I never write reviews and I’m using the precious minute of downtime I have while my husband gives our son a bath. These slippers are amazing. They are well constructed, the suede leather grips to the floor when my son walks, the lining is supple and warm. The reason I picked these is because my son started walking right when the weather got cold and wet. Ideally emergent walkers will spend at least a few months wearing the most minimal footwear possible, such as robeez or moccasin like shoes. This is so that every bone in their foot can come in contact with and feel the floor. They can spread their toes wide to balance and can learn to walk in a natural way.
Because my son started walking in the cold months, he needs to wear more “shoe like” shoes when outside. If my house had more carpet, and was easier to keep warm or had heated floors, I would just let him be barefoot inside, but my house has no carpet, cold floors and because it’s an old house, temperatures are inconsistent. But I didn’t want to get rubber bottomed slippers because I want him coming into contact with the ground. I also didn’t want to buy slippers made with faux shearling lining because faux shearling is essentially plastic and doesn’t breathe as good and is potentially toxic. These slippers checked all the boxes.
Regarding sizing. My son is 15 months and a 6-7T in shoes. His feet are just shy of 6 inches long and I ordered the size 2-3 years. They are roomy but I have watched him walking closely and have determined the roominess doesn’t impede his walking. If your child is around 1 years old, my guess is that size 1-2 years would fit, but I’m glad I got the 2-3 years. They will fit him at least for the next 6 months which is as far as my mom brain can think. I might get rubber soled slippers when my son is older, maybe 3-4 years old because he might want some more support, but for emergent walkers, or kids under 3, I think this type of indoor footwear is ideal. I wouldn’t let him wear them outside though, the suede could be ripped on rocks or sticks. These are for sure inside slippers.
I do feel like these are priced a bit high and feel like Nui could at least pay for shipping on these slippers, but after spending hours of researching trying to find a better price point for this type of slipper, I decided to just go for it. I couldn’t find shearling lined moccasins anywhere else. For a while I was just putting his robeez over socks as a kind of house shoe set up but the socks always got bunched up, the socks were always sweaty and it’s a two step process. So nice to just slip these on and off he goes, and I can rest assured his feet are warm and he’s learning to walk on the ground, not on thick shoe beds.