How to Confine a Toddler

Stock up on items to make confining your toddler easier. Some of these items are safety devices for child-proofing, while some are specifically designed to keep your toddler in one specific area. Remember to carefully check any safety devices or furniture you will use for your toddler. For example, check online or with the manufacturer to make sure the item hasn't been recalled for safety issues. Also, any items you use for confining a young child or for safety should be made specifically for that purpose. Use baby gates to section off rooms, for example, not gates designed to keep pets contained; it's quite possible that these products have different safety guidelines.

Child-proof the rooms in which your toddler will spend the most time, such as his bedroom, playroom or the living room. Fit outlet covers into unused outlets; remove objects from low tables and shelves, so a kid can't reach them and pull them down on his head; put bumpers on sharp corners of tables; and put locks on any cabinets that contain detergents, medications or anything that you don't want your child getting into, suggests the Boston Public Health Commission. If your toddler tends to rip picture books apart, you may want to make sure that there are only board books in the area where you intend to confine him. Also, make sure all toys in the area are age-appropriate, meaning nothing with small pieces that your toddler could choke on.

Install baby gates in doorways to keep your child where you want her. These gates can either be just the width of a doorway, or you can get ones that will block off a room that's wide open, stretching from one wall to the next. To confine your child outdoors, use a portable play yard. These are very much like baby gates, except the pieces of gate fit together to make a circle, oval or square in varying sizes. You can put this in your yard or on a deck and it cordons off a safe area for your child so you can garden or read a book nearby while she happily plays in the grass, but is not able to drift off and make you chase her constantly.

Set up a safe place to keep your toddler confined in each room, if possible. For instance, have a high chair in the kitchen where you can strap your tot in while doing dishes; a playpen in the living room to set him down while you talk on the phone, or read a story to a sibling; and a crib in his own room, assuming he's not big enough to climb out of it yet.