Is Barefoot Really Best? Infants Walking Barefoot, in Bendy Shoes, and in Stiff Shoes

• In Event: Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: PS 10 Topic - Perceptual, Sensory, Motor

Abstract

Parents, doctors, and shoe manufacturers have strong ideas about what footwear is best for learning to walk. The current consensus is that “barefoot is best”, and that when shoes are required, they should be as thin and bendy as possible. But a generation ago, a sturdy, supportive shoe was believed best for infant walking. In the current study, we tested whether different footwear affects infant walking—specifically, how well and how much infants walk.
12- to 20- month-old infants (current N=46, planned N=60) walked for 10 minutes in each of three footwear conditions: barefoot, wearing a bendy-soled shoe, and wearing the same shoe modified to have a stiff, unbending sole. Infants played with their caregivers in a laboratory playroom with six foam elevations and six toys (Figure 1). We recorded the timing and distance of each footstep on a pressure-sensitive floor and video-coded spontaneous activity in a playroom. From videos, we scored time walking and climbing, steps taken, and falls (current N coded=27). In addition, parents reported in a structured interview their beliefs about the effects of footwear and infants’ daily experience with footwear.
The belief that “barefoot is best” was common: 86% of parents reported that barefoot was best for infants learning to walk, and most stated that their infants only wore shoes when outside the home. But contrary to parents’ expectations, we found little evidence that footwear substantially impaired how well or how much infants walked (Figure 2). In a standardized test designed to elicit infant’s highest possible walking skill, preliminary data show an effect of footwear on step width and speed, Wald Xs ≤ 11.48, ps < .003, but not step length Wald X = 4.34, p = .11. Infants walked faster and took narrower steps when barefoot compared to stiff shoes, ps < .02. However, no effect of footwear was found on measures of walking skill during spontaneous free play, Wald Xs ≤ 4.38, ps ≥ .11. Likewise, preliminary results from a subset of infants showed that wearing shoes did not affect how much infants walked and played. Infants spent similar proportions of time walking in each condition, took similar numbers of steps, and spent similar proportions of time climbing on elevations, Wald Xs ≤ 4.3, ps ≥ .12. Finally, falls were rare, and occurred equally often in the three conditions, Wald Xs = 2.02, p = .36.
In summary, we found little evidence that “barefoot is best” for infants learning to walk. Although footwear did affect infants’ peak performance, it did not affect their walking skill during spontaneous, everyday walking—the actual input for learning to walk. Similarly, infants accumulated similar amounts of total activity regardless of footwear. Thus, parents can be reassured that putting shoes on their infants will not hinder their babies’ developing walking skill.

Authors

• Whitney G Cole, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Anna (Hyeji) Shin, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Karen E Adolph, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author