Better toddler sneakers than New Balance?

[notmyhand]

My toddler began walking with the use of leg braces and insurance paid for New Balance shoes to fit around the braces. He no longer uses the braces but we have continued to purchase New Balance sneakers for him. His physical therapist says they are the best shoes for support and she strongly recommends them. We're going through a size every three months though and at $50 a pair, they're expensive. Are there any other brands of equal quality that might be less expensive that I should look at?

[marklar13]

We had good luck with stride-rites, but if I recall they were also in the $40 range. We liked these because they were generally on the wider side, and were just easier to get on and off their feet with the particular design that we had (i.e. the tongue of the shoe would open up very far down). I also thought they were pretty good quality / durability.

[Leemiller]

Good kids shoes are expensive, just like good adult shoes. I don’t think you’ll save much unless you drop in quality materially.

[MostlyABogleHead]

My toddler began walking with the use of leg braces and insurance paid for New Balance shoes to fit around the braces. He no longer uses the braces but we have continued to purchase New Balance sneakers for him. His physical therapist says they are the best shoes for support and she strongly recommends them. We're going through a size every three months though and at $50 a pair, they're expensive. Are there any other brands of equal quality that might be less expensive that I should look at?

Sketchers is a good brand for kids shoes and they are typically in the low $30 range. You can also get ‘ buy one get second one 50% off’ sale. They also have good deals in their outlet shop and sometimes in their online shop.

[dukeblue219]

Stride Rite fits our youngest's enormous feet the best, and seem to hold up well. NB have been noticeably tighter.

There's always people giving away toddler shoes and clothes on our neighborhood mailing list, and given the speed at which the kids grow, many times the shoes are in excellent shape.

[ManOfIron35]

No shoes in the house/outside. Vans outside the house.

[galawdawg]

If your toddler has physical challenges, just buy the shoes that have worked well and are recommended by the physical therapist. After all, a $50 pair of shoes every three months is $200 which is nothing when you consider it may provide your child with long-term benefits in mobility. And if you think that is expense, just wait until your child is a teenager!

Plus, a few weeks ago you posted:

We just paid off our mortgage and thus I need to figure out our next set of goals. After maxing out our 401ks, we have an extra 30k a year to put toward goals. Need to prioritize and figure out if we should split some goals and finance others.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=321248&p=5395678#p5395678

So buy the New Balance shoes and you'll still have an extra $29,800 a year to put towards goals!

[bottlecap]

I don’t know your financial situation, but I’d stick with the therapist's recommendation if at all possible. New Balance makes a good shoe, presumably this is more important than is otherwise typical given your child's situation, and if you find something else for even $15 less, you’re only saving $60 per year.

Good luck,

JT

[livesoft]

If shoes are necessary, then you will be taken advantage of. For instance Stride-Rite shoes are way overpriced peace of mind for parents. They are not selling shoes, they are selling a feeling of goodness which should be free, as in "I'm a good parent." I wear New Balance shoes and like them, but I get the old styles for half off. That's gonna be a problem for toddler shoes I would guess. Also this idea of "support" is a joke. All shoes provide support, whatever that means. To some extent, one would want the tendons, ligaments, muscles, bones, and other connective tissue to get stressed enough that they grow and provide support all by themselves if at all possible.

If you want less expensive shoes, then shop at Walmart like the rest of the USA. As you know, you are not buying shoes built to last more than few months. Also give your child's old shoes to the therapist to give out to their next client.

[Quirkz]

I'm going to echo the others: because therapeutic purposes are involved, I would accept the cost for the quality.

For just about any other situation, I'd be saying "get the $10 sale shoes from Payless or Wal-Mart, because they're going to get trashed and outgrown so quickly." If you think you've hit a point where quality doesn't matter, I'd switch to buying cheap, but not until then.

[lazydavid]

My son has had to have custom orthotics for almost 10 years now. The orthopedist recommended New Balance with stability soles (any model number ending in 60), so that’s what we buy. It’s made a world of difference for him, and we won’t buy anything else. We buy them at outlet stores and at joesnewbalanceoutlet.com when we can, but if we have to pay full price, so be it. The inserts are almost $500, so the shoes themselves are almost a rounding error.

[Carson]

Another option - see if your therapist can put the shoes in your billing as an insurance reimbursable supply. That is what our office does when we need theraputic items, and its worked fine so far.

