DS is 7 weeks, posterior tongue tie was snipped at 6 weeks. Before this he'd struggled to latch and it was incredibly painful so we'd resorted to using nipple shields. After his division last week we tried to ditch the shields. Unfortunately his latch was still awful and I ended up with mastitis.
I've managed to clear the lump and I'm still on antibiotics. Although my boobs still hurt. The one I had mastitis in is generally achy. Still feels bruised. And I'm getting electric shock type pains in both sides in between feeds. They are just very uncomfortable.
My concern is my supply has dropped. Before this, my boobs would feel full between feeds and I could tell when he'd emptied them. The shield would be full of milk and he'd look satisfied after feeds. At night I would leak a little because it's the only time he'd go 4 hours between feeds. He was having one bottle of formula top up (he was started on top ups in hospital after every feed and we've reduced this to once a day).
Since the mastitis it has changed. The only feeds I can hear him gulping and he looks satisfied are the feeds where he has had a good number of hours in between. Only very rarely will there be milk in the shields. He has been feeding non stop this evening from about 4pm and every time he takes himself off the boob, his hands are straight in his mouth for a suck. He will be inconsolable until I put him on the other boob.
How likely is it that my supply has dropped? Can I increase it? I know the more he is on the boob the better and ideally I need to lose the shields but his suck is so ferocious that my nipples are raw. His fists are permanently clenched and he doesn't relax. I'm worried because I don't think he is weeing as often as he did last week. Any advice? I'm due to see the HV on Thurs.