Is IG mother child dead?

I can't do more than 10 follows per day in some accounts

Either:
Getting "try again later"
or
"You cant follow accounts"

have the limits been drastically lowered?

I mean that public methods/softwares most likely won't work. A private tool is needed for Mother/Child nowadays. On our end we're using an automation that we update on a daily basis, which isn't shared to the public for obvious reason.
My advice would be to hire a developper for such projects, and note that updates will be needed. You can also try to do it at low scale with VAs but it will be less efficient.