Ses, breastfeeding shouldn't hurt - it only hurts if you're doing it wrong. The difficult bit is that its commonly believed that the baby naturally knows how to breastfeed, just lift them to the breast and away they go - but its just not like that. They have to learn and so do you, and you're handling a newborn, which I think is bound to feel odd even if not firstborn because they're not that small for very long!
I was absolutely resolute that nothing would deter me from breastfeeding so read as much as I could in advance, spoke to my MW about it and made sure when I did have problems, I insisted on someone helping. I have very flat nipples, so had to learn even more techniques than most to kind of 'shape' my boob for DS to latch on to.
I have to say, I'm a bit of a breastfeeding monster and its only because it really is so easy. Years ago formula didn't exist, and the race is still going, so it can't be that hard can it?
One of the main things that saw me through was the fact that my MW showed me how to manually express and told me to practise, I think from about 34 - 36 weeks, which meant that when we were in hospital and DS wouldn't latch, and was screaming with hunger and I was in tears frustrated that I couldn't give him what I wanted, they simply bought me a little cup which I was able to express into - than he lapped it like a little kitten. It was such an impossibly tiny amount but it was enough for him because it is so rich and loaded with goodness.
Sorry for mega post - as I said, I'm very enthusiastic about it - I have eczema, asthma and hayfever and food allergies, so was determined to do my absolute best to make sure DS was given best opportunity to avoid same....so far so good, not due to BF maybe, but I'd never have known if he had got them and I hadn't tried.
I'm going to get off my soap box now...... but ought to note, I'm NOT anti formula feeding, I'm just pro-educating people about the services available to enable mum to do what they want to...