Buying clothes and accessories for your little one can be challenging. Young kids grow very fast, so a pair of shoes or a dress that fitted perfectly two months back might become a misfit quickly. Kids, at times, do not communicate properly about their needs and comforts. Hence, you have to be extra cautious while figuring out what is comfortable for them and what is not.
Why Is Buying The Shoe Of The Right Size Vital?
It might be quite a daunting challenge to buy the perfect pair of shoes for your little one; nonetheless, it is worth the time and effort. Shoes that are either too tight or too loose can cause several severe medical conditions that can have a huge impact on your child’s features. So if you are in the mood to go accessory hunting for your little one, you can go to the website of mini melissa shoes.
How To Get The Perfect Shoes To Keep Your Little One’s Feet Happy
The Footwear Should Not Be Too Tight
The distance of the biggest thumb that is toe from the shoe is used as a measure of how tight or loose footwear should be. Ideally, the toe and the wall of the shoe should have a gap of around one to two centimeters. Anything below one centimeter is tiny and is not worth purchasing. An easy way to estimate one or two centimeters is to use your thumb; if the gap is about the size of your thumb, then the child should be comfortable in the footwear.
Footwear that is too tight can cause several challenges. Kids continue to develop till they are about eighteen years of age. Babies have more bones than fully-grown adults. The bones of children fuse and change shape all through their growing years. So if their foot is cramped up in a small space for long hours, their bones may be permanently distorted.
Brachydactyly is a medical condition where the bones of the different toes are not of the proper size, or one toe is misaligned as compared to the others. Although the condition is linked to genetics yet wearing faulty footwear can aggravate such medical conditions. The toes of the feet, especially the big toe, are vital for maintaining the right posture and balancing the body’s overall weight.
Misaligned toes of the wrong size can also cause the muscle associated with that particular toe to weaken over time. In the human body, muscles become strong when they are used more frequently; however, they weaken if their use is minimized. So the muscle associated with an ill-structured foot also weakens, causing trouble with maintaining balance.
Apart from misaligned toes, ill-fitting footwear can also cause bunions. It is a hump-like structure that goes on the side of the feet. They are quite painful, and if they are highly overgrown, they can cause trouble with walking. They can be removed surgically if the pain becomes intense. But it is always a good idea to buy well-fitted shoes for your little ones to make sure that they do not have to tolerate extreme pain or undergo any surgery in the near future.
Tight shoes can also cause blisters. Blisters occur because the shoe constantly rubs against the surface of the skin. The contrast friction from the right footwear rubs off the outer layer of the skin and causes a blister. Young children may not be able to communicate clearly about what is hurting them, but if your child does not want to walk after wearing shoes or if they cry while walking, blisters can be the cause.
Apart from bunions and blisters, tightly fitted shoes can also cause the feet to sweat profusely, especially on hot summer afternoons. If your child’s feet sweat profusely, chances are that the foot nails might grow nail fungi. The surface of the nail is hard, and hence most medicines do not penetrate up to the level of the nail bed. Thus, nail fungi are extremely difficult to get rid of.
Most of the time, the only medical treatment is to rip off the infected nail. Hence if you do not want your young child’s nail to be ripped off, then you should be careful to leave a gap of at least one centimeter when buying a new shoe for your kid.
The Footwear Should Not Be Too Loose
Most parents tend to buy big and ill-fitted shoes for their children because they think that an oversized pair of shoes will last longer. However, getting oversized shoes is as bad as getting small ones. A gap of three centimeters from the end of the big, too, is too much space.
If there is too much space in front of the big toe, chances are that your child might slip and fall more often. Again, too much space for the feet affects the overall structure of the foot. The human feet are designed in an arch-like fashion, and if the shape becomes flat, then that is a disadvantage. The feet’ arch is vital for maintaining the correct posture. It allows a person to walk and run properly. It also acts as a shock absorber.
Whenever a person runs or jumps, there is an impact (shock) on the feet. The arch shape helps absorb and tolerate this impact better. Many people who suffer from a flat foot often complain of pain and discomfort if they have to walk or run for long distances.
Conclusion
Getting the right footwear size can be a daunting challenge for parents of young kids. Most parents commit the mistake of buying fancy-looking footwear, but they often forget about getting the size right. An ill-fitted footwear can cause many medical complications and developmental challenges, affecting your child for their entire life. It is always a good idea to invest a lot of time while looking for the perfect pair of shoes for your little one.
