When your mother-in-law tells you you’ll spoil the baby if you keep picking him up when he cries. I don’t agree.  In this particular case, I’d say the “words of experience” are outweighed by contemporary child development research. A few decades ago parents believed that if you held a child too much you’d “spoil the baby.”  We now know that just is not true.  Babies need to be held, nurtured, and comforted to feel secure and safe.  When you hold your baby when he cries you’re teaching him he is worthwhile, someone is there for him, he can trust the world, and he is safe.