I agree - rocking to sleep is not a long term solution specially in group care ... when an infant arrives NEW and unprepared for group care I will explain to clients that do my best the first few days to rock them when I can however this is not always feasible ... I slowly start rocking but than putting them in still awake and letting them fall asleep on their own the last little bit rocking less and less before hand until they are going in full awake and I am able to walk away and they may 'fuss' for 5 minutes or so but fall asleep on their own.

I just transitioned in an eight month old who had co-slept at home and never been in a 'crib' before finding out mom had to return to work 4 months early ... took me just over a week to transition him into going in on his own awake with less than 5 minutes of crying before falling off to sleep ... I can empathize with parents who 'rock' cause I too hate listening to an infant cry however SLEEP is important and rocking is not always an option when there are multiple children so 'self soothing' to sleep needs to be a priority for those who are planning to return to work and place their child in 'group care' of another