Your Child’s Developing Feet – What You Need To Know
There are 26 bones in the human foot. Not to mention the several ligaments, muscles, blood vessels, and nerves. How your child’s feet develop in their early years will directly impact their muscle strength, arch support, and even athletic abilities like running and jumping. In fact, the American Podiatric Medical Association has provided research stating that by the time you are in your mid-thirties, you will already have walked over 50,000 miles. This is why the same American Podiatric Medical Association has directly endorsed Robeez Baby Shoes for their superb support for proper foot development.
To fully understand the benefits of the Robeez Baby Shoe line-up, it is important to review the basic growth patterns of a child’s foot. To encourage proper growth, exercise is essential, but so is proper support. While being barefoot is ideal for foot development, shoes are a necessary practicality, and the choice of shoes is very important. Not only can baby shoes with poor support hinder your child’s foot growth, but not understanding the process of foot development can lead to poor choices in the style and type of shoe.
When a baby is born, their feet can look a little different then one would expect. After being in Amniotic fluid for nine months, the feet can appear blue and wrinkled. Many times, the feet can peel for a couple of days before warming and turning the nice shade of pink we are used too. Any abnormalities are also taken care at this point. For whatever reason, whether it be the position of the fetus in the uterus, genetics, etc. deformities can, and do occur. Any extra toes, or webbed feet are dealt with and for the most part, will not affect the child’s foot development.
What is also interesting is the lack of any arch on a newborn’s foot. Your newborn will have flat feet. This is an especially important factor to understand when considering your child’s development. The arch is actually filled in with a soft pad of mostly fat, which can take up to several months to disappear. While your child will learn to sit up and crawl at around 8 months, it may take up to 12 months before they will stand flat on their feet. This is a critical stage in foot development as major muscles are being formed as the child gets used to the environment.
After a year your child may begin to walk. This is when baby shoes become a little more relevant as your child will inevitably want to walk everywhere. At this early stage, it is still best to use soft-soled shoes and to avoid very rough surfaces such as pavement. Make these considerations early as walking very quickly becomes running and stair climbing. At this point, and until around 36 months, your child will be strengthening and developing very important core muscles that will forever impact their life.
Understanding the importance of proper foot development is key to understanding the wide appeal that Robeez Baby Shoes have with parents. View the entire line-up as well as other great children products at www.bippityboppitybaby.com. Family owned and operated, located in historic downtown Nashua NH.
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