A: You state in your question that your son “cries terribly.” Is your baby really crying terribly? I have found that parents often overreact to their babies crying at naptime by rushing in to fuss with them and pick up their babies.

Next time your baby cries at naptime, don’t rush to pick him up. If he is still crying after about five minutes, calmly enter his room and gently lay him down or stroke his back or talk lovingly to him. If you like, sit in a chair close to his crib and reach into the crib to pat him gently while he goes to sleep.

The goal is to help your child get used to his own crib as a place for calming down and going to sleep. This will not occur if you rush in the moment he cries and immediately pick him up and hold him. It’s not easy being a parent. Listening to your baby cry is especially uncomfortable. But you need to help train your baby to have naps in his own crib, and this means experiencing some crying.