Should Little Girls Wear High Heels?

Some Worry Trend May Sexualize Little Girls and Harm Their Physical Development

ABC Good Morning America—January 27, 2010

Little girls, some as young as 3 years old, are wearing shoes with heels, and not to play dress-up.

Suri Cruise, the daughter of the Hollywood mega-couple Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, has been photographed several times wearing shoes with little heels -- or kitten heels.

The heels aren't just for the famous. "Good Morning America" checked online and found hundreds of heels that were up to 2 inches high. They were being offered for girls as young as 3 months.

But some question the trend, worrying that placing little girls in heels may jeopardize their physical development or place them in physical risk.

The trend does pose potential health risks.

"We're dealing with a foot that's in development, which means the muscles, the tendons and the ligaments are certainly not as strong at that age as they are at age 18," said Dr. Rock Positano, a foot disorder specialist at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

Read the full story at ABCNews.com.