You just have to keep putting her in her crib until she falls a sleep.Try putting something in her crib that she can watch or likes to play with.Give it a week of her crying and don't give in and leave a light on for her and try playing soft music.Hope this helps.She will finally figure out that you are not coming and she will fall to sleep.It is hard a first hearing her cry but how bad do you want her out of your bed.

I have good news for you and I have bad news for you. The good news is, if you are really determined to have your daughter sleep in her own bed/crib, you CAN do it. The bad news is, it's not going to be easy.

I will give you some tips below... but also I highly recommend that you buy one of these books: The Sleep Easy Solution or The No Cry Sleep Solution. Both are excellent books.

Okay... first of all, I think you and your husband need to be on the same page. Discuss your plan ahead of time so there are no wrinkles. Tell your daughter that there will be a new sleeping plan... you'll be surprised how much she understands at 17 months (by the way -- there is a toddler community - where you might want to post as well).

Establish a very clear bedtime routine. Do the same thing every night at the same time (if possible). So it might be dinner, bath, story and bed. You must be consistant throughout the process. Don't waver. Your daughter will sense weakness and go in for the kill! Stay strong.

After the routine, put her in her crib.
Position yourself so that you can gently pat her and make sure she remains lying down by gently applying pressure on her body if needed.
When she begins to cry, do NOT pick her up -- this will be extremely hard to do, but if you pick her up, she will learn to cry next time until you do the same thing again.

Continue to pat her, sing to her, tell her you love her --whatever it takes --even though she is crying. You will not be abandoning her, only teaching her to let go and fall asleep in her own bed.

You may have to do this for a week or two (and it might take her an hour to fall asleep). It will be exhausting but well worth it in the end... and if you don't break the habit now, it will only be harder, later on.

Each successive episode will get shorter than the one before it. Also, you can begin to leave her alone for a few minutes at a time during the crying and screaming period. Coming in only to reassure her that you are still in the house and you're not going anywhere.

Please let us know how it goes!

if you do not stop it now it may never stop. I have a 4 year old girl and she still does not sleep all night. she is use to me holding her till she falls a sleep then carrying her to bed. she started school this year and my husband has been on me to made her go to bed like her big sister. the first few weeks she cried for hours. it is so hard on you as a mom and on the child to have to go through this I felt so bad letting her cry, but now after some time has gone by she now go's to bed by her self every night. she does not sleep the hole night in her bed yet. she get up and gos out on the couch but it is getting better. if I knew when she was a baby that it would be this hard I would of started making her have a bed time from the start.