The drops still come in handy in specific situations that we know will disrupt her sleeping pattern, but that too has become less of an issue. For example, it used to be that car travel in the afternoon would have her sleeping through the whole trip, and then refusing to sleep at night, and it would take a couple of days to get her back to the usual sleeping pattern. But in the last ~6 months, she stopped sleeping so much in the car, and learned to fall asleep if the right ritual is followed.
The reason I'm interested is my wife is pregnant with our second. First four months our daughter slept all the time. 5 to 11 months was an nightmare. Then it settled down and she sleeps 8 to 6.30 most nights. I think we were lucky, especially after reading what you went through!