Where do I begin to teach an 18mth old to fall asleep on her own?

[ShelleyMarlee]

Hi all!
It's getting harder and harder to get my DD yo go to sleep. Lately she isn't going down until almost 10pm.

This is my situation, and I know it's my own doing. Almost since birth, basically I would hold my daughter until she fell asleep, then put her in her crib, which she has always disliked. After her waking several times, I would give up and bring her to bed with me.

Now she's a big girl, and i still have to hold her for her to fall asleep, which is getting really hard. I converted her crib into a day bed, but she either screams until i go in, or crawls out herself. Awake, she just won't stay in her bed.

What do i do? Where do I begin?
Any advice will be grateful
thanx
Shelley

[coopers_mommy]

A few questions for you....

Can you post your EASY routine for us?
Do you think she still might need the crib; if anything to continue keeping her confined in there?

I haven't gone through the switch to a toddler bed yet, but I know that if DS was in a toddler bed and we had to do WIWO, it would be craziness as he'd probably follow us to the door!   

[ShelleyMarlee]

Her routine is something like this
7-7:30am wakeup
breakfast by 8am the latest
lunch around noon
nap at about 12:45-1pm, I try to wake her by 3pm, she'll sleep longer if I let.
5:30pm supper
we start bedtime routine around 7:30pm for a 8pm bedtime. it's been taking over an hour or longer until she falls asleep.
We took apart her crib as she was able to get out anyhow and never liked it, to the point she didn't want to go into her room.