DD is 8.5 months, has never been a great sleeper - doesn't seem to need much and, particularly in the day, resists what she does need. In the early months she needed feeding to sleep or the sling/pram for naps, and she also resisted any form of routine until 7 months - what worked for naps one day (by accident or by design) wouldn't work the next.
At 7 months we finally managed a little routine, however, and she was going down awake in cot in the morning and afternoon for about 40 mins-1 hour a time, which was fine in terms of her sleep needs. At bedtime she self-settled to sleep, and at night feeds she fed and went straight back to sleep, no messing.
At 8 months all our progress seems to be undone. I am knackered and demoralised, and would be so grateful for some reassurance things will get better, or that it is possible to survive this nightmare!
For the last few days attempts to get her to nap in her cot have ended up with her getting wound up and hysterical - yesterday she actually did not sleep AT ALL between 7.15am and 6.30pm 
- although, terrifyingly, she seemed to manage just fine and was good humoured all day!! And the nights have become really bad. She wakes several times between going down and midnight, although can usually be soothed back to sleep in about 15 mins with a lullaby and patting. But when she wakes hungry later on, at midnight or later, and is fed (bf), she starts flapping her arms and rolling about when put back down (even if I think I have managed to feed her back to sleep first). At best I have to sit with her for up to half an hour to shhh and pat back to sleep, at worst (last 2 nights), she has bellowed even when picked up and hugged/walked up and down, and cried on and off, and remained awake (which meant we all did) for 3 hours!!! She is dribbling quite a lot at the moment, but is not chewing on her hands and doesn't seem distressed with tooth pain when awake in day...
Does this sound like the dreaded 9 month regression come early (she only learned to roll at 7.5 months and is now trying to figure out crawling), or do we still have worse to come? Not quite sure how to cope or what to do - I used to enjoy my evenings and going to bed, but now almost dread it as I am worried about what lies in store in the small hours!!
Any tips/advice/stories of miraculous improvement welcome 
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