I forgot to say about the tongue tie that DS1 had one and I'm really glad we had it snipped. It made a huge difference although his was stopping him attaching at all. Also tongue-tie can contribute to speech issues and tooth decay down the track so there are other reasons to do it.

Hun, if you are finding that attaching is harder after 3 hours, you could try offering the breast sooner, before you feel so full. Feeding at the first hunger cues (sucking fist, bobbing head etc) can be much easier than waiting until he is so hungry that he is crying. Or if he is sleeping for that long and not waking distressed, you could express for comfort before feeding him and that might help. If you are so full that the nipple is lost in the hard breast, softening the area around the nipple with your fingers (use your 2nd and 3rd fingers on each hand and press in firmly for a couple of minutes, one hand on either side of your nipple, then move them around to be above and below your nipple for another couple of minutes). Feeding at the first hunger cues (sucking fist, bobbing head etc) can be much easier than waiting until he is so hungry that he is crying.