Did you find breastfeeding a breeze?

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My sister is due her first baby in August and we were talking about breastfeeding. I'm currently feeding my second baby, it's gone much better than with my first but it's definitely still a struggle. Cracked/sore nipples from the cluster feeding which is toe curling for the first 10 seconds or so of feeding, good latch thankfully, pain of milk coming in etc, it's not the easiest thing to establish especially when cluster feeding is involved or you get engorged.

I think what I'm going through is fairly common and I (maybe naively) thought this was how everyone's breastfeeding journey began and it's tough for everyone initially and eventually gets better. My sister asked if it's the same for everybody and whether she'll need to mentally prepare herself (and stock up on nipple cream) so I thought I'd ask.. is there anyone here who just cracked it straight off the bat? Did it make a difference if it was your first baby or you'd done it before? Has anyone found it genuinely easy straight away?

P.s I did use a pump most of the time for the first couple of weeks both times, it helped my nipples to heal and also meant that DH could feed them with a bottle. The breast pump was an investment!! Only about £25 isn't even one of the fancy expensive ones, I will most likely use it with my third too

Seems quite an even split then really. I hope for my sister's sake it's a total breeze and she just takes to it like a (pain free!) duck to water.

For those of you who've had the cracked nipples and the pain and the stress.. I stand with you 😂