What Happens to Babies' Health When You Keep Them Barefoot

Parenting trends are continually rising and falling. While many parents may assume that keeping shoes on their children's feet is the way to go, new studies have found that leaving children barefoot might be a better option.

Whether a child is just a baby learning to crawl or a walking toddler, it is advised to leave them barefoot for health and development reasons.

Walking barefoot allows children to fully take in their surroundings and familiarise themselves with all the new objects and senses that they are discovering.

BAREFOOT BABIES

As babies start two discover their five senses, two important sensory systems begin to develop. They are the proprioceptive system and the vestibular system.

Proprioception is the system that lets one know where one is about other objects and to understand how to coordinate one’s movements about that.

The vestibular system regulates one’s coordination and balance, even when changes take place in the body, such as shifting posture and changing center of gravity.

Human feet are sensitive to different senses. Therefore keeping children's feet covered stops them from experiencing the rich variety of senses that their feet can pick up.

DON’T DEBATE, VACCINATE

In recent years there have been many debates about whether or not children should be vaccinated, as some people believe that it can lead to the development of autism. However, this can have deadly consequences.

One such case is a child from Florida who died from the flu because they had not been vaccinated against it. The identity of the child is unknown, but the Florida Department of Health said that the incident took place last October.

The state’s health department said that this single case did not necessarily mean that the current flu season is inherently deadly, and encouraged people to get vaccinated.