My afterpains needed morphine which stil didn't touch the sides. They were awful, adn while I had a drug free labour and birht, I was dosed up for a couple of days on all the good stuff.
Dont be afraid to tell them if its painful - at one point I went to the toilet at they actually had to look at the clots to see whether I was having a post partum hemorrage as Iwas truly in that much pain.
Milk made no difference - my milk was coming in after about 24hrs with no2 despite the pain.