Wish you the best of luck with your treatment and hoping it's temporary. My son wears AFOs at 10years old and it's a major drag.

[stoptothink]

Have you ever tried the NB online outlet https://www.joesnewbalanceoutlet.com/ki ... fant-shoes? We get almost all of the shoes for our kids from there. Between clearance, coupon codes, and rakuten, we never pay <$20 for a pair of children's NB shoes.

[LeviMama]

We are committed to Plae Ty sneakers and Keen Newport sandals for durability, ease of use and sensory need /rigid routine. I scout sales (online and in store) and buy ahead when the price is right $25-35 range. Also tried tsukihoshi sneakers too... great fit and support but oh, the price, ouch... and then he demanded to wear the already too small Plaes cause of the routine. Half the time, we end up getting them at full price. The shoes are pricey, but he has only one pair of (flat, wide and picky) feet... I balance it out by getting less expensive play and school clothing (Carters and Old Navy).

If the therapist recc the NB, and they work for your kiddo, I’d try to stick with them and sign up with different vendors etc for sale notifications and coupons etc. DSW, REI, REI outlet, Nordstrom, Rack etc.. Also, the growth spurts slow down a bit after preschool. So you won’t find yourself using a size for 3 months only. We handed down a lot of barely used shoes to friends’ kids in the size 6-10 range for this reason, but the size 11 and 12+ stuck around longer and got a lot more wear for the buck.

[KA0400]

Saucony’s have been fantastic for my kid’s feet since she started walking. Great support and durable. Can usually find them on Amazon or Zappos at reasonable prices.

[JBTX]

You may find a difference of opinion from a physical therapist and a pediatrician. Our son wore custom inserts for a while, recommended by PT. I came to think it didn't make a ton of difference because he wasn't that active anyway. I asked the pediatrician and he scoffed at the idea of inserts making any long term difference in terms of correcting the way you walk.

Certainly can't speak to any particular situation. Typically I'd say go with what fits well and is comfortable, with affordability as a factor.

[mrsbetsy]

Two things to spend good money on.

1) A good mattress because you spend a third of your life on it.

2) Good shoes because you spend a good part of the other two thirds of your life on your feet.

We always took our kids to Stride Rite for a good fit. Toddlers can't always tell you what may or may not be wrong. $50 bucks every 3 months is a drop in the bucket over a lifetime.

IMy boys always wanted fancy athletic shoes and we spent more than $100 a pop, but they also required nothing more than basketball shorts and t-shirt. Girls - a whole 'nuther story.

Enjoy the inexpensive shoes while you can!

[Saving$]

Your child is a toddler. Toddlers are often challenged in expressing simple issues. Listen to your toddler very carefully about his/her shoes. I write this as an adult who, over 50 years ago when I was a toddler, had numerous leg braces and corresponding orthopedic surgeries. There are very few details I remember about all of this except that I clearly remember SHOES HURT. I think these may have been among the first words I learned, and I remember telling anyone who would listen. It went on for what seems to me several years until a kind physical therapist cut off part of a very expensive shoe to relieve the pain and gave one of my parents a stern lecture about listening to me about shoes/socks that hurt.
Get your kid what the physical therapist recommends. And be thankful you can
a) afford it, and
b) the shoes are available and you don't have to put your kid in hard leather shoes.

I still have issues finding shoes that don't hurt, and although I'm frugal, if I can find them, I'm thrilled to spend $200-$300 or more on a pair of shoes that don't hurt. Usually I can't find shoes that fit properly for any amount of money.

[anon_investor]

My toddler began walking with the use of leg braces and insurance paid for New Balance shoes to fit around the braces. He no longer uses the braces but we have continued to purchase New Balance sneakers for him. His physical therapist says they are the best shoes for support and she strongly recommends them. We're going through a size every three months though and at $50 a pair, they're expensive. Are there any other brands of equal quality that might be less expensive that I should look at?

Try shopping around online you should be able to find them for less. We had good luck finding deals on new balance sneakers including toddler sizes at:
https://www.joesnewbalanceoutlet.com/

[Nearly A Moose]

We’ve done Pumas for years now. Something like $35 a pair. Kind of skip sizes - buy a little big, swap out when small. But we’re not managing ortho issues. Your call but doesn’t seem like the corner I’d cut. Does your “parent friend group” have anyone who’d be willing to sell you some cheaper hand me downs?