Sleep-training — the process of teaching a baby to fall asleep and stay asleep through the night — is one of those no-size-fits-all parenting issues. Some parents start sleep-training mere weeks after their babies are born, others believe that their children will sleep through the night whenever they're ready and do little to push that day forward. Even baby experts and pediatricians disagree on what constitutes safe and effective sleep-training (cry it out? tear-free training? a mix of the two?).
No matter what your sleep-training philosophies are, at the end of the day, you probably just want to sleep through the night — and you might or might not be aware that it's probably only going to happen when your children do it, too. If you're one of the countless parents who are desperate for more sleep, want to raise a good sleeper (sleep is vital for brain development!), and are considering sleep-training to accomplish both, here are six rules you need to follow to make sure your child is safe, your anxiety levels are low, and the process actually works.