I would tell mom that the rocking needs to stop and he needs to start going to bed on his own awake so that he can learn to self soothe ..... I always give parents a list of things to do to prepare babies for group care ..... And that one is first on the list ..... They also need to be off the bottle and on a sippy cup and finger foods, I also ask that the parent not entertain the child all the time ... Put them on the floor and let them play ..... I give them my schedule and they have to move their child on to it .... There are other things but that a few if the most important ones .... I get them to start prepareing several weeks in advance of the start date ..... If it were me I would let the child get very tired and then put him in the playpen and leave him. He will figure it out...... I had one that I just let crawl around till he finally just rolled on his back and closed his eyes and then I picked him up and put him in bed and then everyday I would put him in bed a little sooner and after about a week he just went to bed awake like everybody else.
For the constant crying ... Well he young and he doesn't know you and he's never been away from mama so it's going to take time .... Everyday will get a bit better .... Leave him on the floor with some toys and keep reassuring him that he's fine and after about two weeks I'm sure you will see a big difference ... Hang in there