I am a bit skeptical about the whole "crawlers, cruisers, walkers" shoes, especially at £18+ a pop, lasting 6 weeks.
I have 5 brothers and sister, and none of us wore special shoes until we were in school (we wore shoes, just not expensive ones!), and none of us have problems with our feet…
So whats the deal with the shoes? Are they really needed? Are they just a clever con?
I only put shoes on my son’s feet once he was actually walking, and I only ever used shoes if he was going outside.
I did get his first shoes from clarks - those first ones are special, and Clarks is the only place that I know of (certainly where I live) that measure kids feet. I had to stick to using Clarks until his feet were size 8 - cheaper shops only start kids shoes from that size. I did get his next few pairs from Clarks, but once his feet grew a bit, I started getting shoes elsewhere. I would get his feet measured regularly, though - the excuses I made up in the Clarks shop not to buy a pair were amazing!
The last pair of Clarks was last winter’s shoes. His granny bought them, but they were the worst shoes ever! A cheap supermarket pair were far better!
At the rate kids go through shoes, I grudge spending a fortune on expensive or designer shoes (or any other clothing item).
As long as you make sure the shoes fit well, I don’t see a problem with cheaper shoes. As for those crawler things, I see them as a pointless gimmick.