I went to a NHS run bf class (one morning session) where we were told about latching the baby on and different positions. We were told that if it hurt, something was wrong (probably positioning). Nobody talked about frequency of feeding, cluster feeding, what is normal in terms of pain.
I had skin to skin with ds1 immediately after he was born and he latched on straight away. He was left with DH while. I was taken to theatre. After that he became very sleepy and didn't wake for ages. A lovely MW helped me to express some colostrum and undress him (I was bed bound after having a spinal anaesthetic) to wake him enough to syringe feed him. She made sure that he had some colostrum every hour until he latched on properly himself, and then that I fed him at least every 3 hours. She was great.
Once I left HDU, I was pretty much left to it but the bf advisor did pop in once and checked his latch (he just happened to be feeding). His arms were very busy so she taught me a good way of keeping them out of the way which made latching him on much easier.
I was amazed when my milk came in on day 3 - I woke with rock hard, very painful boobs and a soaking wet bed. It would have been nice to know that was coming! I got through a huge amount of breat pads and needed nighttime bras too which I had no idea I might need.
I was amazed at how painful the first minute or two was of each feed - it really made my toes curl. He really was a grazer and I got little free time in the early weeks, the evenings were the worst when he would cluster feed.
I went to our local bf group when he was 3 weeks old and it was the best thing that I did. There were lovely peer supporters, other mums with babies that were slightly older than ds and a great hv. If I hadn't have gone there I'm not sure that I'd have stuck at it. He got weighed most weeks, and seeing how well he was gaining weight was a huge boost (1lb a week at some points!) I had 2 bouts of mastitis which made feel appallingly ill, luckily DH was very supportive and helped me through it each time. I went to the group every week, and some weeks when things had seemed really hard I had pretty much decided that I'd stop bf after I'd been. Once I'd talked to other people and realised that whatever it was was pretty normal (growth spurts etc) I had the confidence to carry on: I fed him until he was 10 months.
Ds2 was a great feeder, and I was pretty good at it too by then. I had confidence to try different positions and nipped a bout of mastitis in the bud by spotting the signs very early. I went to the bf group with him too - ds1 was able to come too which was great. Knowing what to expect made things much easier IME (mostly in term a of discomfort and frequency/ length of feeds) though I had no idea that feeding would give me so much abdominal pain (like contractions). Once I knew that was to be expected I coped much better. I didn't have any unrealistic expectations 2nd time round.
The night times were hard each time. I ended up writing feed times and lengths down as I would forget what time we'd done what and ended up giving small, insufficient feeds some night when I was very tired. Having a log helped me a lot.
I fed out and about within the first few days of having both ds's, and to me that convenience was the biggest plus. The health benefits wer shined down my throat as the best bit - obviously they are, but I'm not sure that I'd have been out and about as much as I was and as soon after having each ds if I had to factor in bottle feeding.