met a friend for lunch today (hi if you're reading this :o) and we were talking about the early days of bfing, as for her it is very recent, and for me I have them all to come again with DC2 in a few weeks time.
We both said we'd been told by other people (NCT/other bfing mums/HV/Midwives) that it doesn't hurt if you're doing it right. And nobody we knew had had any problems in the first few weeks. Except they did, but didn't tell us. 
I had told her before her DD was born that I'd found the 1st 6-8 weeks pretty grim. After her DD was born, and we were chatting, she asked for more details, and I was able to say that I'd been in tears before many feeds, and found the pain of latching on toe-curlingly painful at times. Today she was saying that nobody else she knew admitted that it hurt, unless they were pressed on the matter, and she felt very alone a lot of the time.
I remember feeling much the same, but luckily had a fab post-natal group on here to tell me it was normal (and to tell me when it wasn't!).
So I was just wondering, did you have those hellish first few weeks, where nipples felt assaulted, toes curled with pain at every feed, not even lansinoh stopped the stinging, and you wondered what the hell was so natural about the whole process anyway? And did it all settle down for you at 6-8 weeks post birth? And do you tell anyone else the truth, or just keep parroting the line that 'it doesn't hurt if you're doing it right!' (if you were lucky enough that it didn't, then 
:o)
I think I would have found it easier in the early days if I'd known more about how much work was involved in those first few weeks of bfing, rather than constantly hearing that I must be doing it wrong if it hurt. Am I alone in feeling that way?
I should add, DS is 2.6 and still bfed, and DC2 is due in a few weeks, so obviously it didn't put me off in the beginning. But I wonder how many people are put off because it doesn't automatically feel comfortable to nurse their child, as they had been led to believe.