Playtoes Pram Shoes Review and Competition Winner

Yesterday my tiny little niece took her first ever flight.  11 hours.  Ug.  Thankfully, she had a pair of these very fun, bright pram shoes by Playtoes to keep her entertained on the flight.

Playtoes asked us to be some of the first to try out these wonderful fun shoes and I volunteered by 5 month old niece to be a tester.  The Playtoes butterfly shoes arrived in a very groovy presentation pack and made a wonderful gift.

Playtoes are currently available in either a blue bumblee design or these pink butterfly design shoes.  The shoes themselves are a very soft pram shoe designed for pre-walkers from 3 months upwards to keep feet warm and protected when you are out and about.  But Playtoes are so much more than just shoes...

The shoes are designed to stimulate your baby's senses and at 5 months old, my niece is just at the age when she will discover her feet.  This is a time for exploring sounds and textures.  The Playtoes shoes have lots of different textures such as soft, leathery, crinkly, smooth. The shoes have rattly bits and crinkly scrunchy bits.  The butterflies are attached with velcro and are designed to encourage your baby to pull them and tweak them as they discover their feet.  Reaching down and exploring those feet is great exercise for small muscles that are just starting to learn to work hard!

I love the attention to detail - especially the cute embroidery at the back of the heel.  And I think the shiny toes and high-contrast black and white soles are both strokes of genius which I know will attract a baby's attention.  And it is nice to know that, with all the excitement going on outside the shoes, that the inside hasn't been neglected - the lining is a really soft cotton.  I really hope that the Playtoes pram shoes provide enough entertainment during that long, long flight!

Playtoes cost £22 and are available direct or through amazon.

A couple of weeks ago I ran a competition to win your own pair of Playtoes pram shoes - the winner was Catherine Miller.  You can keep uptodate with Playtoes on the Playtoes Facebook Page or follow Playtoes on Twitter .

JD Sports Kids and Infant Trainers Review

I have felt a bit sorry for Holly when it comes to shoes - Lara wore her shoes for such short periods of time that they all became hand-me-downs for Holly to wear so we were very excited to be approached by JD Sports to review a pair of their infant trainers; It makes a change for Holly to have a pair of shoes all of her own!

The other thing I have really noticed as a second-time mummy is that I am a lot more mellow about measuring Holly's feet. With Lara, I used to rush to the shops strictly every 4 weeks to get her feet measured but with Holly it tends to be more of a gut feeling when she is ready for a new pair of shoes. This is probably bad of me because I know how delicate little bones are but it is partly a reflection of how much more in tune with tiny feet I am now than I was before.

I chose Holly these Nike Rift Infants Trainers because they looked like they would fit like a glove - and they do. These Nike trainers are quite unlike anything else I've seen. They have a firm toe area and sides but the foot is actually held in place across the top and back by a stretchy fabric which can stretch to exactly fit your child's foot. The end of these Nike infant trainers has a harder toe area to protect against scraping.

I am a big fan of easy-fasten shoes for children (buckles and laces seem so impractical at this age) and these Rift trainers have a Velcro-style fastening across the top and across the back to allow you to get them tightened up just right. At first I think I was making them a bit too tight for Holly's feet as I could see marks on her feet after she had taken them off. Now though, I'm finding them perfect because I can get them just right.

Holly is going through the stage of removing her shoes at EVERY opportunity.  I remember Lara going through this stage so I know it is short-lived but my goodness, it's frustrating!  When Holly isn't sitting down in her buggy or car seat she forgets about shoe removal and runs... she runs and runs.  Hours before writing this blog post I witnessed Holly run the full length of a superstore about 8 times while wearing her new Nike trainers and I struggled to keep up.  I've a funny feeling Holly may run for Britain when she is older. 

The Nike Rift is available in this white and fuschia pink design or in white and grey - I think the design of shoe would suit a girl or a boy.  They are available in infant sizes 4.5 to 9.5 and cost £25.  This is cheaper than many of the trainers I nought on the high street for Lara when she is younger so I think JD sports offer very good value for the quality of their infant trainers.

Shupeas Adjustable Soft-Soled Shoes Review

pink adjustable shupeas

Shupeas are a really innovative new leather soft-soled shoe for babies and Holly has been trying a pair out.  To me, the instant appeal was that Shupeas grow with your child; one pair is suitable from birth up to about 18 months which means that you don't need to keep buying soft shoes as they grow... it also means that if you buy them as pram shoes when your baby is tiny, you don't feel like you are wasting money if they don't wear them very much until they are toddling.

Holly is always most comfortable around the house and nusery wearing a pair of soft-soled shoes (although now that she is walking, I tend to put her in a harder shoe when we are out of the house); soft leather shoes like Shupeas are much better for a baby foot because they don't restrict growth or movement and allow tiny bones the freedom they need while still keeping little toes warm.

The soles of the Shupeas are leather too but with a simple pattern which is ever so slightly grippy.

The shoe adjusts extremely cleverly through use of a velcro-style fastening as the back of the foot which is hidden beneath the flap of fabric.  I much, much, much prefer this fastening than the more common elastic because it means I can get the fit just right to Holly's foot and know that when I take the shoe off there won't be a horrid red mark from a tight elastic.  At the front of the shoe, the embroidered tab (a gorgeous little flower in Holly's case but the Shupeas range features lots of great motifs for boys and girls) is used to pull the front of the shoe up to make it longer or shorter depending on the style of your child's foot.

For me the Shupea is perfect because we don't use a soft shoe all of the time but I do know mums who use them all day every day and I would worry about whether any shoe is capable of withstanding wear and tear for a whole 18 months of use.

Our Shupeas are some of the very best quality soft shoes I've used with either of my girls and I think the design is very clever indeed.