Naptime tips desperately needed!

[gravy_train]

I am a new daycare provider and I am really struggling with naptime. Right now I have a 14 mo dcg and my own 13 month old son. Neither one of them will nap unless I lay down with them! My son is a great sleeper at night - he goes in his crib awake, barely makes a peep and sleeps for 10-12 hours. But when I put him in his crib during the days he loses his mind. On the advice of others I tried letting him cry it out and after about four weeks of heartwrenching cries I put an end to it. He literally sounds like he is having a panic attack and can't catch his breath. I know there are people on this forum who will say that naptime isn't negotiable And not to let the kid 'win', but I am simply not comfortable with him being afraid for any length of time when I know that he will sleep for 2-3 hours if I am beside him. Also I should add that naptime isn't negotiable here either but a 13 and 14 month old can't comprehend those words so I need some techniques and advice do that I can show them:-)oh one more thing, if my little guy does happen to cry himself to sleep in his crib he wakes up after 20minutes and I am not about to go through the entire 1ish hour CIO i
Nightmare again.
Next I have 14mo dcg who screams for a solid 30-40 minutes when I put her in her playpen. She sleeps for about 20-30 minutes and wakes up screaming again. If my little guy happens to have fallen asleep these screams wake him up.
In the next few months I have four new dck starting (a 2 yo next week!) and I am literally having panic attacks about how this is all going to look when I have a full house. I have a queen sized mattress on the floor in one of my rooms so thought I would start to solve the problem by laying down with the children and getting them into a solid nap routine, (yesterday and today they have both napped for 3 hours - they're still napping). Once I have them wanting to nap, I will start reducing the time I lay with them and eventually transition them onto cots.
I feel like a bit of a failure As a provider but I really can't handle the 1-2 hours of crying with the CIO method and I feel like this is a more gentle approach. Dcg parents are very supportive And are on board for whatever works best for me.
I would love any advice, information, book recommendations, words of encouragement ;-) that anyone could offer. Thanks :-)