Salsa, I think that your experience in hospital is unfortunately all to common, and certainly the conflicting advice (often much of it poor) and the lack of support even from midwives are key factors to women being "unable" to bf. In terms of education, there are a few fundamental things I beleive all women should know prior to having a baby (and their partners and families too for that matter). Like most of us, I only found them out AFTER experiencing bfing problems. I really wish there was some way to ensure that we could make the following things known to everyone:

- Midwives are often not trained in BFing and do not always give the right advice
- Certified LCs and the ABA are the best resources for bfing help, support and information
- The ABA 24 help line is available for everyone, members or not
- Attachment can be really hard at first - sometimes there is a physical reason - eg tongue-tie, flat nipples, large breasts etc - sometimes not. There are things that can done be done to help, and attachment does get easier as the baby gets bigger. YOu are not going to be spending 6 months or 2 years making sure you push the right amount of breast into baby's mouth. After a few weeks the baby can attach just fine all by him/herself.
- Any pain experienced in the early days of bfing is common and usually short-lived. As baby gets better at attaching most pain goes away and feeding gets much easier and much more pleasant.
- In the early days it is very usual for baby to feed for a long time and feed often. This helps your supply get started. It does not mean that you don't have enough milk. And it won't be like that for long. Very soon the feeds get shorter and less frequent so you won't be spending all your time feeding for the next 2 years.
- When you stop feeling full it doesn't mean that your supply is low. The full feeling in the beginning is because you have too much milk while your body is adjusting to the amount it needs to produce.
- Babies go through "fussy periods" where they will drink often for a couple of days - even every 1 - 2 hours. This doesn't mean you are running out of milk, it is very common.
- It is largely a myth that you can run out of milk. It is actually very rare to not have enough milk if you are exclusively bfing.
- Introducting a "top up" ff can cause problems and often contributes to early weaning.
- It DOES get easier.