SOS: Please Help! I’m desperate after my supply tanked due to mastitis

Thank goodness for this sub. It has helped me so many times during my short nursing journey! Sorry this is so long but I really need help.

On Monday night, I went to bed after feeding my ebf LO (3 months) as usual. I woke up 3 and a half hours later absolutely feeling horrible. I mean, like I’d been hit by a truck. I had a chills, aches, a headache- and a very full and sore left boob. Lefty has always been my super boob. Righty is just glad to be along for the ride. Anyway, I took Tylenol and sunflower lecithin and cleared the clog later that day, and I’ve felt fine since about 9am Tuesday morning.

Anyway, since then, so 48ish hours, my supply has completely tanked to almost nothing. I was a mild oversupplier but I was usually able to pump 3.5-5.5 ounces once or twice a day after feeding. Now I’m lucky to get an ounce. I have been latching lo as often as possible, basically every hour. I know my supply has dwindled because he has fewer diapers and has actually lost a couple ounces. I’ve started giving him small bottles (1-2oz a few times a day) after he empties me to keep him from losing too much weight. I’m drinking tons of water and definitely getting enough calories.

I ended up exclusively pumping for my first baby (dd, now 5yo) for ten months and I drove myself crazy trying to make enough for her. I ended up doing about 50/50 milk and formula and ended up with an awful case of ppd as a result. I had a mastitis in my right boob early with her, and I think it made that one a slacked. DD has always been small and is still very slow to put on weight, and I’ll always wonder if it’s my fault for trying to ebf for so long. I swore I wouldn’t do that again with this baby, and made peace with going to formula earlier to preserve my mental health, but then everything was going so well!

Anyway, if you’ve had mastitis or clogged ducts, were you able to continue to ebf? How long did it take for your supply to rebound? Any tips or tricks to get production back to where it was before?

Should I just accept that this is the end of my journey and grieve accordingly? I’m so sad because I feel like the opportunity to end things on my terms was taken from me, and just when it was going so well and I was enjoying it.

Thank you for reading this far and any advice you might have!