I know some don't find it 'hellish' but it was the complete lack of balanced info about it that really got to me - all the info I got in advance (3 hr BFing antenatal class, leaflets, patronising LLL book, endless MW pressure) was so overwhelmingly positive, made BFing sound so amazing. I was so excited about BFing and then it was so awful. There will be some for whom it is amazing, but also a considerable number who hate it, or are meh about it, or who only like it sometimes, or who find it a good way of getting milk into a baby but who don't feel overwhelmed with joy about it. It would be better to say 'some women find BFing enjoyable' or 'some women find BFing helps them bond'.
As for expense. Antenatal class had told us BFing is free. It turned out the calorie cost (extra food for me) to do it was about £1 a day, as our food bills went up. We budget quite carefully. We were doing combi because of my milk delay so spending £5 a week on formula, and £7 a week on extra food for me. So the basic cost is already higher. Then you get the extra costs involved, more so when you have problems, especially as we needed a pump to try and force my milk to come in so pump (£120), weekly trip to BFing support and petrol/parking (£3 per week), Lansinoh nipple cream (2 x £11), emergency readmission to hospital because baby seriously dehydrated (£50 in taxi fares and then bus fares for DH to visit us whilst baby in SCBU for four days), nursing bras (£40 for 4), having been assured you didn't need special clothing for BFing I found my existing tops didn't work so another £50 on secondhand BFing tops (because you need a certain number as baby invariably spews on them). I didn't incur the costs some did £100s on lactation consultants (free at the hospital, £1 donation at BFing support), or go down the gimmicky route of BFIng pillows, teas, herbal supplements etc. We had to buy bottles and steriliser anyway as my milk was delayed so I was triple feeding and topping up with formula.
The trouble with all that is that it's very front-loaded and uncertain. In the first fortnight of our baby's life we suddenly had to pay out £200+ because of problems with BFing. Some families will just absorb extra costs like the increased food bills or the trips to support but others would find that difficult. And not everyone could afford to splash out that £200 suddenly. Crazy things like being told BFing is free, then suddenly baby is here, immediately get told that £11 nipple cream is essential!
So, again, better info antenatally - eg 'you may find that BFing is quite low cost, but these are some costs you may incur. These are things you definitely don't need [gimmicky products]'.
And more info about risk factors for low supply etc would also help eg it turned out I was about 100% likely to not produce enough milk for my baby - knowing this in advance would have prepared us for problems, meant we could have learnt how to prepare formula, budgeted for buying equipment etc. Instead I was simply encouraged to set unachievable BFing 'goals'.