Looking for Some Good Ideas for a Bedtime Routine for My 17 Mo Old

It doesn't sound like you're doing bad with the bedtime routine... I can share ours with you and maybe there are some elements of it that you'll want to adopt. Or not. Anyway, here's what we do with our 21 month old son:
Finish dinner around 6:30
Bath (with bubbles or whatever else he wants) - we don't worry so much about getting him clean these days - he likes playing in the water.
Tooth brushing
PJs and we read books. He gets to pick out as many as he wants. We usually read either sitting in his bed (he moved to a big boy bed at 19 months) or in the rocking chair.
Once we're done looking at books we turn out the light and sit in the chair with his blanket and lovey. I sing him some songs and always finish with the special song I made up for him when he was born (and that ONLY gets sung before bedtime). Then I lay him down, kiss him goodnight, and leave.

When we first moved him to his big boy bed it took a week or two to get him used to falling asleep alone in the bed. For a couple nights I laid with him. Then I sat in the rocking chair until he fell asleep. Then I lurked in the doorway. Then I put a gate up at the door and we battled it out for one long night where I refused to lurk. The next night I only had to put him back in bed once before he fell asleep, and by the third night he stayed in his bed himself. You may have to do this with the co-sleeping if you're not interested in laying with your daughter until she falls asleep.

When we were ready to drop the evening nursing I just moved it to before the bath instead of after the bath, and eventually he had better things to do.

Key things I think are:
1. set bedtime (around 7:15 for us) - kids get tired even when they don't always act tired.
2. Low-key activites onlyafter the bath. No more playing with toys as this gets him wound up again.
3. Consistent routine. He knows when we turn out the lights and sit in the rocking chair that it will be time to sleep soon. He knows when we sing him the "James" song that that is the last thing before we kiss him good night etc. Falling asleep is a conditioned reflex (as long as you're tired) - people rely on environmental cues - bed, darkness etc - to help them make it work.
Good luck!

Hi E., let me let you in on a well know secret. There is no blueprint on raising a kid. One thing that I have learned is to allow them to have a nap but keep them up as long as I could during the day, that way by the evening they'll be tired enough to sleep all evening. Also you can expose her to a lot of different artists so that you won't be going crazy.

Hi

I totally understand. My children all 4 of them slept with us until after they were one. I also as well breastfed and gave the bottle as part of the routine.

The music is a great idea does she like other artist so you can have several cd's so it is a different artist every night or play only one song a night.

I will share what I did.
What I try to do is associate bed time with resting, quiet, calm pretty much anything that requires little energy.

With my first when I was ready to get her off the bottle and into her own bed, at the time our room was big enough to put her bed in our room so that's what we did, after dinner I started to announce that it was bed time we would get pj's on, brush teeth, prayers, and read a book. After I read the book I would say goodnight and lay with here until she fell asleep. I wouldn't talk to her and if she got up I would help her lay down, sometimes i would say goodnight again or it's time to sleep. My husband and I would take turns. After awhile we could leave right before she fell asleep and gradually leave earlier and earlier until all we had to do is read the book and say goodnight. If she would come out of bed we would take her back and ask her to lay down eventually we didn't have to take her. This method takes a long time and I did it this way because I don't like to leave them crying to fall asleep.

Also leaving a sippy cup of water sometimes helped or a night light. It got easier with the next three because once it was time to leave our room they shared with a sibling so it wasn't a big change.

I am a huge supporter using your child's needs to gage what is best for them and when it is a right time for them.

Also with my daughter we had her bed in our room for a long time but since we went to bed after her we began the routine even though she was still in our room. She was probably 3 when she went to her own room and by that time her brother was 2 and they went together. so we waited a long time before they left our room.

I'm not sure how fun it was but they do enjoy a story and love when we lay with them. We also leave it open for them to come in our room if they need to. If they do we make a little bed on the floor for them. As they got older they come in less and they make their own beds on the floor not. I have a 7, 6, 4 and 18month old.

My 18month old now is with her sister but still in a crib and we are going start trying to get her to go to bed without a bottle.

Good luck

Hello E.,
You are doing very well. It is a one more thing you could do - start to give her a massage (5-10 min.). It will calm her and relax. You could use a relaxation music also. If you like my idea I could give you more information, how to start and how to massage her. I used it with my kids and I am also professional massage therapist (provide infant massage classes).Take care. M.