoes. He stomps around in them and they make a great noise! I think he would wear them all day if I let him, but I still only put them on for going outside.

Just persevere. Put them on for 5 minutes a day and slowly increase the time and he should get used to them.